THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 

                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994                    TAG: 9406290572 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A6    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: NEWPORT NEWS DAILY PRESS 
DATELINE: 940629                                 LENGTH: NEWPORT NEWS

GREENPEACE DISPUTES NAVY SHIP FACTS

{LEAD} The Navy has claimed for three decades that nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are superior to conventional ships.

A Greenpeace report released today disputes that notion.

{REST} ``The new facts contained in this report should show Congress that the United States should not spend $4.5 billion to buy another nuclear carrier,'' says Hans M. Kristensen, a co-author.

It's not a conclusion designed to gladden hearts at Newport News Shipbuilding, which hopes the Senate and House appropriation committees this summer will approve the final $3.6 billion needed to begin construction of the new Nimitz-class carrier, known only as CVN-76.

The carrier is the most expensive single weapons system in the Pentagon's proposed defense budget for fiscal 1995.

Greenpeace says the United States would gain more by pursuing a worldwide ban on nuclear-powered vessels.

``A ban on nuclear propulsion is smart because it would save money at home, boost U.S. non-proliferation objectives abroad and consolidate scarce resources in a healthier and more vital non-nuclear shipbuilding industry,'' the report says. The report's conclusions run counter to a Navy study released in March that claims nuclear carriers have three main advantages over oil-powered models: they have nearly unlimited range at maximum speed, they can remain in one area almost indefinitely and they can store more bombs and fuel.

Greenpeace says nuclear carriers can't get where they're going any faster because they would outrun the slower supply ships that always sail with the battle groups.

The ability of nuclear carriers to sail indefinitely, says Greenpeace, is offset by the need of the people and aircraft on board for periodic rest and maintenance, and the need for resupply of aircraft fuel, munitions and food. The report also argues that nuclear carriers will spend a third of their useful lives in shipyards for maintenance, while conventional carriers will spend only a fourth.

by CNB