Carrier Last Month News

Review: Navy Plans to Reduce Fleet

According to www.dailypress.com, a draft Pentagon blueprint renews a plan to shrink the Navy's fleet of aircraft carriers, barely a month after Congress blocked the move. Excerpts of the draft Quadrennial Defense Review, conducted every four years to guide military strategy, call for a fleet of 11 aircraft carriers - or one fewer than exist today. The Navy pushed hard last year to reduce the fleet by mothballing the USS John F. Kennedy, based in Mayport, Fla. But Congress saved the carrier last month by mandating a 12-carrier fleet in the final version of a defense authorization bill. Hampton Roads is now home to five aircraft carriers - each of which sustains thousands of jobs for the region's economy.