Navy Plans to Keep Two Carriers Based at North Island
Although the Pentagon is cutting back to a 12-carrier Navy, North Island Naval Air Station will be the home for at least two carriers through 1993.
Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego) and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Coronado) announced Thursday that Navy Secretary Lawrence Garrett III assured them that at least two carriers will continue to be berthed at North Island for the next two years.
The carriers Ranger and Independence now call San Diego their home port, but the Independence is scheduled to be transferred to Japan on Monday. The 35-year-old Ranger is scheduled to be decommissioned in 1993.
Those two carriers are scheduled to be replaced in San Diego by the Kitty Hawk and Constellation, which are undergoing repairs and refurbishment. The Kitty Hawk is scheduled to return to North Island later this year, and the Constellation will be transferred to San Diego from Philadelphia in 1993, Cunningham said.
Each carrier has a crew of more than 5,000 and generates about $100 million annually for the local economy.
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