THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 13, 1995 TAG: 9501130507
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
The Navy has decided it can't afford to extend the life of the carrier America and will retire the ship on schedule in late 1996, a spokesman said Thursday.
The service had disclosed last week that it was considering one additional deployment, in early 1997, for the carrier.
Analysts tried to fashion budget adjustments that would permit the extension without increasing the Navy's overall spending, but couldn't make the numbers work, said Lt. Conrad Chun.
The spokesman said a variety of options were considered, including deploying the ship without an air wing.
The Navy has estimated that normal carrier operations cost about $170 million annually, though other estimates suggest the total could be almost twice that much.
The Norfolk-based America is scheduled to deploy in August and return by February, 1996. The ship is to be taken out of service in October, 1996.
The America will be replaced in the Navy's carrier fleet next year by the John C. Stennis, a new carrier.
Keeping both ships in service temporarily would have given the Navy 13 carriers, enough to keep one on station in both the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf.
The Navy says that with a 12-carrier fleet, the demand for carrier forces worldwide and required breaks between deployments force it to shift one ship back and forth between the Mediteranean and the Gulf. by CNB