Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville, FL) April 19, 2003
Navy to retool ship rotations Repairs vs. need of forces at issue
By Rachel Davis
As the air campaign in Iraq winds down and ships begin to trickle back to their home ports, Navy officials are putting together a plan to revamp ship rotations.
For the thousands of sailors and airmen revving up for cruises, this could mean a longer deployment, or less than the usual one year between underway periods.
More than half of the Navy's 302 ships are on deployment, including seven of the 12 carrier strike forces, about 77,000 personnel. In peacetime, the Navy expects to have about one-third of the fleet deployed and has a minimum requirement of two flattops on deployment at a time.
With forces stretched since the war in Afghanistan, balancing the amount of repair work vs. the amount of forces needed overseas has become top priority for the Navy. As the ships come home they need to be repaired, an effort Navy leadership has coined 'reconstitution.'
The goal of reconstitution is a force that can leave for deployment at least six months before the scheduled date, if conflict calls. In the meantime, deployment could be lengthened to fill gaps as the Navy revamps its fleet, the Atlantic Fleet commander, Adm. Robert Natter, told the Virginian-Pilot.
The Norfolk-based Enterprise's regularly scheduled cruise might be stretched upward of a year, he said.
'That allows these guys to get their clocks squared away so they can make a six-month deployment. If you don't do that, you just extend out into '04 and '05 longer-than-six-month deployments until you get everything reconstituted.'
The Enterprise is the next Atlantic Fleet carrier scheduled to deploy this year, followed by the Jacksonville-based John F. Kennedy in 2004.
Natter has been tasked with the maintenance and training cycles of ships, so the Navy can easily dispatch forces ahead of schedule. He and his staff are expected to brief the chief of Naval Operations on the new deployment cycle structure within the next few weeks.
Several ships stationed in the Middle East have been at sea long after their scheduled return date. The carrier Lincoln has been at sea for nine months. It was relieved last week and is scheduled to arrive at its home port in Everett, Wash., next month.
The Norfolk-based carrier Truman is scheduled to be relieved by the Enterprise in late summer. The Truman, with Jacksonville-based helicopter and Viking squadrons attached, left Dec. 5 and would be scheduled to return on June 5 under normal conditions.
The carrier Roosevelt, also embarked with local squadrons, which left in early January, would normally be expected to return in early July.
Along with fixing the ships, the Navy will have to overhaul the aircraft that have been taxed with demanding missions and flight hours.
Patricia Davis, spokeswoman for the Jacksonville Naval Air Depot, said the maintenance facility expects to see an increase in its workload when the aircraft return home, but it is too soon to tell.
The depot works on the Navy's carrier-based fighter aircraft.
Since the start of the war in Iraq, the facility has doled out more spare parts for aircraft than usual. In anticipation of the war the depot was given an additional $ 9.6 million to cover the cost of the additional work.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, an online defense think tank, said the Navy is trying to improve its flexibility of deployment and restructure the training cycle so ships can sail overseas sooner.
'The notion of fixed, clock-work, predictable deployments may be a thing of the past,' Pike said.
The six months at sea, 12 to 18 months in port is a peacetime construct, he said, 'and I think the Bush administration plans to be at war for a long time.'
This report contains information from Knight-Tribune News Service. Staff writer Rachel Davis can be reached at (904) 359-4614 or at racheldavis@jacksonville.com.
GRAPHIC: Photo: met_TheodoreRoosevelt3121002d Associated Press Some sailors and airmen could face extended deployments under a Navy plan to revamp ship rotations. Navy forces have been stretched thin since the war in Afghanistan, and officials are seeking a way to balance demand with the need for repairs.
Copyright © 2003, The Florida Times-Union
