Mayport Goes Nuclear

From the AP, via Frobes.

Mayport Naval Station will become the home of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Navy announced Wednesday.

The carrier will bring 3,190 military jobs and pump about $500 million into the north Florida economy in salaries and spending.

Navy Secretary Donald Winter signed the official documents Wednesday, so work can begin on preparing the base at the mouth of the St. Johns River for a carrier, expected as early as 2014.

Is this good or bad?

Anytime we disperse our major naval assets, I see it as a good thing, but I think that is only part of what is happening here. If timing is everything, it should be noted this comes at a time there are many suggestions of reducing the number of carriers in the fleet. With the expansion in the Pacific, and now Mayport, that means Virginia will take the blunt of any cuts the Navy makes to aircraft carriers.

I smell some political calculus here.