BRAC Targets Groton, Portsmouth
The Pentagon just announced their recommended list of base closings for the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, and it includes Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, as expected, and Subase New London, which was a bit of a surprise to many. (I had actually heard about it a couple of weeks ago from a fairly credible source, but was of course unable to share. The same source said that Sub School would probably move down south, to King's Bay or Charleston; I haven't seen anything official on that.) The official DOD website for BRAC is located here.
Even though Groton is on the list, this isn't by any means a slam dunk. They were on the list before, in 1993, and survived. A quick summary of reactions from Connecticut (not surprisingly, uniformly negative) can be found in this Boston.com article.
I'm just glad I sold my house there in 2003...
Staying at PD...
posted by Bubblehead at 8:43 AM
7 Comments:
Hey Bubblehead,
I've got links to the Jodi Rell and Joe Lieberman press releases at my site. Working on getting the Rob Simmons release up there as well, but Blogger's giving me a hard time loading the latest update.
Not a banner year for Joe Lieberman, who is dealt another hefty blow from the Pentagon. This follows him getting caught completely unaware when Sikorsky saw the Comanche attack helicopter program get axed.
-Alex Nunez
http://noonzwire.blogspot.com
5/13/2005 9:34 AM
Bubblehead-
Yeah, SUBSCOL was mentioned too - moving it to King's Bay, supposedly. I am just fascinated to see how they think they are going to fit those, what, 18 boats, plus Sub School, plus all the A & C schools, plus the trainers, plus SSSU and NSSF (whatever their new names are), plus NR-1, plus the infrastructure from the Devron onto Norfolk and King's Bay. I just don't know how it is going to all fit... I put the details for Groton's closing on Rontini, at:
here
5/13/2005 11:32 AM
This would make Groton more of a dump than it already is. I have not been to Groton in the last 3 years, will be there next week. I was a PTO Chairman at the Grammar School in Polaris Park. They had no money for anything even with all the money the Federal Government had given the school district. Don’t know what they will do when they pull half the kids out of the area.
Thought after I make all this money working for DOE, I would go back and sell Burritos & Tacos outside the Subbase Main Gate.
EB is even reducing the people working there.
Then there is Pfizer, which on a clear day you could smell in Norwich. It has grown and taken over half of New London.
5/13/2005 11:35 AM
Considering that Groton is home to Electric Boat, this seems like an unwise decision, unless the plan is to shutter EB, and further consolidating the sub builders in a single location.
To me, it seems like an unwise decision.
5/13/2005 12:36 PM
pigboatsailor, there's beaucoup room at Kings Bay; don't know why they'd add anymore on Norfolk... If they were smart they'd have move Sub School to Charleston (just think how much we could save if new sub officer's wouldn't have to move during their first 18 months of training.)
JFH
5/13/2005 1:34 PM
Anon-
Except for that whole splitting the class up between NY and SC for prototype... That charleston really cannot take the enlisted side, it is big. Think about how many buildings it takes up at NLON...
5/13/2005 6:42 PM
Charleston is closed. Fitting 18 submarines into Norfolk and King's Bay shouldn't be a problem as long as we have a tender at KB. Trident Refit Facility is way under capacity too. We were supposed to build 24 726 class SSBNs. 688s are starting to come off line and the Virginia class building rate is slower than the decommissioning rate is going to be. So any perception of overcrowding will fade over time. We are moving toward an SSN force of under 50. That's half of what we had at the height of the Cold War. Frankly, most of the interesting ops are in the Pacific these days, so perhaps we'll see some interfleet transfers. Take note of the fact that there are now SSNs home-ported in Guam. As for Portsmouth NSY, we simply don't need all the shipyard capacity we once needed. We have fewer boats, and they go for longer periods between overhauls. Portsmouth is the logical choice. It's a small yard with small capacity. Groton may find a way to survive this BRAC round, but Portsmouth is history.
5/15/2005 7:48 AM
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