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Norfolk businesses opposed to carrier move

NORFOLK, Va. — When an aircraft carrier returns to the world’s largest naval base, it doesn’t take long for businessman Jake Cobb to know thousands of sailors are back from a deployment.

Many head to Cobb’s spa and hair salon for a “high and tight” military cut, a massage or even a pedicure. Cobb offers a 10 percent discount to military customers and it pays off: they represent at least 30 percent of his business, located six miles from the base.

The community is tightly tied to the Navy by history, culture and economics. So a proposal to move one of the five nuclear-powered carriers from Naval Station Norfolk to Florida is making waves.

Business owners in particular are jittery about the prospect of Norfolk losing its exclusive claim as the East Coast’s homeport for the Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier fleet — and the business impact of losing a carrier crew of more than 3,000 sailors. But the threat cuts deeper than dollars and cents in this town where a century ago Richard Ely became the first person to fly a plane from a ship.

The $4.5 billion warships are the world’s largest, dubbed “cities on the sea” because of their mammoth dimensions. They are built nearby at Newport News, and the crew and military spouses are part of this city of approximately 230,000.

“The fuel of our economy is the Navy. It’s our industry,” said Ed Snyder, who operates a dozen auto dealerships in the region. Snyder and his son, Steve, said Checkered Flag Auto Group has annual sales of 12,000 to 13,000 vehicles, with 20 percent of the sales to military buyers.

“ ‘N’ is for Navy and ‘N’ is for Norfolk,” the elder Snyder said.

With billions of dollars and thousands of jobs at stake, the tug-of-war over one the planet’s most fearsome war ships is setting the stage for a political battle from governors’ offices in Richmond and Tallahassee, Fla., to Capitol Hill and ultimately the White House.

The prospect of Norfolk losing a carrier has been kicking around for years. In February, the Navy cemented the idea in its Quadrennial Defense Review Report when it suggested a carrier be transferred to Naval Station Mayport, Fla., north of Jacksonville.

The recommendation is just one paragraph buried inside the 105-page document: “To mitigate the risk of a terrorist attack, accident, or natural disaster, the U.S. Navy will homeport an East Coat carrier in Mayport, Florida.”

The report does not name the carrier or a timetable for the move. Any move would likely be at least several years away and require the blessing of President Obama, who has not indicated how he will respond to the recommendation.

It would also involve a single carrier and crew — not a carrier group, which typically includes an air wing and a complement of support ships.

Naval Station Norfolk occupies a huge piece of waterfront in the Hampton Roads area, a section of southeast Virginia dotted with military bases and a large population of retired military. The 4,300-acre base is home to 52,000 military personnel and 12,000 civilians, 63 ships, and 16 aircraft squadrons with 165 aircraft.

Of the nearly 6,000 estimated jobs that would depart with one carrier, about half would be military with the rest slicing through all segments of the economy — retail, construction, real estate, education and manufacturing, the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission estimates.

Local officials, who have created a task force to assess the Navy’s proposal, are mindful of the military’s contribution but are pressing for a response on the motivation behind the move.

“If in fact the military can identify a national defense or national security issue that’s legitimate, then my view is we ought to be patriotic and support that effort,” said Mayor Joe Frank of Newport News, a shipbuilding city of 193,000. He said the Navy has failed to make that case.

For businesses, the return of a carrier has been likened to a vacation cruise ship docking in the Bahamas and disembarking tourists eager to spend.

“When you go out on those six-month deployments, it’s like a forced savings,” said Steve Snyder, the auto dealer. “We feel their return immediately.”

For Mayport, which is home to two dozen ships, a carrier would require an upgrade that could cost up to $500 million, according to the Defense Department. A carrier would also deliver thousands of jobs and an economic impact that mirrors Norfolk’s losses.

Florida officials have greeted the announcement as a done deal for their state.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., hailed the decision as “a huge win for Jacksonville and a huge win for America.” He’s already pushing the Navy to identify the carrier it proposes to move.

Gov. Charlie Crist said, “Florida is ready and proud to be the future home of thousands of Navy families and an aircraft carrier crucial to our national security.”

In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell and the state’s congressional delegation are defending Norfolk’s claim to the carrier fleet. The delegation contends the cost of the Mayport upgrade will actually approach $1 billion, and members have vowed to oppose the spending.

“I don’t think they’ve made the national security case and they sure as heck haven’t made the financial case,” Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., said of the Navy. “I think it’s incumbent upon the Navy to say what $1 billion in other needs they’re willing to sacrifice to make this choice.”

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a former Navy secretary, said instead spending to move a carrier, the Navy should direct the money to growing the fleet from its current 287 ships to 313.

Ultimately, defense considerations will likely take a back seat to politics, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor who grew up in Norfolk.

“The Obama administration is caught in the middle between two states that Obama won in 2008 and are essential to the president’s re-election bid,” he said. “It’s obvious where the Pentagon stands, but this could be a long twilight struggle before it’s decided.”