Old But Still Good

Expressing concern that the Navy's carrier fleet will dip too low, Congress wants to see if it is feasible to put two conventional carriers into operation to fill what is hoped is a temporary decrease in numbers:

House officials want to explore the possibility of bringing the USS John F. Kennedy or USS Kitty Hawk back into service in five years to keep the Navy’s carrier fleet at full force.

Enterprise will be retired in 2012 and it would be too difficult and costly to extend this nuclear-powered carrier to fill the gap until the Ford is brough online. Other delays could drop our carrier strength by another ship before replacements are commissioned.