Panetta, on Enterprise, says cuts won't weaken Navy

ABOARD THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ENTERPRISE

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta used his first visit to an aircraft carrier at sea to reassure the crew of the Norfolk-based Enterprise on Saturday that even as he prepares to cut billions in defense spending, America's Navy will remain healthy and strong.

With the roar of jet engines at times drowning him out, Panetta vowed before nearly 2,000 sailors gathered in the ship's hangar bay that he will maintain the Navy's carrier fleet at 11. He said that as the military downsizes, the Navy will only become more important because of its ability to project American power anywhere in the world, even on short notice.

"We think it's right for our national defense," he said.

Panetta flew aboard by helicopter just before noon. The 50-year-old Enterprise and its crew, steaming roughly 100 miles off the coast of Georgia, are preparing for the carrier's 22nd and final deployment, to the Middle East this spring.

Wearing a flight jacket, an Enterprise baseball cap and sneakers, Panetta began the visit by sharing lunch with enlisted sailors, after which he visited the bridge.

There the commanding officer, Capt. William Hamilton, explained the current training scenario: Posing as an enemy vessel, the Norfolk-based cruiser Normandy, allied with a made-up hostile nation named Garnet, was trailing close behind and beginning to show signs of aggression.

A few minutes later, Panetta struck up a conversation with the young sailor who was driving the ship, Seaman Chris McCarter.

"Depending on how fast she's going, I can stop her on a dime if I need to," McCarter said. Panetta then asked about the ship's speed and whether sailors had the ability to put the vessel on autopilot. McCarter explained that he could, but it's done only rarely - three times in his three years on board.

"So you've got a driver's license, then?" Panetta joked.

"Yes, sir," McCarter said, laughing. "I don't know if it covers aircraft carriers, though."

After taking a turn at the helm, Panetta headed to the flight deck, where he watched 19- and 20-year-old sailors launch and recover fighter jets - something he'd never seen before.

After one arrested landing, he stood with his hands on hips, shaking his head.

"Incredible," he said. "Just incredible."

During his afternoon speech in the hangar bay, Panetta called the takeoffs and landings "a thrill I'll never forget."

Then he thanked the crew members for their service, saying their efforts had played critical roles in many of world's greatest recent successes, including the death of Osama bin Laden, the degradation of al-Qaida, and regime changes across the Middle East.

"You're making a difference for America," he said.

In return, he offered a pledge that the cuts the Pentagon will unveil in the coming weeks - $490 billion over the next 10 years - won't leave a hollowed-out force.

While he said some Navy programs will face cuts and the military as a whole will come out smaller, it will also be more agile, more deployable and more technologically advanced, he said. It will remain capable of taking on any aggressor and focused on the Middle East, all while adding renewed focus in the Pacific.

Speaking later to reporters, Panetta couldn't say whether that might eventually mean that one or more of the Navy's Atlantic-based carriers moves west, though he said no decision to that effect has been made so far.

Asked how long he envisions maintaining 11 carriers, Panetta was less equivocal.

"It's a long-term commitment," he said.

Corinne Reilly, 757-446-2949, corinne.reilly@pilotonline.com