Four aircraft carriers, from back to front, the Abraham Lincoln (72), the Enterprise (65), the George H.W. Bush (77) and the Dwight D. Eisenhower (69), tied up at Norfolk Naval Station on Thursday, February 14, 2013. (Steve Earley | Virginian-Pilot file photo)
The Eleven Carrier Fleet Is…Only Seven -- Next Navy
Over on the excellent Navy Matters Blog there’s a little bit of a low-grade panic brewing up over the apparent mismatch of an “eleven carrier fleet” with only nine carrier air wings.
Dastardly things are afoot, it seems.
With one member of the “eleven-carrier fleet” constantly committed to a three-year refueling/refit cycle, the fear is that the tenth carrier lacks aircraft and is redundant–at real risk of being cut! Thus, an early CVN retirement is inevitable! (Cue gnashing of teeth from their blog readers and some gratuitous bad-mouthing of current naval leadership).
I mean….it’s hype only the Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition could love!
Sigh. Look. There’s not some illuminati-like Navy scheme afoot to cut a carrier (Compared with the Navy’s years-long effort to “shed” the Captain-killing USS Cowpens (CG-63)– which, it seems, has finally succeeded,–the Navy appears eager to let a lot of other ships go before they even think about mothballing a CVN). A perceived air wing shortage is not an indicator of an early CVN retirement. (Another round of sequestration, on the other hand, might well be the harbinger of a far smaller carrier fleet…)
But Air Wings? A shortfall? The numbers don’t add up.
Read more ....
My Comment: I am not a Navy guy but the author's explanation makes sense .... there are only seven operational U.S. aircraft carriers .... not 11.
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