Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, FL) October 07, 2003
Jacksonville bases will lose ships, planes
By Gregory Piatt
Next year, Navy forces based in Jacksonville will begin to lose some ships and planes that were crucial to the country's defense during the Cold War.
The Navy will decommission two Mayport Naval Station destroyers, USS Spruance and USS O'Bannon.
From spring 2004 to 2009, Jacksonville Naval Air Station will draw down its six squadrons of carrier-based S-3B Viking jets -- more than 100 planes, according to the Navy.
These losses indicate the Navy's desire to cut costs and invest in new technologies rather than being a precursor of a base closing, said Navy Capt. Ted Algire, commander of the six squadrons. The next round of base closure selections will be in 2005.
'Jacksonville will be a center of naval aviation for a while,' Algire said.
While Algire seems to think the Navy will remain an important player in the local economy, Gov. Jeb Bush and other key officials hope to make that a reality.
Today, members of the Governor's Advisory Commission on the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure process will meet with congressional, state, city and military officials on a fact-finding mission. The group will discuss how to protect the region's military installations from closing or downsizing during the 2005 base closure process.
The Jacksonville meeting is one of nine across Florida about protecting the state's 21 military bases and three unified commands.
The ships and squadrons will begin leaving Jacksonville before any decision is made on which bases will close across the country. However, the squadrons will leave over the course of several years, so the impact on Jacksonville is negligible, said Dan McCarthy, military liaison for the city.
'Because [Jacksonville Naval Air Station] is such a strategic and valuable aviation facility, the city has every confidence that the Navy will replace the dis-established squadrons with other aviation missions and squadrons,' McCarthy said.
'It won't be a degradation in [the fleet's] combat effectiveness,' said Rear Adm. Donald Bullard, commander of the Mayport-based USS John F. Kennedy strike group. Currently, there are 21 ships, including the two destroyers, home-ported at Mayport. SHRINKING THE FLEET
The decommissioning of the Spruance and the O'Bannon, both Spruance class built in the 1970s, is part of a Navy plan to downsize its fleet and personnel to cut costs. The Navy will then reinvest its savings in the next generation of ships and planes to meet new threats facing the military in the 21st century.
Cost-cutting and force reduction was no more evident than when the Navy's fleet numbers fell below 300 ships in August -- the first time since World War I. The 296 ship count is a significant decrease from the 568 ships late in the Cold War.
The Defense Department plans to shrink the fleet to 291 by 2006, according to the Navy's 2004 budget submission. It will then build back up to 305 in 2009 with new ships that have smaller crews and cost less to operate, according to President Bush's administration.
The Navy plans to add a new class of amphibious assault ships, transport dock ships, Littoral combat ships that are expected to carry between 15 and 50 sailors, and a new class of destroyers that will house a crew of 125 to 175.
To achieve this newer force, the Navy accelerated the decommissioning of its 31 Spruance class ships, which have 382 crew members and an annual operating cost of about $ 35 million.
The newer Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers, which began entering the fleet in 1991, have 323 sailors and an annual operating cost of about $ 20 million. Mayport has three Arleigh Burke class destroyers -- USS Carney, USS Roosevelt and USS The Sullivans.
COLD WAR FIGHTER
Like the destroyers, the S-3B Vikings were developed for the Cold War's hyperactive anti-submarine warfare duties.
Originally, the aircraft were developed to hunt Soviet subs up and down the U.S. coasts. Now they provide fleet protection against hostile surface ships and function as an aircraft carrier's main in-air aircraft refueler.
But the Viking has fallen victim to the Navy's need to scale back its various aircraft to four carrier-based planes. Along with some S-3B jets, the Navy is retiring some F/A-18 Hornets, F-14 Tomcats and H-46 Sea Knight helicopters next year.
The pace of the drawdown in Jacksonville, however, will be from one to two Viking squadrons a year until 2009, Algire said.
The Navy 'will bring on platforms that are more advanced and that can multitask,' Bullard added.
When operating in the same theater, the Air Force will pick up some of the refueling duties of the S-3B. At sea, the new F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter also will assume the refueling role of the Viking, Algire said.
The Super Hornet is expected to be introduced in the Atlantic Fleet beginning in 2004, and there will be 10 active squadrons and one training squadron operating on the East Coast by 2010, according to globalsecurity.org. Each squadron will consist of 12 or 14 aircraft and the training squadron will have 32 planes.
Whether the Super Hornet comes to Jacksonville is still open because the transition to that aircraft will reduce the number of personnel and planes assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, according to the Web site.
Local Navy officials also had no answers.
No announcements have been made about the Super Hornet or other aircraft replacing the Viking in Jacksonville, said Algire and Pat Dooling, spokesman for Navy Region Southeast.
However, the Viking will be missed.
'It's a capable aircraft and it is hard for me to see it go,' Algire said.
Times-Union staff writer Rachel Davis contributed to this report. Staff writer Greg Piatt can be reached at (904) 359-4169 or via e-mail at greg.piatt@jacksonville.com. S-3B VIKING
More than 100 planes in Jacksonville's six S-3B Viking squadrons will be phased out from next spring until 2009. Here are some facts about the aircraft: Cost of plane: $ 27 million Crew: Two to four, depending on the mission Entered into Service: 1975 Based in Jacksonville: 1997 How many: Six squadrons based at Jacksonville Naval Air Station -- five active, one fleet readiness. (VS-22 'Checkmates,' VS-24 'Scouts,' VS-30 'Diamondcutters,' VS-31 'Topcats,' VS-32 'Maulers.') Mission: When introduced, the Viking's main mission was anti-submarine warfare. However, that mission went away as did the threat of the Soviet Navy. The carrier-based jet's main mission is to protect the battle group against hostile ships and also serve as an aircraft refueler. Memorable missions: Three squadrons flew missions in the Afghanistan conflict during Operation Enduring Freedom. Two of the squadrons flew in the homeland defense missions following Sept. 11, 2001. One squadron flew in Operation Southern Watch, which reinforced the southern no-fly zone in Iraq that lasted from 1991 until this year. SPRUANCE CLASS DESTROYERS
The USS Spruance and USS O'Bannon will be decommissioned in fiscal year 2005. Here are some facts about the Spruance class destroyers: Cost: $ 80 million in 1975 Crew: 382 -- 30 officers, 352 sailors Commissioned: USS Spruance 1975, USS O'Bannon 1979 Based in Jacksonville: USS Spruance 1987, USS O'Bannon 1994 Mission: Originally developed as anti-submarine destroyers during the Cold War, the ships were upgraded with Tomahawk missiles to attack land targets and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. Along with anti-submarine duties, the destroyers are to provide gunfire support for amphibious operations and surveillance duties. Memorable missions: USS Spruance was deployed to the Mediterranean as part of the John F. Kennedy Battle Group; was the Flagship for Commander, Task Force Sixty (CTF-60) during the deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and the continuing War on Terrorism.
Source: The Navy and globalsecurity.org
© Copyright 2003, The Florida Times-Union
