Friday, May 13, 2005

What BRAC means for the Navy As Outside the Beltway (and plenty of others) noted. the BRAC list came out this morning. (Detailed Recommendations here (PDF)).  As expected, it it is a mixture of surprises and things that were expected.  Here is a brief breakdown of what affect it has on  the Navy (organized more or less by significance). SURPRISES - Naval Station New London, CT closed.  Submarines split among Norfolk and Kings Bay, GA.  Sub schools to Kings Bay, GA.    As I stated in a previous post, my father and I were expecting Kings Bay to be closed.  Not New London as it is to submarines what Pensacola is to Naval Aviation.  Nothing short of shocking, IMO. - Naval Station Pascagoula, MS closed.  Ships and maintenance activity to Mayport, FL. A surprise to me, but one that makes sense.  There is no need to have a base that has a just a handful of ships when you have a place like Mayport that has capacity for them.  One would think that this permanently soldifies the future of NS Mayport (regardless of the fate of the USS Kennedy). - Officer Training Command Pensacola Florida relocated to Newport, RI.  A move that makes sense in general (consolidating the various officer training programs), but one that you might have thought would have gone the other way.  For example, officers going into Aviation get their flight training in Pensacola, so it made sense to have them there.  (Of course, there is no longer an Aviation Officer Candidate School, it was integerated with the black shoe OCS some time ago).  NON-SURPRISES Massive closure and consolidation of Reserve Centers. Active Duty Integration has been quite the buzz phrase over the past two years in the Reserves.  The Navy doesn't wants to greatly minimize the number of reserve centers that are not within 200 miles of a Navy base. Naval Support Activity New Orleans closed.  Naval Reserve Personnel Center New Orleans to Millington, TN.  Naval Reserve Command to Norfolk. Again, active duty integration (Millington is home to the active duty Personnel Center (formerly BUPERS) NAS Brunswick, ME re-aligned.  P-3s going to Jacksonville.  Airfield to be maintained. I discussed this one yesterday.  Naval Shipyard Portsmouth (Kittery, ME) closed.  Functions dispersed to Norfolk, Pearl Harbor and Puget Sound. Its day finally comes. NAS Atlanta closed.   Commands dispersed all over the place. Consolidating the commands with like commands.  Makes sense. Supply School, Athens GA relocated to Newport, RI. Consolidation. Naval Station Ingleside TX closed.  Commands to San Diego.  See Pascagoula. NAS Corpus Cristi closed.  Commands dispersed, mostly to Norfolk. As far as the potential for howlers (from the Navy) go, I can see where some would be unhappy with the OTC going to RI.  Having not served at New London, nor knowing well anyone who has, I don't know how that is going to be taken by the submariners.  Both of these are minor however, to some of the outrages of the 90's (Closing boot camps in San Diego and Orlando, leaving Great Lakes, IL as the only one). As far as howlers from the civillian side go, New London is certainly tops of the list.  Maine is going to be quite unhappy with losing both Portsmouth and Brunswick.  However, in Maine's case the decision is very solid.  Anyhow, the military's purpose should not include propping up local economies.   Military comment []1:58:30 PM   trackback []