THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 11, 1995 TAG: 9505110407
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Hampton Roads emerged unscathed Wednesday as a military base closing commission added 29 installations across the country to its list of candidates for closing or restructuring.
Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Fort Monroe in Hampton, all added to a similar list two years ago, weren't even mentioned as the eight-member commission completed its initial consideration of base changes recommended by the Pentagon in February.
Local officials took the commission's silence on Oceana as a signal that the group will accept a Pentagon recommendation to shift nearly 250 Navy F-14 and F/A-18 jets to the base.
``We feel very good. We feel cautiously optimistic,'' said Bob Matthias, an assistant to the Virginia Beach city manager.
The Pentagon wants to move nine squadrons of F/A-18 Hornet fighter-bombers, the mainstay of the Navy's air power, from Cecil Field, Fla., to Oceana. The change would bring 163 planes and add almost 3,300 jobs to the local economy. Almost 2,000 more jobs would come with the transfer to Oceana of 76 F-14 Tomcat fighters now based at Lemoore Naval Air Station in California.
The 1993 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission directed most of the F/A-18s to the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point, N.C., but they've not made the move. North Carolina officials are challenging Navy estimates that moving the jets to Oceana would be more than $300 million cheaper.
Also potentially helpful to Hampton Roads was the commission's decision Wednesday to add the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, to the list of installations that could be closed or restructured.
The shipyard on the Maine-New Hampshire border repairs and refuels nuclear-powered submarines. Closing it would probably bring at least part of that work to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Newport News Shipbuilding or both.
A spokesman for the Navy's Base Structure Analysis Team said that because the Navy did not recommend closing the Maine yard, it has not prepared estimates on how the its work might be divided.
The 6-2 commission vote to add Portsmouth to the list of targeted bases prompted one member, retired Air Force Gen. J.B. Davis, to warn that actually closing the yard could jeopardize the Navy's ability to take care of its nuclear subs.
Navy statistics indicate that even without Portsmouth, the service will have 19 percent more nuclear ship repair capacity than it needs by 2001. The Navy wanted a larger reserve, 37 percent, because of the possibility that it may need to extend the life of some submarines.
Other actions by the base closing commission on Wednesday underscored members' skepticism about Navy efforts to limit base closings in California and Air Force claims that it would be cheaper to downsize five repair depots than to close one or two.
The commission decided to put all five Air Force repair facilities on its list of bases that could be closed, and added five Navy bases in California to the list as well. Navy Secretary John H. Dalton has acknowledged that he tried to limit closings in California because the state has been hit hard in past base closing rounds.
The commission has a July 1 deadline to make final recommendations on base changes, which then will be considered by Congress and President Clinton.
``All things are possible,'' said former Illinois Sen. Alan J. Dixon, the commission chairman. ``Just because a base was added to the list today doesn't mean it will close or be realigned. It means the commission believes a fuller evaluation of the base is a reasonable thing to undertake.'' ILLUSTRATION: NAVY BASES
Twenty-nine of the 35 bases are new to the list; six were listed
earlier, but only for possible realignment. The eight Navy bases
are:
Engineering Field Activity, Western Div., San Bruno, Calif.
Fleet and Industrial Supply Center, Oakland, Calif.
Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Oxnard, Calif.
Naval Warfare Assessment Detachment, Corona, Calif.
Supervisor of Shipbuilding, San Francisco.
Naval Air Station, Atlanta.
Public Works Center, Guam.
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine.
KEYWORDS: BASE CLOSINGS MILITARY BASES DEFENSE BASE CLOSURE AND
REALIGNMENT COMMISSION HAMPTON ROADS by CNB