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There are a few reasons to send a nuclear aircraft carrier to Jacksonville, a move that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, years of work and provide little additional security: Florida wants the jobs and has the political clout to get them.
The Navy on Monday said it would prefer to move a carrier to Mayport, a place that doesn't have the nuclear facilities to handle it. The move is designed to make the carrier less vulnerable in the event of a natural or terrorist disaster.
The problem is that it won't.
A hurricane is far more likely to hit Jacksonville than Norfolk; a terrorist is less likely to succeed in attacking an already fortified Hampton Roads.
As anyone who glances at the Navy piers while driving across the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel knows, carriers don't spend much time in port these days. There are fewer of them, for one thing. And for another, carriers generally have more urgent business elsewhere.
The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce estimates that the loss of a carrier would cost the region 11,000 jobs and $650 million. Jim Koch, the Old Dominion University economist, said the impact would be worse than that, the equivalent of closing the Ford assembly plant. Twice.
While nobody wants to see Hampton Roads suffer, the Navy's security must be the primary concern in any basing decision. Unless there are unspoken revelations in the environmental impact statement, though, the Navy's conclusion is baffling.
Until you consider the politics.
"For all intents and purposes, it's a done deal," said Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat. "We are full steam ahead. Jacksonville is going to have a nuclear carrier."
That's an interesting sentiment about a decision still to be approved by the secretary of the Navy and funded by Congress. There are also the inevitable legal hurdles. And that's before the multiyear process of building a new nuclear port even begins.
Oddly, the Navy hasn't proposed moving anything to Florida but the carrier. Neither the carrier's support ships nor its jets is slated for relocation.
Suspicions about the reasons for the decision are grounded in Florida's mischief in pushing for the closure of Oceana Naval Air Station during the Base Realignment and Closure round in 2005.
Virginia's leaders - local and federal - were outmaneuvered by Florida's feint, and it was only after Jacksonville decided that it didn't want the jets that the effort was defeated.
Rumors have been flying for years now that the goal of the Mayport deliberations was to allow President George W. Bush to announce that the last Nimitz class carrier - named for his father - would be home-ported in Florida, where his brother was formerly the governor. The commissioning of the carrier George H.W. Bush is scheduled for Jan. 10.
In that light, the Pentagon's tussle over a carrier for Florida seems little more than BRAC II, fought over a ship rather than jets. After the first day, Florida has found enough political friends to declare victory.
Virginia's political leaders have already begun fighting the decision. They have plenty of reason.
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Blame Bush???
When will the Pilot Bush bashing stop? You've got to be kidding! This is all some plan devised by President Bush to move a carrier to Florida. The VP Op Ed board is over the edge once again! What's next aliens invaded our country because of Bush?
Florida or Virginia?
Just out of curiosity, what “nuclear” facilities are necessary to homeport a ship somewhere? The George Washington was reassigned to Japan when the Kitty Hawk was brought home for retirement. I don’t recall any brouhaha about the need for “nuclear facilities” for GW; why is there one about GHB? While there may need to be some folks there who are familiar with nuclear power plant issues, that is not a huge cost to get folks there for that. Not to breach any security issues, but tell me what “fortifications” we have here in HR? It seems to be a case of sour grapes to me; that and a loss of the almighty “navy” dollar. No one appears to care a whole lot about the Navy in HR (traffic, noise, pollution, drain on schools, etc.) until there is a potential loss of money, then OMG! Give me a break, VA and HR!
security was not an issue for BRAC
The clustering of most of the F-18's at Oceana was not an issue during the BRAC, nor was it an issue when raised when first locating the F-18's here. It should not be allowed to be an issue now. Also raised during the BRAC was the flight time to the carriers. Unless Jacksonville takes a ships complment of jets, there will be significant fuel wasted flying to the carriers.
Article's conclusions are baffling
There are some conclusions that are simply wrong.
“A hurricane is far more likely to hit Jacksonville than Norfolk”. True, but when has the Navy EVER kept an operational ship in port during hurricanes?
“A terrorist is less likely to succeed in attacking an already fortified Hampton Roads.” The first thing you do in a war is take out the enemy’s military infrastructure. The entire east coast from northern North Carolina to D.C. is the perfect target to decimate our military. Fortification won’t stop such an attack. Guess the writer forgot about Pearl Harbor.
Where was the outcry when the carrier Kennedy was sent to Mayport? Seems our economy survived just fine. Have you forgotten the several new ships recently homeported in Norfolk? Kind of “revenue-neutral” if you ask me.
duh...
"Florida wants the jobs and has the political clout to get them."
Wow, brilliant observation. Not only the money and jobs that the carrier would generate once moved but the jobs generated by the half-billion dollar facilities upgrade that will be required.
It's a good thing that Virginia politicians would never stoop so low as to do something good for their constituents. Shame on those Florida politicians who are trying so hard to do what's best for Florida. How dare they??