THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 7, 1995 TAG: 9501070235
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
The Navy is considering extending the life of the aircraft carrier America for about a year beyond its scheduled decommissioning in October 1996, officials said Friday.
Lt. Conrad Chun, a Navy spokesman, said the service is developing a plan that would keep the ship in service through one additional overseas deployment cycle. Carriers typically deploy for six months, then spend about a year in and around their homeport before deploying again.
The America, commissioned 30 years ago this month, has had maintenance problems recently. In the summer of 1993, a crew member's letter detailing concerns about safety and seaworthiness led Rep. Owen B. Pickett of Virginia Beach to fly out to the ship for an inspection tour.
Pickett said Friday, ``There's nothing wrong with the America that couldn't be fixed.'' He said he's satisfied the ship could safely be deployed one or two times beyond its currently scheduled retirement.
The America's next deployment, now set to be its last, begins in August. The ship would return to Norfolk in January or early February, 1996, and on the normal rotation, be available for a final overseas trip in early 1997.
Under study are such issues as the cost of keeping the America afloat and the composition of its crew and air wing. Current plans call for the America to be replaced next year by the John C. Stennis, a new carrier, so retaining the America would force the Navy to add sailors and airmen and change the assignments and/or rotations of carrier air wings.
No decision on the America plan has been made, Chun stressed.
If the America stays in service, the Navy would have 13 carriers available for duty, at least temporarily. That's one more than called for in the Clinton administration's 1993 ``bottom-up review'' of American forces. The force levels set in that review have been the basis of the administration's military plans.
Navy officials say with a 13-carrier force - they actually refer to it as ``12-plus-1'' because one carrier is designated for use as a training ship - they could keep a flattop on station full-time in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.
American and allied commanders have asked for a permanent carrier presence in both areas. The Navy says that with the current ``11-plus-1'' force, it must have one carrier move back and forth between the gulf and the Med. ILLUSTRATION: The carrier America's scheduled decommissioning is in October
1996.
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY CARRIER U.S.S. AMERICA by CNB