JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Plans for a squadron of smaller combat ships based at Naval Station Mayport is uncertain after U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter ordered the Navy earlier this month to buy fewer littoral combat ships in coming years.
Eight of these ships with over 1,000 personnel were expected to be assigned to Mayport by 2020, with the first of the ships expected to arrive late next year. Last month, the Navy cut the ribbon on a 67,000-square-foot support facility to house the squadron.
The Navy secretary has not yet announced if those plans will be scrapped or cut back.
In a memo issued before Christmas, Carter wrote, "The Navy has overemphasized resources" in ordering 52 of the smaller ships intended to operate close to shore and specialize in surface warfare, mine countermeasures and anti-submarine operations. Instead, Carter called for 40 of the ships to be built.
The decreased number of ships could have a long-term effect on the base, but the Navy is not ready to talk about the potential impact.
"We are aware of the memo; however, budget discussions are pre-decisional and it would be inappropriate for us to discuss anything further until the fiscal year '17 budget is finalized," said Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Hayle Sims.
Local members of Congress have already challenged a part of Carter's memo.
"I simply do not agree with Secretary Carter's pre-decisional idea to cut back littoral combat ship production," U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Jacksonville, told News4Jax. "We live in dangerous times, and the only way to make America safe is to make America strong."
Crenshaw said that when Congress receives the 2017 Pentagon budget, he plans to review it line by line and fight for our local bases.
Crenshaw and others have been fighting to build up naval resources based at Mayport since the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy was decommissioned in 2007.
Many businesses in the area have closed because fewer sailors are based at the Naval Station, and others that have hung on are looking forward to the additional sailors and activity.
"We have a lot of military members that do stop in," said Erica Eyring, who runs a tavern less than a quarter-mile from the base. "Lately there's been a lot of businesses shut down due to the fact that it's kind of been slow."