For Immediate Release

October 31, 2001

USS STENNIS TO ARRIVE IN BREMERTON IN LATE 2004

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) will arrive at Naval Station Bremerton in the fall of 2004, replacing the USS Carl Vinson currently homeported there, U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks said Wednesday.

            The carrier, the seventh of the Navy’s Nimitz class of supercarriers, will bring with it a crew of 3,000 and an annual payroll of more than $140 million, the congressman said.

            “Although I had been assured privately for some time that there would be a replacement for the Vinson while it is being refueled on the east coast, the Navy  had not determined until today which carrier would be homeported in Bremerton,” he said.  “This morning, I received word from the commander of the Pacific Fleet that the Stennis had been selected, and that a detailed plan for transferring crew and families to Bremerton has now been developed,” he added.

            The congressman noted that USS Carl Vinson will depart for an overseas assignment in early 2004, after which it will travel to Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia to begin refueling.  Families of the USS Stennis crew will begin relocating to the Puget Sound area in mid-2004, and the carrier will finally arrive later that year to begin a drydocking maintenance period following its summer deployment.   This drydocking period for the Stennis had originally been scheduled for 2003, but the Navy was able to extend the interval and avoid two homeport changes for the crew, Rep. Dicks explained.

            “This is good news for Bremerton – in that we will maintain a stable Navy population – and it is good news for the sailors and families of the Stennis, who will now be saved from the disruption of two homeport moves in a brief period,” said Rep. Dicks.

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