WASHINGTON — Hampton Roads is the homeport to 54 Navy warships, and has held steady at that number going back to 2017.
Together, they and the 91,000-member active duty Naval force have an economic impact on the region of more than $15 billion annually.
But, with an anticipated cut to the guided-missile cruiser fleet, the numbers could soon go down. Rep. Rob Wittman (R, VA-01) wants to ensure that doesn't happen. He's written a letter to Chief of Naval Operation Admiral Mike Gilday, and gotten the entire state congressional delegation to sign onto it.
In it, Wittman wrote: "We must continue to flex the capabilities of Naval Station Norfolk and its surrounding Naval infrastructure."
In an interview, he said: "I do not in any way, shape or form want to not fully utilize all the capacity at Naval Station Norfolk. I mean, we have to do that. It's incredibly important because the ships that are based out of Norfolk not only patrol the Atlantic, but they patrol the Persian Gulf and they also can be deployed to the Pacific. All of those elements are incredibly important."
The President of the Virginia Ship Repair Association salutes Wittman and the others for sending the letter.
"The more ships that we have in this port, the more robust the demand is going to be in regards to fixing, maintaining, modernizing and repairing," said Bill Crow. "So that is a great thing for us and our industry, and it is very welcome by all of us to see that our delegation came out with this letter to the CNO."
The most recent Navy ship to leave Norfolk and assume a new homeport was the guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke, which left in March for its new home in Rota, Spain.