THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 19, 1995 TAG: 9505180247
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Citing a plan to keep the Naval Shipyard in business another hundred years, the commanding officer of the yard was very optimistic about the future in a talk Monday to the Friends of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Museum.
Capt. Bill Klemm said he believes the workload to be ``stabilized'' after decreases over the past few years. The number of employees has dropped from 13,000 in 1989 to 7,500 in 1995.
Klemm said he hopes to stay at that number.
Among other things, the closing of the Philadelphia Navy Yard and other naval facilities has brought work to the yard here, he said. In fact, Buildings 19 and 51 (in use since the Civil War) are being renovated for staff transferred from Philadelphia.
Klemm said that although the computer data base will stay in Philadelphia, other shops will move here and some functions from the NAVEX Command in Norfolk will be transferred here.
In addition, the Navy gun factory will be moved from Louisville to Portsmouth. That group will need 1.2 million square feet and will add several hundred jobs to the Portsmouth complement.
Klemm said 100 additional sailors are now stationed inside the yard and he expects several hundred more to be transferred here. He said new bachelors' enlisted quarters are now under construction and that he expects to upgrade support services for the sailors stationed on the base.
In addition, he said, the yard is looking better. Roads have been repaved and new signs have been installed.
``We're trying to beautify the yard from the public perspective,'' Klemm said.
Klemm also wants to increase interaction between the yard and the community.
An engineer who had been stationed here years ago early in his career, Klemm has marked his tenure at the helm of the yard by opening doors to the public.
For the first time in a quarter century, Trophy Park will be open every day on a regular basis to the public. It will be added to the city's Olde Towne trolley tours.
The park contains a display of arms used by the Navy throughout the nation's history. Just recently, additional displays were moved from other parts of the yard to be seen by the public at Trophy Park.
Klemm, a history buff, enjoys living in the yard's commanding officer quarters, a historic structure on the site of the original shipyard, the nation's oldest.
``This facility also is one of the free world's largest shipyards,'' Klemm said. ``It is larger than Newport News, although they claim the title.''
The Portsmouth base has 7 million square feet of buildings on 800 acres. Drydock 1 was the first in the nation and it continues in use on a regular basis.
Klemm's efforts to open up the yard at least to permit people to visit Trophy Park mark a new era in the yard's relations with the community, which withered over the Cold War years.
Of course, the captain has no authority to permit public visitors beyond the park area which stands in the middle of the original yard. But simply opening the gate at that point enables visitors to Portsmouth to visit.
The shipyard and the Naval Hospital, the nation's first such facility, are both tourist attractions for this city.
We are fortunate to have Captain Klemm at the shipyard and Rear Adm. William J. McDaniel at the hospital. Both are interested in this city and both are making every effort to work with the people here.
Unfortunately, the Navy seldom leaves the commanding officers here for much over two years, which hardly seems time for the facilities to get the benefit of their knowledge and experience. The short tenure also means that by the time they get acquainted with the community, they're out of here.
Maybe we need to start lobbying to keep the commanding officers for four years. Even IBM and the Methodist Church give a person that much time! by CNB