by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
It was standing room only Tuesday morning in the Hadlow Room at the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce. Washington, D. C., Tallahassee and Jacksonville were all well-represented as U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez and U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown and Ander Crenshaw presented to the business, legal and government communities an update on the quest to secure a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier for Mayport Naval Station.
“I lost control of this meeting last Wednesday,” commented John Meserve, mayor of Atlantic Beach and chair of the Chamber’s Military Issues Committee. After counting close to 100 people in the room he added, “We usually have less than 20 people attend these meetings.”
Meserve explained the reason for inviting Jacksonville’s Congressional leaders and said, “Obviously, the good work has been done but we still have to fight the fight.” He was referring to the campaign being mounted by the Commonwealth of Virginia’s representatives in Congress to derail the Mayport effort in order to maintain all of the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet carriers in Norfolk.
“The decision for a carrier to come to Mayport had very little to do with politics or even the economy,” said Rear Adm. Joseph Kernan, commander of the U. S. 4th Fleet. “It was a strategic decision and Jacksonville is a strategic location.”
U. S. Sen. Bill Nelson said the process of deciding to bring a carrier to Mayport actually began in Norfolk when the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff saw all five carriers berthed in a row.
“He said it was an image that was seared in his mind,” recalled Nelson. “What a security risk. The lesson of Pearl Harbor is what led to the decision to station a carrier in Mayport.”
Nelson said the part of the fight remaining is to secure the funding for improvements to the facilities at Mayport, particularly the construction of a maintenance facility for a nuclear-powered vessel. He added Jacksonville has some powerful advantages in that area. Nelson and Martinez sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee and Crenshaw is a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
“And we all know Corrine delivers,” Nelson said of Brown.
“We’re going to need nearly half a trillion dollars and we’re going to have to find the funds, but we have been assured the money will be there,” said Crenshaw.
The Secretary of the Navy will deliver the official decision to home-port a nuclear carrier at Mayport to the Secretary of Defense on Dec. 21, Nelson said.
Martinez added he’s confident the final decision can be made while George W. Bush is in the White House and he thinks Mayport has an edge for the fast-track for several reasons. The Navy’s new nuclear carrier, the “George H. W. Bush,” will be commissioned Jan. 10 and Martinez said it’s a perfect opportunity for the President to send the vessel named after his father to Florida, where his brother, Jeb Bush, was governor.
When asked if the impending change in administration might have any effect on whether Mayport gets the George H. W. Bush or another carrier, Nelson said, “The decision has been made and it’s a decision that will transcend administrations. President-elect Obama has no say in the decision. He has the economy and the war to worry about and he will delegate defense decisions to the Department of Defense.
“$560 billion is what will be required at this point and it’s up to us to make sure it gets funded.”
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