Updated at 11:30 a.m., Friday, March 30, 2007
San Diego, not Isles, to be new site for aircraft carrier
Advertiser Staff
The U.S. Navy announced today that the USS Carl Vinson will likely be relocating to San Diego in early 2010, citing a number of factors including existing infrastructure, family support facilities and proximity to training areas.Previously, the Navy had been examining whether to base the carrier USS Carl Vinson in Hawai'i, Guam or Puget Sound, Wash., after major renovation work is completed on the East Coast.
Costs in the billions of dollars for basing a carrier either in Guam or Hawai'i has worked against both locations as the Navy has sought to minimize ship transit time to the western Pacific and potential hot spots.
U.S. Sens. Daniel K. Inouye and Daniel K. Akaka issued the following comments this morning in a news release:
"We are disappointed that the USS Carl Vinson will not be coming to Pearl Harbor. The cost of sending a carrier to Hawai'i was interpreted as too high when the carrier could be more easily accommodated in San Diego and when compared to Hawai'i's advantage of its much closer proximity to potential trouble spots in Asia that threaten our national security.
"The Navy's decision does not change Hawai'i's strategic importance. Hawaii remains a key fleet location for the Navy, and will continue to be so into the foreseeable future.
"We look forward to other opportunities in the future to expand the Navy's presence in Hawai'i."
Inouye is chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Akaka is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management.
The USS Carl Vinson will join nuclear powered aircraft carriers the USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in San Diego.
The 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review calls for the presence of six of the Navy's 11 carrier strike groups to reside in the Pacific.
The Vinson, whose home port is Bremerton, Wash., is currently undergoing a maintenance period in Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipyard in Virginia.
The final decision on a home port for the Vinson will be made after completion of a supplemental environmental impact statement that will examine changes that may have occurred since the Navy completed its original environmental analysis in 2000.
