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November 20, 2008 - Governor Tim Kaine, Senator-elect Mark Warner, and Senators Webb and John Warner hold a press conference calling on the Navy to delay its decision to create a second East Coast homeport for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Mayport
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ShareEast Coast Homeporting of Navy Aircraft Carriers
For the past four decades, Naval Station Norfolk has served as the East Coast homeport for the Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, yet in January 2009, former Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter announced a proposal to relocate a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier from Naval Station Norfolk to a new homeport in Mayport, Florida.
As both a member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and a former Secretary of the Navy, I remain convinced that there is no reasonable justification for the relocation of an aircraft carrier to Mayport when the Navy has identified growing readiness risks in its warfighting and shore-installation programs.
On January 15, 2009, during their U.S. Senate confirmation hearing before the Committee on Armed Services, nominees for the Deputy Secretary of the Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy committed to a review of the Navy’s homeporting decision for Mayport. This review will be included in the Department of Defense’s Quadrennial Defense Review, which will be completed in late 2009 or early 2010.
Most recently, in response to testimony given by the Chief of Naval Operations on June 4, 2009 stating that the Navy's future infrastructure maintenance is at risk, I sent a letter to the Department of Defense regarding the fiscal and defense priorities of the Department of the Navy. In my letter, I emphasized that rather than investing in expensive new facilities in Mayport, the Navy should first remedy its current shore-installation backlog.
The Navy acknowledged that it has a $28 billion backlog in shore facility restoration and modernization. The Navy also confirmed that the funding backlog for necessary restoration and modernization projects at the Navy's four naval shipyards has grown from $791 million last November to $1.3 billion in May 2009.
On January 15, 2009, during their U.S. Senate confirmation hearing before the Committee on Armed Services, nominees for the Deputy Secretary of the Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy committed to a review of the Navy’s homeporting decision for Mayport. This review will be included in the Department of Defense’s Quadrennial Defense Review, which will be completed in late 2009 or early 2010.
Most recently, in response to testimony given by the Chief of Naval Operations on June 4, 2009 stating that the Navy's future infrastructure maintenance is at risk, I sent a letter to the Department of Defense regarding the fiscal and defense priorities of the Department of the Navy. In my letter, I emphasized that rather than investing in expensive new facilities in Mayport, the Navy should first remedy its current shore-installation backlog.
The Navy acknowledged that it has a $28 billion backlog in shore facility restoration and modernization. The Navy also confirmed that the funding backlog for necessary restoration and modernization projects at the Navy's four naval shipyards has grown from $791 million last November to $1.3 billion in May 2009.