Navy moving 3 Norfolk ships to Spain

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - Norfolk Naval Station is about to lose three ships, but this move has nothing to do with budget cuts.

The three ships leaving Norfolk will head to Rota, Spain to beef-up the European Ballistic Missile Defense capabilities.

The move was announced back in Oct., but the Navy released Thursday which Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyers would be involved.

Navy spokesman Lt Paul Macapagal said the USS Ross and USS Donald Cook will arrive in fiscal year 2014, which is between Oct. 1, 2013 and Sept. 30, 2014.

The USS Porter will move in fiscal year 2015.

"We welcome Spain's partnership in stationing four U.S. Navy Aegis ships at Naval Station Rota," said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. "We have a long history of cooperation between our two countries and we have developed significant interoperability between our naval forces."

The Mayport, Fla.-based USS Carney will arrive the same year as the USS Porter.

Families of sailors assigned to these vessels will have the option of moving to Rota, Spain. Macapagal said the move would be covered by the military.

Macapagal added that these ships are not big, so the move will affect less than 300 personnel aboard each ship.