Navy Aircraft Carriers: Proposed Retirement of USS John F. Kennedy -- Issues and Options for Congress

Publication Date: August 2006

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Military and defense

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Abstract:

The Navy's FY2007 budget proposes retiring the conventionally powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CV-67) and reducing the size of the carrier force from 12 ships to 11. The Navy's proposed FY2006 budget included a similar proposal. Congress, in acting on the FY2006 defense budget, passed a provision requiring the Navy to maintain a 12-ship carrier force. The issue for Congress for FY2007, as it was for FY2006, is whether to approve, reject, or modify the proposal to retire the Kennedy and reduce the carrier force to 11 ships.

Until mid-2005, the Kennedy was homeported in Mayport, FL. Prior to the proposal to retire the Kennedy, the Navy's plan was to maintain a 12-carrier force and keep the Kennedy in operation until 2018. The Navy is now proposing to maintain in coming years a 313-ship fleet that includes 11 carriers.

DOD estimated in December 2004 that retiring the Kennedy in FY2006 would reduce DOD funding requirements for FY2006-FY2011 by a net total of about $1.2 billion. In February 2006, the Navy estimated that overhauling the Kennedy and keeping it in service during the five-year period FY2007-FY2011 would cost more than $2 billion.

One potential issue is whether the carrier force should include 12 ships or some other number. If a carrier is to be retired in the near term so as to reduce the carrier force to 11 ships, a second potential issue is whether that carrier should be the Kennedy or another ship. Potential alternatives to the Kennedy include the conventionally powered Kitty Hawk and the nuclear-powered carriers Enterprise and Vinson. A third potential issue for Congress concerns the relative military advantages of different homeporting arrangements for the carrier force.

Section 126 of the FY2006 defense authorization act (H.R. 1815/P.L. 109163 of January 6, 2006) amended 10 USC 5062 to require that the Navy include not less than 12 operational aircraft carriers.

The House Armed Services Committee, in its report (H.Rept. 109-452 of May 5, 2006) on the FY2007 defense authorization bill (H.R. 5122), expressed concern for the Navy's proposal to retire the Kennedy, and support for maintaining a carrier force of at least 12 ships.

Section 1011 of the Senate version of the FY2007 defense authorization bill (S. 2766) would repeal the requirement for the Navy to include not less than 12 carriers that was enacted in P.L. 109-163. The Senate Armed Services Committee, in its report (S.Rept. 109-254 of May 9, 2006), agreed with the Navy's determination that it is not feasible to maintain a 12-carrier force by restoring the Kennedy to a deployable, fully mission-capable platform.