The unprecedented U.S.-Soviet summit at sea will involve the U.S. 6th Fleet, which maintains some 30 ships in the Mediterranean and has a prime candidate for host vessel in its flagship, the guided-missile cruiser USS Belknap.
The Belknap is the only American ship "homeported" in the Mediterranean, at Gaeta, Italy, and is the flagship of the commander of the 6th Fleet, Adm. James D. Williams.The Navy said Tuesday the Belknap is undergoing maintenance, but it should be completed by mid-November, which would make the 547-foot, 7,930-ton warship available for the Dec. 2-3 summit between President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
Bush said he will meet with Gorbachev on board ship in the Mediterranean, alternating between American and Soviet vessels. The Navy officially declined to discuss what U.S. warships might take part in the Mediterranean summit and referred all questions to the White House.
But Pentagon officials said the Soviets have neither a commissioned aircraft carrier nor a battleship and that the two navies will probably want ships of the same size, such as cruisers or destroyers, to link up side by side for the Bush-Gorbachev meeting. "The most comparable is cruiser size," a defense official said.
Navy historian John Riley said the United States has never before hosted a superpower summit aboard a U.S. warship.
"The only such meeting was in 1941 when (President Franklin D.) Roosevelt and (British Prime Minister Winston) Churchill met at Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, aboard the British battleship Prince of Wales," Riley said.
Roosevelt traveled on warships, once aboard the battleship USS Iowa in 1943 to attend World War II summits but never held talks with a superpower leader aboard an American vessel, Riley said.
He did, however, hold talks with the king of Saudi Arabia aboard an American destroyer near Egypt after the Yalta conference, Riley said.
For the Bush-Gorbachev meeting, the Soviets are likely to have their normal complement of about 20 ships that patrol the Mediterranean. The Navy said the Soviets operate out of a base at Tartus, Syria.
Among the 30 U.S. ships currently serving as the 6th Fleet are the aircraft carrier USS America and the battleship Iowa, scene of a tragedy April 19 when an explosion in one of its 16-inch gun turrets killed 47 sailors.
The America and the Iowa are due to return to the United States, however, as the Navy usually rotates ships after six months on deployment. The Iowa has been in the Mediterranean since June; the America since May.
The Iowa has been acting as the flagship of the 6th Fleet while the Belknap has undergone maintenance. Others making up the 6th Fleet include an assortment of cruisers, destroyers, frigates, amphibious assault ships and supply vessels.
The aircraft carrier USS Forrestal had been scheduled to replace the America, but her deployment was delayed because of an elevator accident and ship fire that caused $1.3 million in damage.
Repairs at Mayport, Fla., are nearing completion, the Navy said, and the Forrestal could be in the Mediterranean in time for the summit.