EVERETT – Recent inquiries about the capability of Naval Station Everett to house a second Nimitz-class aircraft carrier have spawned speculation that a new giant warship would call Everett home.
Congressional officials say the inquiry is in keeping with a routine review of military forces and is a byproduct of the increasing military threat from North Korea and China.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said Tuesday that he learned about the inquiry from local Navy officials, but said the Pentagon has yet to contact the city. He said he would be open to working with the Navy to examine the possibility of a second carrier and its 3,000 crew members joining the USS Abraham Lincoln.
The likelihood of another carrier coming to Everett would be a long way off, even if it were to happen, said George Behan, an aide to U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash. Dicks sits on a defense appropriations subcommittee.
“What-if scenarios are conducted all the time by the services,” Behan said. “I think you’re hearing rumors coming from preliminary questions about what-if scenarios.”
Dicks has not been informed of specific Navy plans to move another carrier to Everett, Behan said.
U.S. Rep Rick Larsen, D-Wash., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said he was aware of the inquiry.
The Navy probably is just preparing for a four-year defense review required by Congress, Larsen said. In it, the military services are supposed to look at the future national security needs, including possible movement of ships.
He believes the review, likely due in February, will talk about the need for a greater U.S. presence in the Pacific Ocean and Asia.
“I think the Navy is looking for what’s available if they want to put more naval assets, including carriers, in the West,” Larsen said. “It’s reasonable the military would be asking the city of Everett and the region what support they could give to naval assets.”
Pat McClain, Everett’s governmental affairs director, in 2004 helped the city make its case to an independent base-closing panel to keep the 11-year-old naval station open.
At the time, McClain argued that Naval Station Everett should not only stay open but receive more ships, including another aircraft carrier.
“We’re a base that’s expandable, flexible, meets rapid deployment needs of today’s Navy and has deep water and up-to-date facilities,” McClain said Tuesday. It’s “obvious is we could put a second carrier here.”
City Councilman Arlan Hatloe, who sat on that committee with McClain, said he expects the Navy to announce the move of an additional carrier to the West Coast sometime in 2006.
Everett is an ideal location, he said.
“Originally, Naval Station Everett was designed to berth two aircraft carriers … and I think that’s still a very realistic possibility,” he said. “I would certainly be supportive of it coming to Everett.”
Stephanson said he wasn’t surprised that the Navy would consider expanding the naval station.
“With the announcement of the (nuclear-powered) USS George Washington going to Japan, clearly I think the West Coast is in a strategic position to accommodate more ships in the future,” he said.
The USS Abraham Lincoln brought 1,500 families and an equal number of single sailors to Everett and Snohomish County, McClain said. A second carrier would bring about the same number of people, he said.
“Generally speaking, the community has absorbed these Navy families fairly well, I believe,” McClain said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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