Keep It In Norfolk
Governor Warner penned an op-ed that ran in Sunday’s Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. He wrote that the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, should stay in Norfolk when it is commissioned next year.
National security should not subject to the whims of politics. And sailors should not be required to transfer to a port that is not equipped to meet their needs.
In 2005, Governor Warner worked with both Democrats and Republicans on the federal, state, and local levels to keep military bases in Virginia. Governor Warner believes the same Virginia tradition of bipartisanship may be required to keep CVN-77 at Norfolk.
Take a moment and read the op-ed below—and please share it with your friends.
New carrier belongs in Virginia, not Florida
By Mark Warner
Virginian-Pilot, May 25, 2008In January 2009, the U.S. Navy will commission its latest Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, or CVN-77. The carrier is the latest to be proudly built by the men and women of the Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipyard.
Norfolk has long been the site from which our nation’s sailors have deployed to protect American interests. It is the site from which Virginians have worked for decades to support those sailors, and it will remain so for the foreseeable future.
That is why news of a reported political push to have CVN-77, or other carriers, home-ported in Mayport, Florida is so troubling. National security should not subject to the whims of politics. And sailors should not be required to transfer to a port that is not equipped to meet their needs.
Mayport currently is not equipped to accommodate nuclear-powered carriers, and the required upgrade would be expensive and time-consuming. Some estimates put the cost at $500 million for a five-year effort to adapt Mayport to handle carriers. Others believe the cost could be much higher.
Wouldn’t that money be better spent paying and equipping our forces? That alone should be reason enough to home-port the carrier at Norfolk.
But there are other compelling reasons, too.
• Keeping CVN-77 close to the Shipyard’s expertise and personnel will pay enormous dividends in time and money over the life of the carrier.
• The fighter jets that will serve on CVN-77 already are based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach and are therefore in a better position to train with the carrier if it remains in Norfolk
• The thousands of U.S. Navy personnel that will proudly serve on CVN-77 – not to mention their families – already are comfortably located in our neighborhoods, churches and schools across Hampton Roads.
Some have argued for a “strategic dispersal” of the carriers in case of a surprise attack-a scenario which diminished greatly with the end of the Cold War. In fact, there are seldom more than two of our nation’s 11 carriers in Norfolk at any one time.
As governor, we assembled a bipartisan coalition when Naval Air Station Oceana came into the crosshairs of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. We recognized that relocating the air wings threatened the significant investments already made by this region and our entire Commonwealth in remaining a strong partner with our military.
The fight to preserve Oceana in 2005 required a strong working partnership with our representatives in Congress – Republicans and Democrats. It required support from General Assembly leaders and legislators, both Republican and Democrat. The Democratic lieutenant governor and Republican attorney general both pledged their best efforts – even as both of them were actively campaigning against each other for the office of governor.
And we marshaled the best efforts of local mayors, city councils and county boards, and the region’s business and community leadership, to demonstrate to the BRAC commissioners that the commonwealth would not give-up Oceana without a fight.
Virginia ultimately was allowed to present its compelling case: that preserving the air mission at Oceana best met the needs of the Navy, and fully supported the national security needs of our nation.
That same Virginia tradition of bipartisan effort may be required now to convey our strong arguments for basing CVN-77 at Norfolk.
We owe that to the shipyard workers who built CVN-77, the aviators who will be assigned to the carrier, and to the thousands of Navy men and women and their families – our neighbors – who will proudly serve aboard her when CVN-77 is commissioned early next year. We also owe it to the American taxpayer not to waste their money building unnecessary infrastructure in Florida when it already exists right here in Virginia.