NORFOLK -- Losing an aircraft carrier from Naval Station Norfolk will mean thousands of jobs and millions of dollar lost to the Hampton Roads economy.
But it could get even worse than having a carrier moved to Mayport, Florida, as the Quadrennial Defense Review 2010 recommends.
Right now, five aircraft carriers are here: USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS Harry S. Truman, USS George HW Bush and USS Enterprise.
The chief of naval operations said last April he'd go after congressional approval to decommission the "Big E" in 2012 or 2013. Enterprise is 49-years old. Admiral Gary Roughead says her nuclear reactors are expensive to maintain and that she deserves to go to pasture.
That would leave four carriers docked at Norfolk until such time as one would leave for Mayport, should the QDR recommendation be approved.
That would leave just three flattops in Hampton Roads and a big hole in the economy.
Dr. James Koch, professor of economics at Old Dominion University, says military spending accounts for 45-percent of the area's economic activity and moving ships will impact employment, possibly sending the jobless rate above the national average.
"Military spending is the absolute basis of the economy and when that disappears, everything in the region is going to suffer and we're all going to feel that in a very major way," says Dr. Koch.
USS Gerald R. Ford, currently under construction at Northrop Grumman Newport News, is scheduled to be completed in 2015. Its homeport hasn’t been set, but if tradition holds true, it would be part of the Pacific Fleet. That’s because the last carrier out of the yard, USS George HW Bush, is part of the Atlantic Fleet.
Gov. Bob McDonnell has directed Administration officials to work closely with the Commonwealth’s congressional delegation to determine the best possible courses of action moving forward to keep all Virginia-based carriers in the state.
