Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter yesterday said Pearl Harbor is in the running to be the home port of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson.

Winter also confirmed that the USS Hawaii, a new Virginia-class submarine, will be based at Pearl Harbor. A decision on the Vinson is expected to be made in April or May.

It's the first indication by the Navy that a possible aircraft carrier for Hawai'i would be relocated from the West Coast, rather than the East Coast, and the first indication that it would be the Vinson.

The aircraft carrier had been based in Bremerton, Wash., and is undergoing nuclear reactor refueling and overhaul in Norfolk, Va., a process that will take another three years.

Winter said it is an "open decision" as to where in the Pacific the carrier will go. He said it could go to Bremerton, San Diego, Hawai'i or Guam.

"We have not yet made a decision on where that carrier is going to be home-ported, except to say that it will be a Pacific home port," Winter said during a meeting with reporters.

Winter is on his first trip through the Pacific since being sworn in as Navy secretary in January. He is expected to also stop in Guam and Japan, including Okinawa.

An examination is being made of all four locations for the carrier and air wing of about 5,500 crew and 75 aircraft, he said.

The Navy in February said it intended to keep at least six aircraft carriers in the Pacific over the next two decades under a defense roadmap called the Quadrennial Defense Review.

The report, done every four years, outlines how the nation's fighting force should be structured.

Officials believed the review would speak to the strategic desire to place a carrier in Hawai'i, which is closer to Asia than West Coast ports, but budget concerns for such a shift were, and still remain, a concern.

Ship travel time to the Taiwan Strait from Pearl Harbor at 30 knots is 5.9 days, 1.9 days from Guam, 8.2 days from San Diego and 7.3 days from Everett, Wash.

Concerns over China's growing military and conflict in the Taiwan Strait, North Korea's threat, and potential for unrest in countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia, coupled with a cooling of tensions in Europe, argue for a greater shift of U.S. military firepower to the Pacific, experts say.

As part of the reorganization the Pentagon also decided to position 60 percent of its submarine force in the Pacific and 40 percent in the Atlantic.

At the time of the plan's release, Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, said the Hawai'i carrier-basing plan remained under consideration.

"I will continue to advocate that we have an aircraft carrier group based in Hawai'i," Inouye, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, said at the time. "The United States faces many challenges in the Asia-Pacific region, and I remain convinced that having a carrier based in Hawai'i will be crucial for our national security."

Guam is 3,700 miles to the southwest of Hawai'i, and as such, is closer to a potential fight. But one estimate placed the cost for moving an aircraft carrier to Hawai'i at $2.2 billion, and to Guam at $5 billion.

Approximately 8,000 Marines will be relocated to Guam from Okinawa by 2012.

"That in and of itself requires some very significant facilities," Winter said, "and one of the principle reasons why I'm making this trip and going on from Hawai'i to Guam and then on to Okinawa, is to be able to go through and see for myself what the infrastructure is like there."

Winter said Andersen Air Force Base on Guam also is being upgraded.

"There are a lot of activities going on (in Guam), and one of the questions, quite frankly, is how much can we do in what period of time?" he said.

The nearby location of an air wing for the Vinson carrier strike group also "is a very significant consideration."

Winter said the strategic advantages of Hawai'i or Guam, compared to the West Coast locations, are being looked at.

Before the Vinson left for Norfolk, its strike group included Carrier Air Wing 9, Destroyer Squadron 31, the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam, the guided missile destroyers USS O'Kane and USS Mustin, the fast combat support ship USS Camden and the submarine USS Olympia.

The 1,092-foot Carl Vinson, known as the "Gold Eagle," was commissioned in 1982 and is the third in the Nimitz class of carriers. In 2005, the carrier and its air wing launched more than 6,500 sorties in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and maritime interdiction operations.

Two carriers now are based in Bremerton, two are in San Diego and one is out of Yokosuka, Japan.

Winter also confirmed that the USS Hawaii will be home-ported in Pearl Harbor, and is expected to arrive in 2009.

The $2.6 billion submarine was christened in Groton, Conn., in June. The Navy said it also will be commissioned there.

The USS Hawaii is the newest and most advanced nuclear attack submarine and the third ship of the Virginia class — the first Navy combatants designed for the post-Cold War era.

News reports out of the East Coast said the USS Texas, the second in the Virginia class, likely would be stationed in Hawai'i, but Navy officials yesterday said no decision has been made.

Winter, who met with Gov. Linda Lingle and today is expected to tour O'ahu by helicopter before visiting the Pacific Missile Range on Kaua'i, also spent time at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.

Winter said "we are committed to maintaining the shipyard," Hawai'i's largest industrial employer with 4,300 civilian employees, after the base almost was included on the Base Realignment and Closure Commission's hit list last summer.

Winter said the shipyard is experiencing some ups and downs with workload, but is in a "very intense" work period now with jobs like submarine overhauls, and "there's a lot of good work planned in the out years."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.