Lawmakers: Navy plan to move carrier dead in water

WASHINGTON

The Navy has ended, for now, its attempt move a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier to Mayport, Fla., but three other ships - possibly from Hampton Roads - might be headed for the Florida base soon.

The ship movement plans were announced Monday as the Obama administration presented a proposed 2013 defense budget that calls for two new rounds of military base closings over three years and a handful of construction projects in southeast Virginia. The spending plan also includes a small pay raise and a boost in the housing allowance for military personnel but increases out-of-pocket medical expenses for military retirees.

Navy officials said during a budget briefing at the Pentagon on Monday that they are still committed to strategic dispersal of ships - a key argument for moving a carrier out of Norfolk, which is the only East Coast carrier base - but fiscal pressures forced them to defer the Mayport relocation.

Instead, the Navy is making plans to move other ships to Florida.

"The Navy will demonstrate its continued commitment to strategic dispersal by moving a three-ship amphibious ready group to Mayport in 2015," said Lt. Courtney Hillson, a Navy spokeswoman.

The ready groups, which are located in Hampton Roads, San Diego and Japan, are made up of an amphibious assault ship and two smaller amphibious ships.

Hampton Roads also will lose a cruiser, a fast-attack submarine, and a dock landing ship to decommissioning, she said, and Navy Expeditionary Combat Command in Virginia Beach will be restructured.

U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla, whose district includes Mayport and who has been fighting with Virginia legislators over the carrier relocation, said the ready group could be moving to Florida as early as this fall.

"That means 2,000 sailors and their families will call Mayport home," Crenshaw said in a statement.

Hampton Roads' congressional delegation praised the Navy's decision to indefinitely halt plans to move a carrier in 2019 as a victory for the region.

U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, said the prospect of large defense cuts outweighed the Navy's desire to have a second East Coast carrier homeport. The service has argued that a second port is necessary to disperse the carrier fleet because of the risks of terrorist attacks and hurricane-related damage.

Losing a carrier would have cost the region about 6,000 jobs and $425 million in annual revenue, according to economists.

"Today's announcement to call off these plans is a tremendous victory for the citizens of Hampton Roads, who proudly provide vital industrial services to our nation's armed forces," Forbes said in a statement.

However, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia noted that "there will be some modest shifts in personnel and in the total number of ships" at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story as part of the budget proposal. Through 2020, he said, there will be 111,000 sailors and Marines in Hampton Roads, about 3,000 fewer than at present.

The defense budget proposal also includes tens of millions of dollars in construction projects at facilities in southeastern Virginia, including $39 million for training barracks at Oceana Naval Air Station.

However, as defense officials look for ways to pare spending, they're asking Congress for two rounds of military base closings - known by the acronym BRAC - first in 2013 and again in 2015.

The most recent Base Realignment and Closure commission, in 2005, led to the closing of Fort Monroe in Hampton as well as a recommendation that Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach be shut down. State and local officials managed to keep Oceana open with pledges to more strongly address the Navy's concerns about development encroaching on the base.

Individual service members' personal finances probably will break even despite pay raises and larger housing allowances, a top Navy official said Monday, because of increased health care expenses.

"The bottom line is no one is losing a dollar. There is a not a sailor or Marine who is losing a dollar from their current paycheck," said Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, the Navy' top budget officer. "This is merely an adjustment of what is the ramp up over time."

The budget calls for pay raises of 1.7 percent a year in 2013 and 2014, followed by smaller raises of 0.5 percent in 2015, 1 percent in 2016 and 1.5 percent in 2017.

Robert Hale, the Pentagon's chief financial officer, said any pay raise after 2014 is open to adjustment if defense officials find that the compensation isn't competitive and hinders recruitment.

At the same time, housing allowances for active-duty personnel will increase $2.3 billion compared with this year's $7.3 billion budget.

But the cost of health care for retired veterans and their families - particularly those who are retired but still of working age - would rise steadily over the next five years.

Prompted by rapidly rising health care cost, the budget proposes that Tricare Prime family enrollment fee for working-age retirees follow a three-tier payment system keyed to the retiree's income. The annual enrollment fees, which this year range from $460 to $520, would increase next year to $600, $720 or $820. In five years, the fees would be $893, $1,523 and $2,048, respectively.

Prescription co-payments for retirees and military family member will rise slightly under the budget plan. But co-payments will be smaller for generic drugs and mail-order purchases.

Bill Bartel, 757-446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com