Navy CAPT MARSHALL A. HANSON, USNR (ReT.) • diReCTOR, NAvAL SeRviCeS SeCTiON
Carrier CoNCerNs Where are they now? Where do they belong? And how many do we need?
he U.S. Navy currently operates 11 aircraft carriers. Fiscal hawks and security doves suggest that this country doesn’t need that many. Manned by more than 5,000 Sailors, the aircraft carrier has become a target for budget cuts. If the number of aircraft carriers is reduced, will the Navy be able to meet crisis demands? The aircraft carrier has been the weapon of choice for U.S. presidents. As expressed by President Bill Clinton during a 1993 visit to the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), “When word of crisis breaks out in Washington, it’s no accident the first question that comes to everyone’s lips is: Where is the nearest carrier?” A debate is forming on what is of greater importance: forward presence or the cost and maintenance of an evermore expensive Navy? The argument is between a budget deficit and a presence deficit. Always fair game for budget cutters, aircraft carriers are under fire because of their massive costs. The Government Accountability Office in 1997 reported that the lifecycle cost of a nuclear carrier is $22 billion. In his 1985 book Pentagon and the Art of War, defense analyst Edward N. Luttwak estimated that “more than $6 billion worth of ships, as well as salaries, benefits, and pensions for 8,000 people are needed to keep a carrier-based air wing of 90 planes at sea.” The rate of inflation has nearly doubled that amount as of 2011. Last summer, the Sustainable Defense Task Force plan suggested that the U.S. Navy could “retire two Navy aircraft carriers and two naval air wings.” Commissioned by Rep. Barney Frank (D–Mass.) and supported by Rep. Ron Paul (R– Texas), the study said this reduction would save the nation $50 billion. Because retiring two carriers actually reduces the number of carrier battle groups, even more ships could be cut, providing even greater savings. The study proposed a 230-ship Navy with an overall savings of $126.6 billion. In the September 2010 report “Budgetary Savings from Military Restraint,” the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C., proposed reducing the Navy to eight carrier battle groups, explaining that “under a strategy of restraint, the 12
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Officer / May–June 2011
Navy would operate as a surge force that deploys to fight, rather than attempting to stamp out trouble by maintaining a presence around the world.” Observers point out that the United States currently has more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined. The International Institute for Strategic Studies reports that countries with aircraft carriers in service include Italy (two), Britain (one)—with two planned after 2020—and India (one) with two being constructed and another being rebuilt. Russia, France, Spain, Brazil, and Thailand each have one. China is rebuilding a carrier that it bought from Russia. A 12th U.S. carrier—the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78)— is under construction, with an expected completion date of 2015, and two more authorized carriers are yet unnamed. In addition, the United States has 10 amphibious carriers that provide helicopter and Harrier (vertical and short-takeoff and landing aircraft) fighter support. The USS Enterprise (CVN-65) is scheduled for retirement in 2013. But the number of available U.S. carriers is misleading. At the end of February, only three were deployed. Of the others, one was in dry-dock, one was being refueled, and one was in ship overhaul. Operationally, two were going through qualifications; two were in training exercises; and one was returning to home port after deployment. The normal cycle is deployment, refit, and train. A particular goal set by then–Chief of Naval Operations ADM Vernon Clark was to enable a surge of aircraft carriers during crisis periods. In 2004, for the Summer Pulse exercise, seven carriers were surged with 12 in the fleet. Looking at February’s numbers, it appears that only five or six carriers could have responded. In an interview with WTNT radio, former United Nations Amb. John Bolton pointed out that the U.S. Navy didn’t have an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean at the time the unrest began in Libya (see “Troubled Region,” page 38), which precluded evacuation of American citizens. The closest aircraft carrier was the Enterprise, which was stationed off the Persian