Navy to Ready Nuclear-Carriers Pier but Says None to Make It Home Port

The Navy insists that there are no plans now to permanently dock nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in San Diego, even though a $5-million contract is expected to be awarded soon to renovate North Island piers so they can accommodate a nuclear carrier.

Senior officers said the piers, which are expected to be ready for the new role in early 1992, will be used primarily for visiting nuclear carriers.

“It would be premature for somebody to put together that nuclear power is going to be there, and therefore the ships will be there,” said Vice Adm. Jack Fetterman Jr., commander Naval Air Force Pacific. “Nothing I know about brings the ships here in the near term.”

With the Independence, a San Diego-based, conventionally powered carrier slated to move to Japan in 1991, San Diego is scheduled for the first time in more than 20 years to have only one carrier, the Ranger, making its home port here.

San Diego is the home port for 15 nuclear-powered submarines and two nuclear cruisers, but it has never been the home port for a nuclear aircraft carrier. All of the carriers that have made their home port in San Diego have been conventionally powered by steam turbines.

However, the reduction in the number of carriers now based here and the renovation work scheduled for the piers has led to speculation that the Navy will permanently assign a nuclear-powered carrier to San Diego. Such an assignment would be welcomed by local officials, who say it could inject millions of dollars annually into the local economy.

In a letter, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado) asked Secretary of the Navy Lawrence Garrett to consider sending a nuclear carrier to San Diego, saying: “With the nuclear upgrade of the pier facilities at North Island set to begin later this year, this would appear to be a prudent move.”

Garrett has not provided any firm information concerning the assignment of carriers, but he wrote Hunter last month, saying:

“I can assure you that San Diego will continue to have some carrier presence. . . . San Diego has always been a very special Navy home, and we look forward to continuing our long and rewarding relationship with ‘America’s Finest City.’ ”

Though Defense Secretary Dick Cheney called for a moratorium on military construction in January, it is slated to be lifted May 1. Officials expect to invite companies to bid on the North Island pier renovation contract in July and award it in August, Fetterman said. The work is expected to be completed around March 1992.

“This new program will allow ships to shut down and, like plugging in an extension cord, they will operate off the power we’ll provide,” said Ken Mitchell, a spokesman for North Island Naval Air Station.

With the new project, three carrier berths at North Island’s key wall will be upgraded, said Capt. Dave Schlesinger, commanding officer of the Southwest Engineering division. The one berth slated to accommodate a nuclear carrier will be changed so it can provide 4,160 volts of electricity, instead of 480 volts. This will allow the carrier to use shore power and not have to draw on its own power, Schlesinger said.

The project is also expected to save money for the base. Under the new plan, Navy officials will purchase more high voltage power at a cheaper rate that will enable them to save $1 million a year, Mitchell said. “This will provide a major savings to the air station.”

Business leaders applaud the renovation project as luring vital resources to the city.

“We are down to one or two carriers, and we are looking at the handwriting on the wall,” said Pete Litrenta, vice president of military affairs with the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. “We want to have facilities capable of accepting nuclear carriers.”

With base closings proposed across the nation, a number of states are expected to vie for the carriers, which can mean $100 million each in contracts and payroll annually to the community that wins one.

Alameda Naval Air Station, proposed to be shut in the more austere defense budget, has two nuclear carriers, the Carl Vinson and the Enterprise. If the Northern California base is shut, these carriers will be reassigned. And San Diego, with its newly renovated piers would be a good candidate for those carriers, some say.

The Navy is now studying the ramifications of closing the base. But Fetterman says he supports maintaining the air station.

“I feel Alameda is a viable base and my studies show that it’s critical to our readiness equation and our ability to disburse carriers up and down the coast,” said Fetterman, who was cautiously optimistic about the prospect of another carrier--though not necessarily one from Alameda--being assigned to San Diego.

“San Diego has been and will continue to be essential for naval training and deployment forces,” Fetterman said. “I do not see that diminishing significantly in the future.”