Navy confirms 3rd carrier for SD Bay by 2016

The Navy’s new top officer said Monday that the Defense Department’s shift in focus to Asia and the Pacific bodes well for San Diego, the principal home of the Pacific Fleet, and confirmed that a third aircraft carrier probably will be assigned to San Diego Bay by 2016.

“It’s clear in the strategy — the Asia Pacific region is No. 1,” said Adm. Jonathan Greenert in an interview after he addressed 800 sailors at San Diego Naval Base. “That portends in a positive nature for San Diego.”

Looking toward a downsized Pentagon budget, expected to be released soon, the chief of naval operations called it “reasonable” for the Navy — which along with the Air Force will take on a larger role as the Afghanistan war ends, the ground forces decrease and the U.S. focus turns to the growing military power of China and North Korea.

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