As many as 40 submarines and warships, including the carrier USS Ronald Reagan, will ship out Tuesday to ride out Hurricane Isabel at sea, the US navy said in a statement.

US military aircraft, including the president's plane, Air Force One, have been ordered to bases farther inland, officials said.

A spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet said the ships were scheduled to leave port every 10 to 15 minutes.

The order "is for all the ships in Norfolk, all the ones that can go," said Navy Chief Scott Boyle.

Ships undergoing repairs and unable to get underway will weather the storm at shipyards.

The navy said 25 ships, including the aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Harry S. Truman, will not put to sea, "so extra precautions are being taken to avoid potential damage to these ships and their crews."

"Those ships will go into those safe havens and be tied down really tight so they get the best protection possible," Boyle said.

The Navy's F/A-18 and F-14 fighters based at nearby Naval Air Station Oceana also have been ordered to disperse to other bases beyond the reach of the storm, but disabled aircraft will be put away in hangars at Oceana, he said.

"They're moving aircraft throughout the day today and tomorrow," said Lieutenant Commander Danny Hernandez, a navy spokesman. "They have begun to move and they will be done tomorrow by noon."

About 110 navy aircraft will go to bases in Ohio, Florida, Louisiana and Kentucky, he said.

The air force prepared to empty six East Coast bases of aircraft, sending squadrons of fighters, refueling aircraft, transport planes and helicopters to bases in the Midwest, said Major Cheryl Law, an air force spokeswoman.

Law said those aircraft would begin moving Wednesday.

The bases affected by the orders were McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Andrews Air Force base in Maryland, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina and Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina.

The air force would not say where Air Force One, based at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, will be kept.

The last time the navy evacuated the Norfolk Naval Station, the home of the US Atlantic Fleet, because of a storm was in 1999.

The move was ordered this time because Hurricane Isabel is projected to come ashore somewhere on the East Coast between the Carolinas and New England later this week.

The hurricane was about 700 kilometers east (435 miles) of Nassau, Bahamas, moving in a northwesterly direction at 11 kilometers (seven miles) per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center.

It has maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour with higher gusts.

"Navy vessels can better weather a storm of hurricane magnitude when they are under way," the navy said in a statement.

"A greater potential for damage exists when a ship is moored, where high winds and storm surges could act to cause damage to both the ship and the pier. Additionally, having these ships under way ensures they are ready to respond to any national tasking, if required," it said.

TERRA.WIRE