U.S. NAVY PHOTO
The USS Kitty Hawk, based at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2008.
Isles could win
Navy’s carrier shuffleA yearlong study will compare
homeports in Hawaii and Guam
A $1.8 million Navy study is underway to determine whether it will be feasible to homeport a nuclear carrier at Pearl Harbor by moving a second carrier into the western Pacific.
Navy spokesman Lt. j.g. Mike Morley said there are no plans to remove the USS Kitty Hawk from Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan before its scheduled decommissioning in 2008.
"We would have two carriers in the Pacific if a carrier were to move to Hawaii or Guam," he said. "We remain committed to maintaining a carrier presence in Japan."
The Kitty Hawk, the Navy's oldest flattop in its 12-carrier fleet, has been based at Yokosuka since August 1998, after a three-month overhaul. It is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2008, when the next new carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, is scheduled to replace it. At that time, the Kitty Hawk will be 47 years old.
The Kitty Hawk and the USS John F. Kennedy, which is now stationed at Maypole Naval Station in Florida and scheduled to be decommissioned in 2018, are the only two nonnuclear carriers left in service.
In January, the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's biggest daily newspaper, reported that Japan will allow the United States to station a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier at Yokosuka, setting the stage for yet another controversy on Japan's ban of allowing anything nuclear into the country. The government immediately dismissed the article, saying it was wrong.
Adm. Walter F. Doran, the Pacific Fleet commander, last week told reporters in Washington that a carrier may be shifted permanently from the mainland to Hawaii or Guam to boost the Navy's position in the Asia-Pacific region.
"It's something we're constantly looking at: Hawaii or Guam?" Morley said. "The Pacific Fleet has invested some money into this process already. Is there the thought that having a carrier based in Hawaii or Guam would be beneficial? Absolutely."
Morley said the study will be done by Navy engineers and will be completed sometime next year. Morley said the yearlong study will examine issues such as required utility upgrades to piers and facilities. Funds from the Pacific Fleet's 2003 fiscal budget will pay for the study.
The next carrier that will join the Pacific Fleet next spring is the USS Ronald Reagan, which has been assigned to San Diego. The USS John C. Stennis and the USS Nimitz are also based at San Diego. The USS Abraham Lincoln is based at Everett, Wash., and the USS Carl Vinson is based at Bremerton, Wash.
Guam officials also have been lobbying for a carrier, estimating that homebasing one there would create more than 4,000 new jobs and pump $375 million annually into the local economy.
A 1998 study by the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce estimated a carrier based in Honolulu would generate 4,200 jobs and have a $375 million annual economic impact.
That assessment was made the last time the Navy studied the possibility of locating a carrier at Pearl Harbor. The only time a carrier called Pearl Harbor home was during World War II.
