5 Nuclear Powered Carriers at Norfolk Navy Yard-Truth! But Inaccurate Details!
Routine Inspection for 5 Carriers Ordered by Obama Administration-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
This is a forwarded email that said that five U.S. Navy aircraft carriers were docked at the Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia. The email compare the setting to Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The email warns that this is a breach of a long-standing Navy protocol to avoid a massive enemy strike on major US forces.
The Truth:
It is true that 5 aircraft carriers were docked at the Naval Base in Norfolk but the urgent need for concern may be over. At the original time of this writing there were only 3 active carriers at Norfolk.
The photo in the eRumor showing five carriers docked at U.S. Naval Base at Norfolk is said to have been taken in December 2012. The carriers were the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), USS Enterprise (CVN 65), USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).
Contrary to the eRumor none of the carriers were ordered to Norfolk by the Obama Administration. Four of the carriers were in port for various maintenance such as major overhauls, flight deck resurfacing and refueling. This according to a February 25, 2013 article by MPR-News of Minnesota Public Radio. The article reported that the “Navy also says the story about this being the first time so many carriers were moored together since Pearl Harbor is untrue.”
The first and oldest carrier in the U.S. Navy, The USS Enterprise was deactivated.
The USS Enterprise is 50 years old and was deactivated Dec. 1, 2012. After decommissioning of the nuclear-powered vessel the Navy ordered that her fuel be removed and then be towed to Puget Sound for scrap. Defueling of the Enterprise is expected to be completed in 2015. Because of costs, there are no plans to make a floating museum of this historical carrier, according to the Enterprise website.
The USS Eisenhower, according to the Eisenhower website, was redeployed in mid February 2013 to support the 5th and 6th Naval Fleets. The deployment may have been brief, according to a February 2014 article found on the Eisenhower website that said the carrier returned to Norfolk in September 2013. The article said that the crew of the carrier “participated in Ike’s first shipwide general quarters (GQ) training, Feb. 5.” The article also said there were “several other training phases: an ITT phase, a partial integrated training phase, and eventually a full integrated training phase (that was) slated for mid-May.”
The USS George H. W. Bush was in for repairs and the USS Lincoln is in for an overhaul. This is all dependent on future funding from Congress. According to a February 12, 2014 article by WTKR-TV News, a CBS Affiliate in Norfolk, the USS George H. W. Bush went on deployment on February 15.
The USS Truman recently made the news as one of the victims of the Obama Administration’s sequestration. She lays in Norfolk along with the Bush and Lincoln, which are awaiting funding for repairs.
Related eRumors also posted:
Purging of High Ranking Military Leaders
U.S. Government Purchase of Russian Helicopters for Afghan Air Force
Posted 03/04/13 updated 03/02/14