Not a CVN, but good enough

Well done by SECNAV Mabus. Smart, right, and proper.

There will be more ships at Mayport Naval Station by 2020 than there are now. That was what Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a gathering of sailors Friday.

The first of those new ships — the USS New York, an amphibious transport dock currently deployed in the Middle East — will arrive at Mayport next year. The following year two more ships will arrive: the USS Iwo Jima, an amphibious assault ship, and the USS Fort McHenry, a dock landing ship.

The three ships make up an amphibious ready group, or ARG, now based in Norfolk, Va.

Mabus said in February that the group would arrive no later than 2015. On Friday, though, he announced that the date had been moved up.

Mayport will also see the arrival of eight littoral combat ships by the end of 2019, Mabus said. The first LCS will arrive in 2016. Each of those ships — new Navy combat ships designed to go fast and operate in shallow, near-coastline waters — have about 40 full-time crew members.

Spread the Fleet around - I just wish we had more places to put them. Cuts Strategic risk, increases the Navy's presence around the nation, and as a result - increases the quality of life for our Sailors and the communities they live in.

Still would like a CVN - but this will do.