THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130518
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
The Navy will begin seeking funds next year for an additional - and perhaps final - nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the top admiral said Thursday.
``The Nimitz-class (design) is 20-plus years old and that's about how long we build one class of ships in our Navy,'' said Adm. Mike Boorda, the chief of naval operations. ``It's time to think about the follow-on'' class.
The next carrier, designated CVN-77, would be built at Newport News Shipbuilding. The Peninsula yard is the only U.S. shipbuilder able to do the work; it built the seven nuclear-powered carriers now in the fleet and will deliver an eighth, the John C. Stennis, later this year.
The yard has two other carriers, the Harry S Truman and the Ronald Reagan, in the works. The Truman is to be delivered in 1998 and the Reagan in 2002.
An additional carrier would guarantee work for the Newport News shipyard until or near the end of that decade.
Senior military leaders and planners have been talking quietly for roughly a year about the future of the carrier force, triggering speculation that the Reagan might be the last Nimitz-class ship. Congress last year authorized completion of the Reagan, CVN-76, which will cost almost $5 billion.
But Boorda said there is not enough time to design a new breed of carriers and get the first ship in the line built by about 2010, when the Navy estimates another carrier will be needed.
While using the basic Nimitz design, CVN-77 will be built to accommodate technological improvements in catapults and other systems, Boorda said. He called it a ``transition carrier'' that could be used to test some design improvements for use in the following class of ships.
The Nimitz-class ships are each about 1,000 feet long and carry around 6,000 sailors and airmen.
The design for the next class of carriers ``is a blank piece of paper'' now, Boorda said. He is open to changes in the carrier's size and propulsion system, he said, though nuclear power remains ``one of the options and right now the leading option.''
The Navy has moved away from nuclear power somewhat in recent years, building a series of large-deck amphibious ships and guided missile destroyers powered by advanced gas turbine engines.
A decision to build a non-nuclear carrier could endanger Newport News' monopoly on carrier contracts, but a shipyard spokesman said Thursday that the company understands the Navy's need to consider alternatives and has been talking to military leaders about new design ideas.
Rep. Herbert H. Bateman, a Newport News Republican, said Thursday that the Navy's examination of possible new carrier designs will reaffirm its faith in the Nimitz-class ships.
``But I can't quarrel with the fact that you've got to begin looking at alternatives,'' he said.
The Navy has ``at least got to talk about it,'' agreed Rep. Norman Sisisky, a Petersburg Democrat who frequently has worked with Bateman on carrier issues in the House National Security Committee.
Navy officials spoke to him months ago about their intent to consider new designs for whatever carrier follows CVN-77, Sisisky said.
In addition to nuclear power, Boorda said, he's inclined to favor a ``large-deck'' design. Some critics have suggested that the Navy shift to smaller ships, using ``jump jets'' that can take off and land vertically.
The jump-jet landings and takeoffs consume huge amounts of fuel, however, limiting the planes' range. The Navy wants its carriers to be able to sit well off foreign coasts but be able to launch attack jets that can fly hundreds of miles inland and deliver bombs before returning to the carrier.
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY by CNB