WASHINGTON — Congress agreed Friday to reduce the size of the nation’s aircraft carrier fleet for the first time in 12 years by mothballing the USS John F. Kennedy…Under the deal reached by House and Senate negotiators, the Navy can retire the Kennedy in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. But the ship must be kept in good enough condition to be reactivated in case of a national emergency.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/dp-41308sy0sep30,0,4528679.story?coll=dp-news-local-final
By: Bager1968 - 3rd October 2006 at 23:13
There will be no need for a dedicated training carrier, the smaller air wings on fewer ships don’t need as many hours for carrier-qualification/requalification as before, especially with modern simulators for much of such training.
For a long time the USN has used whatever carriers are in post-overhaul workup (or recently returned from deployment) status afor training duties… remember that JFK did a Med cruise in 2002, and was in the Arabian Gulf in 1997, 1999, & 2004… there was no dedicated training carrier then.
Besides, the JFK hasn’t operated aircraft for several months, since she was de-certified for flight ops (arresting gear found to be unsafe before Feb. 20, 2006).
Note the comments & ship’s history here:
http://navysite.de/cvn/cv67.htm
By: Super Nimrod - 3rd October 2006 at 20:28
The savings will be significant. Assuming that laying up the JFK means that the Navy will need 4000 less sailors/aviators then that alone will save in excess of $200 million per annum before you start considering the ship operating costs and the aircraft costs.
By: bring_it_on - 3rd October 2006 at 17:41
ny idea when it comes out of drydock and when they start building CVN-78 in ernest?
The george washington should come out of dry dock in about 12 months or so .
the george h bush should take another 24-30 months of certification etc etc after being cristened this week!!
By: sealordlawrence - 3rd October 2006 at 14:43
There was a congressional budget report not so long ago which predicted that by 2030 the USN would operate just 7 carriers.
By: Tango III - 3rd October 2006 at 13:44
Originally Posted by joey
hmm how many carrier does the 7th fleet has? 4?
officially, is one CV Kitty Hawk ,but U.S. navy can send (any) numbers of carrier battal groups depending on regional criss and in anoter region-s
By: roberto_yeager - 3rd October 2006 at 13:36
Ok…
Thanks…
1Saludo
By: totoro - 3rd October 2006 at 12:47
According to globalsecurity’s page concering the deployment cycles, a nuclear carrier spends 23 out of 76 months in dry dock. With additional prep and training time for a new cycle it could be rounded out to 1 month out of service for every two months in service. That means that for the majority of the time 7 (actually 7.3) carriers are either ready for service or in advanced training or have just been done with their deployment and could be deployed again in an emergency. With 12 carriers, that could be increased to 8 carriers.
Out of those 4-5 carriers that are on deployment or are surge ready could steam off right away. Right away for surge ready ones being 1-4 days. I am guessing the remaining ones could get on the way within 5-14 days. Not too bad, eh?
By: sferrin - 3rd October 2006 at 12:39
I dont think it is an all that bad idea to put the JFK aside for about 2 years until the GH comes online , it will save money which can be spent elsewhere and teh USN can always call it when needed!! A reasonable tradoff given that its only about 2-3 years .
BTW the GH will be christened this week!!
Any idea when it comes out of drydock and when they start building CVN-78 in ernest?
By: bring_it_on - 3rd October 2006 at 12:22
I dont think it is an all that bad idea to put the JFK aside for about 2 years until the GH comes online , it will save money which can be spent elsewhere and teh USN can always call it when needed!! A reasonable tradoff given that its only about 2-3 years .
BTW the GH will be christened this week!!
By: joey - 3rd October 2006 at 12:15
hmm how many carrier does the 7th fleet has? 4?
By: sferrin - 3rd October 2006 at 12:14
And one question…
what carrier will be in Japan? Because the rest are nuke…
1Saludo
Kitty Hawk for the time being (JFK was never based in Japan)
By: bring_it_on - 3rd October 2006 at 10:09
George washington IIRC , this the reason it is dry docks to prepare for JAPAN !!
By: roberto_yeager - 3rd October 2006 at 10:07
And one question…
what carrier will be in Japan? Because the rest are nuke…
1Saludo
By: sferrin - 3rd October 2006 at 00:34
IIRC USS GW is out to dry dock duty for 12 months 🙂 so it leaves with 10 with one out if i am doing the math right!!
IIRC there is always at least one carrier in long term overhaul. Combine that with one being dedicated to training new pilots (they still do that like they use to do with the Langley right?) and that takes two carriers out of the picture from the get go. So even with 12 only 10 were usable tops. Now it’s down to 9.
By: bring_it_on - 3rd October 2006 at 00:29
So what will they be left with 11 carriers and one of THOSE tied up training?
IIRC USS GW is out to dry dock duty for 12 months 🙂 so it leaves with 10 with one out if i am doing the math right!!
By: bring_it_on - 3rd October 2006 at 00:27
I guess so !! I wonder how much money is being saved through this endeavour ?? any guesses or info ?? And when is the GHB supposed to come online ?
By: sferrin - 3rd October 2006 at 00:25
So what will they be left with 11 carriers and one of THOSE tied up training?
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October 3, 2006 at 12:19 am