Lawmakers: Nuclear power is future of Navy

[unhappycamper]

The cruiser Long Beach -- the Navy's first nuclear-powered surface warship -- fires its missiles in 1961.


Lawmakers: Nuclear power is future of Navy
By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 19, 2007 6:01:54 EST

The Navy should be required to use nuclear propulsion to fuel all large surface ships beginning with its next-generation cruisers, two top members of the House Armed Services Committee said.

Reps. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., and Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., told Navy Times on Nov. 7 that nuclear power is the “right way to go” for future Navy surface ships in light of the rising cost of fossil fuels and the benefit of being able to spend more time at sea without having to refuel.

Language in the House version of the 2008 defense authorization bill calls for nuclear power to be used in all large vessels, which would include destroyers and cruisers. The Senate version of the bill contains no such provision.

Taylor said Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., strongly supports the nuclear power measure in the House bill and is fighting to keep it. However, some senators have argued that requiring nuclear propulsion on surface ships would be too costly for a service already struggling with its shipbuilding plans.

But Bartlett and Taylor argue it is cheaper to go nuclear in the long run.

The Navy could be at “the edge” of nuclear power becoming cheaper with the cost of oil at nearly $100 dollars per barrel, Taylor said.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/11/navy_nuclearwarships_071118/

[uberotto]

1. As someone who was in the Navy...

And still remembers the torture of having to pull across a refueling hose in cold, wet and rough conditions, I say anything that leads to less refueling at sea is a good thing...