DATE: Friday, June 6, 1997                  TAG: 9706060610

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  110 lines

``JUST-IN-TIME READINESS'' A TALE OF 2 FLEETS

Navy warships deployed overseas are ready for anything, operating ``superbly'' and in good shape.

But at home, says the admiral responsible for the Atlantic Fleet's surface ships, the Navy is not so ready - its ships are forced to wait for repairs or are repaired just enough to get by.

``We call it `just-in-time readiness,' '' said Vice Adm. Douglas J. Katz, who will step down today as commander of the 130-ship Atlantic Fleet surface force.

``We are not doing some things we normally would have done to (repair) piping systems and electrical systems,'' he said. ``When it breaks, we push some of that aside. We are doing drydocking less, just what we need to do and get them back in the water.''

The reason, he said, is a $40 million cut in this fiscal year's maintenance budget that is sailing his fleet into a worsening jam, and forcing its leaders to adopt a tight-fisted strategy he hopes won't backfire.

Katz' command needed $513 million, about half of the command's annual budget, this fiscal year to maintain all of the ships. About $290 million of the $513 million was to have been spent in Hampton Roads this year.

But Katz has had to spend $40 million on unexpected operations off Albania and West Africa.

Depending when and where breakdowns occur, some ships are being told to limp home, if they can, rather than have the work done in costly foreign shipyards. Last year the destroyer Caron, which damaged a rudder and propeller shaft, was ordered to steam home from England.

``We just locked the shaft, froze the rudder and it came back on one engine,'' Katz said, noting that repairs would have cost $1 million in England, but only $300,000 locally.

``We don't FEDEX parts around the world any more either,'' he said.

The Navy's air arm is feeling a similar pinch, with its Atlantic Fleet commander predicting that he will have to ground an entire air wing before the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30 because he lacks more than $250 million for fuel and maintenance.

In both cases, the commanders claim budget cuts and unexpected operations are wreaking havoc with their budgets.

``This budget of ours keeps going down in operations and maintenance,'' Katz said. ``So we are having to do various things to keep money for those ships getting ready to deploy, or are deployed.''

Because there no longer is a threat from the Soviet Union - a threat that once called for most U.S. ships in port to keep their weapons magazines full - the Navy can accept the risk today that comes with leaving those bins empty, or a ship to remain in disrepair longer, he said.

``If they break something when they come back and they are not going anywhere, we don't fix them,'' he said.

``We don't buy the (spare) parts for some of these nondeployed forces. That means that ship is less ready because it doesn't have the parts. It also means and they don't order parts.''

Katz's command includes 132 ships - 69 of them based in Hampton Roads - and 52,000 people, 34,000 of them local. That equates, he said, to a company with $67 billion in assets. Generally, if a Navy vessel is not an aircraft carrier or submarine, it belongs in Katz' command.

This is big business, he said, and vital to the economy of Hampton Roads, where his command spends an additional $75 million annually on food and another $12 million for ship supplies.

But when the planned ship overhauls do not take place, or are deferred, the work force at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth and the private repair yards locally feel the pinch.

For example, Norshipco announced May 21 that it may have to lay off as many as 1,200 shipyard workers - more than half of its 2,200-person work force - this summer because of a lull in defense-related repair contracts. Likewise, Metro Machine let 70 workers go in April for similar reasons.

The Navy is not unmindful of what happens to shipyard repair forces when it defers overhauls, Katz said.

``Layoffs are always a concern of ours, too.'' he said.

Overall, he said, the Navy's surface ships are in good shape. The Norfolk-based amphibious assault ship Kearsarge, deployed off the West African coast to help with evacuations in the Congo and Sierra Leone, is fully ready, said Katz.

``She is in M-1 (the highest readiness status), doing beautifully and everything works,'' he said.

``Every ship deployed is doing superbly. Our readiness on deployed forces is as high as ever. We don't have a single casualty in ships under way and 50 percent are deployed today someplace. That is a lot of ships under way.''

They are steaming in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Caribbean and, except for a radar here or there, or perhaps a balky generator, none has problems, he said.

``But back here, we don't have an enemy,'' he said. ``So they are really less ready back here for the entire cycle when they return from a deployment until they get ready to deploy again. Their readiness is way down.''

Katz, 55, is a 32-year Navy veteran who was recruited to play football at the Naval Academy. He was awarded the Bronze Star in Vietnam, formerly commanded the battleship New Jersey and served as commander of the carrier America battle group in Desert Storm.

His command change and retirement ceremony are planned for 10 a.m. today aboard the guided-missile destroyer Laboon, where his son, Robert, is assigned as a lieutenant.

His successor is scheduled to be Rear Adm. Henry C. ``Hank'' Giffin III, 51, deputy and chief of staff of the Atlantic Fleet. Because Giffin's nomination for promotion to the three-star rank of vice admiral has not been confirmed by the Senate, he will be a guest in today's audience.

The actual command will pass to Katz's deputy and chief of staff, Capt. Lee Gurke. Giffin's confirmation is expected this month. ILLUSTRATION: Vice Adm. Douglas J. Katz...

Kearsarge...

Caron... KEYWORDS: DEFENSE SPENDING INTERVIEW BUDGET

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