State desires
aircraft carrier
at Pearl HarborOfficials propose using Kalaeloa
for the craft's support base
Gov. Linda Lingle's administration has begun talks with the Pentagon on basing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Pearl Harbor.
Finding a base for a carrier wing with its nearly 2,600 officers, enlisted men and women, and their 72 aircraft is a crucial piece of the puzzle, and Lingle officials propose using the old Barbers Point Naval Air Station at Kalaeloa as the home for its fighter jets and helicopters.
Until July 1999 the 3,700-acre Barbers Point Naval Air Station was an active military field and a major staging area during every war beginning with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The last combat jets assigned to Barbers Point were A4E Skyhawks in 1992.
Under the last base closure proceedings in 1993, the Navy relocated its P-3C Orion sub hunter and SH-60 helicopter squadrons and the accompanying 2,200 sailors and civilians to the Marine Corps base in Kaneohe. However, it retained control of 1,007 acres, 548 housing units and a golf course.
The rest of the Kalaeloa property was turned over to the state. Much of the old Navy base has been underutilized, except for a Department of Veterans Affairs homeless shelter, the relocation of major elements of the Hawaii Army and Air National Guard, a Coast Guard aerial operation and the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Plans for a shoreline park, sports center, raceway park and light industry and commercial development never got off the drawing board.
The last time the Navy studied the possibility of locating one of its 12 carriers to Pearl Harbor was in 1998. It ruled out that possibility after studying the issue for a year, saying it was too expensive to send a 9,700-ton Nimitz-class carrier to Pearl Harbor.
The stumbling block then, as now, was a base for an accompanying carrier air wing.
Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, state adjutant general, said the Lingle administration "is ready to support the Navy and the military if they deem it appropriate to send a battle group to Hawaii."
He believes Kalaeloa property could support what the Navy needs.
Lee does not believe the placement of a Navy aviation unit there would conflict with the operations of Army and Air National Guard.
"The Air Guard already runs the airfield there," Lee said. "We see this as a complementary operation and not one or the other."
Nor does Lee expect the Coast Guard would have to relocate its HH65 Dolphin helicopter and C-130 rescue operations from the 44 acres it now uses.
With more military homes being proposed, it appears that housing for the 2,600-member carrier wing and 3,000 officers and sailors of a carrier would not be a problem.
Last week, U.S. Rep. Ed Case told the Star-Bulletin he would support getting back part of Kalaeloa from the state to house a carrier wing.
Adm. Robert Natter, Atlantic Fleet commander, already has been asked by Adm. Vern Clark, chief of naval operations, for his recommendations on what part of his forces could be sent to the Pacific.
Case believes Pearl Harbor and its shipyard have the infrastructure to support an aircraft carrier. Case said the current discussion is part of the continuing effort by the Pentagon to realign its forces and counter the growing terrorist threats on the Korean peninsula, the Philippines and other Asian-Pacific hot spots.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye would say only that the possibility of locating an aircraft carrier to Pearl Harbor is "under serious consideration" yesterday.
In his speech to the Mililani Rotary Club, Inouye said, "There will be a change in the formation of ships at Pearl Harbor, and it will not be a decrease."
The Hawaii Democrat also predicted that "Hawaii will not lose any bases, but rather increase its level of activities" if there is another round of base closures.
The Navy splits its 12 carriers evenly between the Pacific and the Atlantic. Three of the Pacific Fleet's carriers are at San Diego, two in Puget Sound in Washington and one in Japan. The last time a carrier was stationed at Pearl Harbor was during World War II.
Eleven warships and 16 submarines are now home-ported at Pearl Harbor.
The Navy in Washington, D.C., and the Pacific Fleet have said it was "premature" to discuss any plans pertaining to transferring forces to the Pacific.
James Tollefson, president of the Chamber Commerce of Hawaii, said his organization still backs the assignment of a carrier battle group to Hawaii. Five years ago the chamber estimated that Hawaii would gain $375 million annually with the creation of the 4,200 jobs that came with berthing a carrier at Pearl Harbor.