Guam, Hawai'i are rivals for Navy aircraft carrier
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Guam is prepared to challenge Hawai'i as a homeport for any U.S. Navy aircraft carrier redeployed closer to Asian trouble spots.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser*
Joaquin Perez, district director for Guam's delegate to Congress, Madeleine Bordallo, said the island wants the carrier — and the thousands of jobs and millions in military money it brings.
Pearl Harbor would be integral to a shifting of military presence from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but Guam is also a contender.
And he said Guam has strategic advantages over Pearl Harbor.
"As far as access to areas right now that that you would consider to be trouble areas, we're a lot closer than Hawai'i," Perez said yesterday.
Guam is 3,800 miles west of Hawai'i, about four to five days closer to trouble spots such as the Philippines and Indonesia. The Navy's Nimitz-class aircraft carriers have a top speed of about 35 mph.
During a 1998 study of aircraft carrier basing, the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i estimated that a carrier would have a $375 million annual economic impact and create 4,200 jobs, although officials say that figure is low.
A carrier and its air wing typically have 5,500 crew members. Families and support personnel would add thousands more individuals.
A recent report in the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press indicated that a recommended shift in Navy forces from the Atlantic to the Pacific could mean the transfer of an entire carrier strike group, including about 8,000 sailors and a dozen ships.
An aircraft carrier has not been based in Hawai'i since World War II. Attempts since then to bring a carrier here have failed.
But a worldwide reorganization of U.S. forces, and a new focus on the Pacific, may make basing a carrier in Hawai'i or Guam more likely.
Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, head of the state's National Guard and Gov. Linda Lingle's adviser on military affairs, has said the Navy approached Lingle about two to three months ago about the plan.
Lee said the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station — now called Kalaeloa — could be used for a carrier's 75 planes and helicopters when it is in port.
The nation's 12 carriers are evenly distributed between the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, but the Navy Times said that Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark asked Atlantic Fleet commander Adm. Robert Natter — who also is the head of Fleet Forces Command — for recommendations on what forces could be sent to the Pacific.
Increased threats in Asia "demand a shift in resources to the Pacific from the Atlantic," Natter said at a May 16 Defense Forum Foundation meeting.
"I think (basing a carrier at Pearl Harbor) makes a lot of sense," said Michael Pavkovic, director of the diplomacy and military studies program at Hawai'i Pacific University. "Given the way we're thinking of realigning and centralizing a lot of our assets ... it makes a lot of sense to have something here rather than, let's say, San Diego."
Three Pacific Fleet carriers are based in San Diego and two in Washington state, putting all five about 2,600 miles from Hawai'i. One of the Pacific carriers is based in Japan.
Guam, home to 100 B-52 bombers during the Vietnam War, has been gaining in U.S. military importance with Andersen Air Force Base used for bombers sent over Iraq, and with the basing of three Los Angeles-class attack submarines there.
Perez said a fourth submarine is expected to arrive in February, $90 million worth of upgrades are being made to the Navy base, and a wing of B-1 or B-52 bombers could be stationed there in several years.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
