Copley News Service April 11, 2002
Proposal afloat to delay retirement of U.S.S. Constellation
By James W. Crawley
The Navy has informally studied delaying next year's retirement of the San Diego-based aircraft carrier Constellation and using the aged flattop as a floating base for commandos and helicopters in the war against terrorists.
At a Senate hearing Tuesday, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark said extending the 41-year-old Constellation's service life would cost an estimated $150 million to maintain the carrier and $500 million per year to operate it. "I'd love to have another carrier," Clark said at the hearing.
However, there are no firm plans to keep the carrier, Navy officials said Wednesday.
The Constellation, the second oldest in the fleet and one of only three oil-burning carriers, is scheduled for decommissioning in September 2003, following its final deployment later this year.
It is to be replaced by the carrier Ronald Reagan, which is under construction and set to arrive here in summer 2004.
The plan was one of several "what-if" studies in the weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that looked at options to boost the number of ships and aircraft the Navy can concentrate off a hostile coast, Pentagon sources said.
The Constellation, Navy planners concluded, could become a mobile base for special operations troops and helicopters and could loiter off a hostile coast with near impunity.
A similar scheme worked well during the initial months of Operation Enduring Freedom when Army helicopters and Special Forces troops replaced the Navy air wing aboard the carrier Kitty Hawk, as it cruised in the North Arabian Sea near Afghanistan.
The concept was successful and several congressmen have suggested the Navy dedicate a carrier to contingency and special operations.
Saving the Constellation was endorsed by one San Diego-area congressman Wednesday.
"Anything that gives us more reach for our tactical air assets makes sense," said Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon.
But a defense analyst questioned the feasibility and cost of postponing the carrier's retirement.
"Where are you going to get the air wing and the escorts to go with it?" said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington-based defense analysis group. "The capital cost of a carrier is small compared to the total cost of the battle group."
The Constellation was built in New York City and commissioned in 1961. San Diego has been the ship's home since July 1962, except for a three-year overhaul in Philadelphia. It has a crew of nearly 3,000 men and women, with another 2,000 on board when the carrier's air wing is embarked.
If the Constellation remains in service, it, the Nimitz and the Reagan would be based in San Diego after the carrier Stennis is transferred to Washington state in a few years.
Keeping the carrier here would give the local economy an annual $200 million boost - equivalent to hosting a Super Bowl every year. Much of that amount, about $150 million, is the ship's payroll. The rest is spent on maintenance, food for the ship and other local expenses, such as janitorial and office supplies.
During the past three years, the Navy has spent $84 million on major and minor repairs to the carrier, said Cmdr. Jack Papp, a Navy spokesman.
Routine maintenance and repair contracts amount to about $10 million annually for local ship repair firms, said Jack Reilly, president of the San Diego Ship Repair Association. The rest of the work is handled by shipyards in Washington state and Virginia, which send personnel here.
"For a 40-year-old ship, it's in very good shape," said Reilly. "You wouldn't mind having that ship around for five or 10 more years."
Copyright 2002 Copyright 2002 Copley News Service
