This report provides background information and issues for Congress on the Navy's desire to homeport a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (CVN) at Mayport, FL. Prior to the submission of the FY2013 budget, Navy plans called for having Mayport ready to homeport a CVN in 2019. The Navy's proposed FY2014 budget, like the Navy's proposed FY2013 budget, requested no funding for Military Construction (MilCon) projects required to homeport a CVN at Mayport. The Navy's FY2013 budget deferred the Navy's plan to homeport a CVN at Mayport, and the Navy's FY2013-FY2017 Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP) contained no funding for MilCon projects required to homeport a CVN at Mayport. The Navy stated in its FY2013 budget submission: "Although the FY 2013 budget does not contain a construction project supporting the homeporting of a CVN in Mayport, FL, the Department [of the Navy] is committed to the requirement and policy to strategically disperse CVNs on each coast. This is a deferral at this time due to fiscal constraints." The Navy's desire to homeport a CVN at Mayport is an issue of strong interest to certain Members of Congress from Florida and Virginia. Transferring a CVN from Norfolk, VA, to Mayport would shift from Norfolk to Mayport the local economic activity associated with homeporting a CVN, which some sources estimate as being worth hundreds of millions of dollars per year. All of the Navy's aircraft carriers are nuclear powered. The Navy normally has 11 operational CVNs, but currently is in a temporary situation of having 10. The temporary decrease from 11 operational CVNs to 10 began with the deactivation of the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-65) in December 2012, and is scheduled to last until late 2015, when the CVN force is to return to 11 operational ships through entry into service of the new CVN Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78). As of December 31, 2012, the Navy's six Pacific Fleet CVNs were homeported at Everett, WA, and Bremerton, WA, which are both located on Puget Sound (two ships each); San Diego, CA (one ship); and Yokosuka, Japan (one ship). The Navy's four Atlantic fleet CVNs are all homeported at Norfolk, VA. (Prior to its deactivation, CVN-65 was also homeported at Norfolk, making for a total of five CVNs homeported there.) The Navy since the 1960s has been replacing its older conventionally powered carriers (CVs) as they have retired with new CVNs. The Navy achieved an all-CVN carrier force on January 31, 2009, with the retirement of its last operational CV, the Kitty Hawk (CV-63). Prior to being decommissioned, the Kitty Hawk operated in the Pacific Fleet and was homeported in Yokosuka. The last operational CV in the Atlantic Fleet was the John F. Kennedy (CV-67), which was decommissioned on August 1, 2007. Prior to being decommissioned, the Kennedy was homeported at Mayport. In terms of numbers of ships homeported, Norfolk (known formally as Naval Station [NAVSTA] Norfolk) is the Navy's largest Atlantic Fleet home port. As of December 31, 2012, about 65 ships of various types—CVNs, attack submarines (SSNs), cruisers (CGs), destroyers, (DDGs), frigates (FFGs), large-deck amphibious assault ships (LHDs), and other amphibious ships (LPDs)—were homeported at Norfolk. The home port at Little Creek, VA, is roughly 7 nautical miles to the east of Norfolk (depending on the exact points used to measure the distance), on the same side of the Hampton Roads waterway, and is sometimes referred to as Norfolk (Little Creek). As of December 31, 2012, six amphibious ships (LSDs) were homeported there. Mayport is located in northeast Florida, on the Atlantic Coast, near Jacksonville. It is roughly 469 nautical miles south-southwest of Norfolk. In terms of numbers of ships homeported, Mayport (known formally as NAVSTA Mayport) is the Navy's second-largest Atlantic Fleet home port. As of December 31, 2012, about 16 CGs, DDGs, and FFGs were homeported at Mayport. The Navy reported to Congress in February 2010 that the service envisages Mayport as the primary Atlantic Fleet homeporting location for the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ships (LCSs). (The report identifies Little Creek, VA, as the Navy's envisaged secondary Atlantic Fleet LCS homeporting location, and Norfolk as the Navy's envisaged tertiary Atlantic Fleet LCS homeporting location.) In addition to homeporting CGs, DDGs, and FFGs, Mayport has also served as a CV home port at various times since the 1950s, and most recently was the home port for the Kennedy , until that ship was decommissioned in 2007. Navy records dating back to 1979 indicate that Mayport served as a home port for two CVs (the Forrestal [CV-59] and the Saratoga [CV-60]) in 1979-1980, 1985-1987, and 1989-1991. (During the period 1980-1985, first CV-60 and then CV-59 underwent Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) overhauls at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.) Homeporting of Navy ships at Mayport reached recent peak of more than 30 ships, including two CVs, in 1987, when the Navy as a whole reached a recent peak of 568 ships, including 15 CVs and CVNs. Although Mayport has previously serviced as a CV homeport, it has not previously served as a CVN home port, and would require certain facility upgrades to be capable of homeporting a CVN, including dredging and the construction of CVN nuclear propulsion plant maintenance facilities. The Navy announced that it wants to establish a second Atlantic Fleet CVN home port by homeporting a CVN at Mayport in a Record of Decision (ROD) document dated January 14, 2009. Later that month, following the change in administrations, Obama Administration officials testified that they would review the proposal. On April 10, 2009, the Department of Defense (DOD) announced that it had decided to delay a final decision on whether to propose transferring a CVN to Mayport until it reviewed the issue as part of its 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). DOD's final report on the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), released on February 1, 2010, endorsed the Navy's desire to establish a second Atlantic Fleet CVN home port by homeporting a CVN at Mayport, FL. The report states: "To mitigate the risk of a terrorist attack, accident, or natural disaster, the U.S. Navy will homeport an East Coast carrier in Mayport, Florida." In October 21, 2011, letters to three Members of Congress from Florida, and in letters of the same date to six Members of Congress from Virginia, Admiral Jonathan Greenert, the Chief of Naval Operations, commented on the issue of homeporting a CVN at Mayport in the context of the ongoing Department of Defense strategic and budget reviews. In the letters to the three Members of Congress from Florida, Greenert stated the following, with the portions shown here in bold indicating the text that differs from that of the letters to the six Members of Congress from Virginia: Thank you for your letter of October 5 , 2011 regarding the decision to homeport a Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier (CVN) in Mayport. I appreciate your thoughtful and constructive inputs on the strategic dispersal of our CVN Fleet . From a strategic standpoint, the rationale supporting the decision to disperse our East Coast Carrier Fleet remains sound, as validated in the Secretary of Defense-led 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. Within the context of the ongoing Department of Defense strategic and budget reviews, the size of the fiscal adjustments compels us to take a comprehensive strategic review, examining every program element, including the timing and impacts of the decision to homeport a CVN in Mayport. You can be assured our strategic review will look to balance the merits of strategic dispersal with the challenges associated with current fiscal realities . In the letters to the six Members of Congress from Virginia, Greenert stated the following, with the portions shown here in bold indicating the text that differs from that of the letters to the three Members of Congress from Florida: Thank you for your letter of September 23 , 2011 regarding the decision to homeport a Nuclear-Powered Aircraft Carrier (CVN) in Mayport. I appreciate your thoughtful and constructive inputs on the current fiscal challenges in relation to the strategic dispersal of our CVN Fleet . From a strategic standpoint, the rationale supporting the decision to disperse our East Coast Carrier Fleet remains sound, as validated in the Secretary of Defense-led 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. Within the context of the ongoing Department of Defense strategic and budget reviews, the size of the fiscal adjustments compels us to take a comprehensive strategic review, examining every program element, including the funding required to homeport a CVN in Mayport. You can be assured I will include your concerns in the Navy's strategic calculus . Prior to the submission of the FY2013 budget, Navy plans called for having Mayport ready to homeport a CVN in 2019. The Navy originally planned on transferring a CVN to Mayport as early as 2014, but meeting that schedule would have required funding all necessary MilCon projects at Mayport in FY2010.