Storm data used against Mayport carrier plan - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Storm data used against Mayport carrier plan

Weather maps plotting the track of hurricanes since 1851 were a key piece of evidence at a hearing Tuesday as a Virginia lawmaker attacked the Navy’s decision to move an aircraft carrier from Norfolk, Va., to Jacksonville, Fla.

Rep. Randy Forbes, ranking Republican on the readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, disagrees with a Navy conclusion that one of the reasons for moving a carrier to Naval Station Mayport is because of the threat of natural disasters. Hurricanes are the major risk to Norfolk and Jacksonville, and the Navy believes the risk of a hurricane hitting either location is about the same, a position reinforced by Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the vice chief of naval operations.

Greenert said more hurricanes hit Florida than Virginia but a review of hurricanes over the last 15 years showed a “statistically insignificant difference.”

Forbes, armed with data from NOAA about hurricane activity on the East Coast from 1851 to 2005, said Jacksonville is not any safer. In fact, Forbes said NOAA calculates the risk of a category 4 or higher hurricane striking Naval Station Mayport is 75 percent greater than the chance of hitting Naval Station Norfolk.

Forbes’ questioning did not get into the issue of dispersal of the fleet, a key part of the Navy’s carrier-basing decision, so a hurricane that struck either location would not damage the entire carrier support structure on the East Coast.