Mayport will lose other ships, too. Ten frigates will be decommissioned by 2014, and the number of sailors will go down from 13,300 to less than 9,300.
Unless a carrier or other ships are added, the ship repair industry around the area will deteriorate.
Meanwhile, Norfolk is the only East Coast base ready to accommodate the new carrier without a large upgrade. That base also lost one of its longtime carriers — the USS George Washington — which is changing homeports to Yokosuka, Japan, as the nation’s only carrier permanently stationed overseas.
Currently, all the fighter jets that would go on the carriers based on the East Coast are housed at the Oceana Master Jet base near Norfolk.
The crews that will be assigned to the new Bush carrier all live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, and so would have to move their families with the ship.
The economic activity related to one carrier can reach $1 billion a year, said Frank Roberts, who heads a nonprofit group dedicated to retaining and growing military assets in Virginia. “We lost the George Washington to Japan, and to lose another one would be a significant loss of economic activity,” he said.
Floridians argue, however, that in bringing the Bush carrier to Mayport when the flattop is ready to join the fleet, the Navy would not uproot an established carrier from another base since it has not yet been commissioned or assigned a home.
In order to inform its decision on whether to berth the new carrier and other surface ships at Mayport, the Navy is required to conduct an environmental impact study and is expecting to complete it by November. The Navy is scheduled to make its final decision in December.
The governor of Virginia and the Hampton Roads congressional delegation last month asked the Navy for what they called a routine 45-day extension to the public comment period to study and respond to the 1,600-page draft environmental study. The Navy, however, allowed only a 15-day extension.
The Navy said the limited extension won’t affect its schedule but it recognizes the importance of public review and comment.
The Navy’s response heightened concerns that the service would not seriously consider the comments submitted for the draft study, sources said.
Virginia has several concerns with the Navy’s study, including the socioeconomic effect that the basing of a nuclear carrier at Mayport would have on other bases losing their ships. There is also concern about the analysis of the impact new destroyers, and particularly a nuclear-powered carrier, would have on the environment and a number of endangered species, such as right whales.
The Virginia delegation may not leave the study decision entirely to the Navy. As the House Armed Services Committee is getting ready to mark up the 2009 defense authorization bill, Virginia lawmakers on the committee — Reps. Randy Forbes (R), Thelma Drake (R) and Robert Wittman (R) may try to include language that ensures the Navy would address the concerns.
The environmental study would ultimately also inform the Chief of Naval Operations’ strategic fleet dispersal study, currently under way.
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