By Richard R. Burgess
The Navy has taken
additional steps to streamline its shore establishment, creating regional commands that
supervise all bases located within the same geographic area, consolidating operations and
some bases, and contracting out selected services to private contractors. The initiatives
are changing some long-entrenched ways of conducting operations and have led to the
renaming of part of the visible infrastructure of the Navy.
The Navy has grouped
naval base complexes under flag officers for several years. The new initiatives take the
process a step further by organizing several Navy regions under flag officers, each of
whom supervises all of the shore facilities within a designated region, centered on a
major base complex. The Mid-Atlantic Navy Region, for example, encompasses the bases in
the Norfolk, Va., area, and most naval installations throughout Virginia, Maryland,
Delaware, and West Virginia; the Northeast Navy Region includes bases throughout New
England; the Southeast Navy Region includes the bases in the Jacksonville, Fla., area; the
Northwest Navy Region includes the bases in the Puget Sound area of Washington; the
Southwest Navy Region supervises bases in San Diego, San Francisco, and El Centro, Calif.,
and Fallon, Nev. The Navy bases in Hawaii are now under the Hawaii Navy Region.
The major thrust of the
reorganization is to achieve economies and efficiencies in operations through the
consolidation of operations, activities, and functions--e.g., utilities, medical care,
housing, public affairs, security, environmental protection, and family services--and,
where possible, the contracting of services. Family support services, for example, are now
provided by private contractors in Norfolk and San Diego.
The reorganizations have
resulted in some base consolidations and the disestablishment of at least one command,
Naval Air Station (NAS) Norfolk, Va. The former NAS Norfolk, located adjacent to Naval
Station Norfolk (both under Naval Base Norfolk) has been absorbed by the naval station in
a move designed to eliminate duplication of services and reduce staff requirements.
In terms of support to
the fleet, however, nothing has been lost, the Navy says. The airfield remains in
operation, but is now run as Chambers Field by an air operations detachment from Naval Air
Station Oceana in nearby Virginia Beach. The consolidation has enabled Naval Station
Norfolk to assume the quarterdeck watchstanding responsibilities formerly duplicated by
Naval Base Norfolk and NAS Norfolk. The commander of the Mid-Atlantic Navy Region, built
from the Naval Base Norfolk command, has reduced his staff from 750 personnel to 150, and
is transferring some billets to the naval station to handle its increased
responsibilities.
The reorganization of the
Southwest Navy Region will result in the renaming of several bases in the San Diego area.
If the names are approved: (a) the 32nd Street Naval Station will become the San Diego
Naval Base; (b) NAS North Island and nearby Naval Amphibious Base Coronado, already
consolidated under one commanding officer, will become the Coronado Naval Base; and (c)
Naval Submarine Base San Diego and nearby facilities on Point Loma will be consolidated
and become the Point Loma Naval Base.
In certain cases, the
regionalization has imposed additional command responsibilities on the flag officers in
charge. The commander of the Northwest Navy Region, for example, once known as commander,
Naval Base Seattle, is now commander of both Naval Surface Group Pacific Northwest and of
Maritime Defense Zone Pacific. Similarly, the commander of the Northeast Navy Region now
also serves as the commander of Submarine Group Two in New London, Conn.
In a similar change last
October, Naval Support Activity (NSA) Memphis, Tenn.--the new home of the Navy Personnel
Command and the Navy Recruiting Command--was redesignated NSA Mid-South to reflect both
its regional responsibilities and the Navy's efforts to identify the base and its
personnel more closely with the surrounding civilian community.
The new regionalization
somewhat resembles the former naval-district system, but Navy officials say that the
regionalization is far more efficient in an era of downsizing and privatization.
Navy
Expands Initiatives To Recruit, Train, Retain
Secretary of the Navy
Richard Danzig has directed implementation of several recent initiatives directed at
reversing the adverse trend in Navy recruiting--and improving retention as well. The
initiatives, considered critical to the combat readiness of the fleet, are intended to
complement legislation introduced to increase military pay and improve the military
retirement system.
The Navy is now short of
personnel for some 22,000 billets--18,000 of them at sea--a problem exacerbated by a 1998
shortfall of almost 7,000 recruits. The Navy needs to recruit 1,000 Sailors each week (15
percent more than in 1998). The Marine Corps needs 38,000 recruits this year. The
recruiting initiatives authorized by Danzig include:
- Recruitment of up to 2,600
non-high school graduates whose work experience and above-average test scores
"identify them as 'Proven Performers.'"
- Increased funding for
enlistment incentives such as enlistment bonuses and the Navy College Fund.
- Enlisting recruits for
general detail assignments at sea by guaranteeing them advanced technical training after
their initial 12 to 18 month tours of sea duty.
- Awarding medals or letters
of commendation to Sailors who recruit qualified civilians for the naval service. A Sailor
will be eligible for a Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal for enlisting up to four
civilians.
The impact of these
changes, Danzig said, will be the recruiting of more than 3,000 additional Sailors.
The Navy said it also
hopes to retain approximately 3,000 more Sailors through the implementation of
several recently announced retention initiatives that include:
- Allowing eligible
third-class petty officers to serve beyond the normal separation point of 10 years of
service;
- Expanding and enhancing
the selective reenlistment bonus (SRB) program; and
- Temporarily suspending
separations for PRT (physical readiness training) failures.
The Navy also hopes to
improve its personnel situation by improving various aspects of its training process,
including:
- Better management of basic
and advanced training to reduce "pipe-line" delays;
- Modernizing training
methods through greater use of advanced technology; and
- Increasing summer capacity
at the Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Ill., to a "surge capacity" of
16,000 recruits.
"Undermanning our
Navy is simply not acceptable to me, especially when more quality personnel can be
recruited or high-quality Sailors can be retained," said Danzig. "Implementing
these initiatives also will help our recruiting. One of my goals is to draw the best of
America's young men and women to naval service. These initiatives expand and broaden our
opportunities to every qualified young person."
PEB Demise
Highlights CNO's IDTC Revisions
Chief of Naval Operations
Adm. Jay L. Johnson has announced a series of initiatives intended to reduce the workload
imposed on fleet personnel during the interdeployment training cycle (IDTC). The
initiatives, recommended by the Fleet Review Board, are designed to allow Sailors more
time at home and to give commanding officers more discretionary time to train personnel.
The CNO said he has
decided to eliminate the difficult Propulsion Examining Board (PEB), a long and stringent
inspection that certifies ship engineering departments in the safe operation of the ship's
propulsion systems. Instead, a commanding officer's immediate superior in command will
conduct an assessment "that will be less intrusive and focused on safety and
operations," the CNO said. Elimination of the PEB inspection will significantly
reduce mandatory reporting and administrative requirements.
A significant reduction
in shipboard watches also will be implemented. The Navy said that duty sections--which are
based on meeting minimum safety and security requirements--will no longer be required to
be capable of getting a ship underway under routine inport watch conditions. Two
traditional quarterdeck watches--the Petty Officer of the Watch and the Messenger of the
Watch--will no longer be mandatory.
In addition, the
Maintenance Training Improvement Program will no longer be mandatory for aviation units.
Instead, maintenance training will be tailored to unit needs, allowing for a reduction in
workload and a streamlining of training. The reporting requirements for predeployment
manning have been cut by half. The Navy said it also will conduct a zero-based review of
its personnel transfer procedures in order to simplify the way the Navy screens and
processes Sailors for new assignments.
USS Louisiana
Completes Y2K Compliance Tests
The crew of the
Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine USS Louisiana has conducted
Year 2000 integrated weapons systems testing of the ship's Trident ballistic missile
system. The testing included a series of exercises to verify the proper interface among
systems that had been previously tested independently and certified as Y2K-compliant.
"This testing
indicated," the Navy said, "that the [ship's] strategic weapons system, in
conjunction with other shipboard systems, including torpedo control and launch, will
operate properly after 31 December 1999."
The Department of Defense
has taken steps to ensure that none of the nation's strategic nuclear weapons will be
subject to accidental launch because of Y2K problems. The headquarters of the United
States Strategic Command has issued a statement saying, "There is no risk of an
accidental [U.S.] Y2K-related missile launch. Procedures for launching our nation's
nuclear weapons involve multiple levels of code verifications and human interaction to
verify an order from the President of the United States. Computers by themselves cannot
launch nuclear weapons."
The Navy has been
conducting rigorous systematic testing of all of its ships, aircraft, and infrastructure,
officials said, "to verify that all systems will operate properly."
Ground Broken for
SeaTech
During Ft. Lauderdale
ceremonies Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and the Carderock Division of the Naval
Surface Warfare Center have broken ground for ocean research and engineering facilities
that will support the South Florida Ocean Measurement Center (SFOMC), a consortium of
seven academic and government organizations located in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Chief of Naval Research
Rear Adm. Paul G. Gaffney II was keynote speaker at the dedication ceremonies for the $13
million SeaTech facility, which will be used to support ocean engineering research. During
the ceremonies, Carderock Director Richard E. Metrey announced plans for two Navy
facilities, expected to cost $2.3 million, to be built adjacent to SeaTech,
"reaffirming the Navy's commitment to [support] SFOMC."
The Military Sealift
Command plans to dock the catamaran-hulled acoustic research ship USNS Hayes--the
quietest research ship in the world, according to Navy officials--in Ft. Lauderdale.
Pacific Storms,
Atlantic Winds Receive Scrutiny From NOAA
The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has dispatched its specialized weather reconnaissance
aircraft to study weather phenomena over both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The
data-collection flights are modeled on the successful collection effort conducted last
year that improved short-range forecasts for many of the El Niņo storms in 1998.
NOAA's Winter Storm
Reconnaissance program is a joint effort sponsored by the National Weather Service, the
U.S. Air Force Reserve, and NOAA's Aircraft Operations Center. NOAA's Gulfstream IV
aircraft has been scheduled to fly nine missions from Hawaii, and Air Force Reserve WC-130
aircraft are slated to fly 10 missions from Anchorage, Alaska. During the missions the
aircraft release dropwindsondes into weather systems considered likely to develop into
storms over the United States. The dropwindsondes collect data on temperature, wind
moisture, and air pressure from the drop altitude (30,000
45,000 feet) down to the ocean's surface and, in real time, transmit the data collected to
the aircraft.
NOAA's Gulfstream IV also
has been assisting researchers conducting the SCATCAT (Severe Clear-Air Turbulence
Collides with Air Traffic) program, an effort to give pilots more accurate warnings of air
turbulence. NOAA's Gulfstream aircraft flew three SCATCAT missions from Hawaii across
transPacific air routes, deploying dropwindesondes to collect observations of air
turbulence.
In a related effort, one
of NOAA's two WP-3D Orion weather reconnaissance aircraft has flown missions over the
North Atlantic Ocean and the Labrador Sea as part of an experiment called SHOWS
(scatterometer high ocean wind speed), in an effort to improve measurements of ocean
surface wind speed and direction taken by satellite-mounted scatterometers. The mission
equipment installed in the WP-3D--including a Ku-band scatterometer, a C-band
scatterometer, and a stepped-frequency microwave radiometer--was designed to determine
surface wind speed by measuring the roughness of the ocean surface. NOAA officials said
that the data collected by the WP-3D's sensors will be used to validate scatterometers on
board the European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS2) and on NASA's QuickScat satellite,
scheduled for launch this spring.
Sea Service Notes
Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff Gen. Henry H. Shelton has received the 1999 Intrepid Freedom Award.
Shelton--the first active-duty military officer to be so recognized--was presented the
award on board the retired aircraft carrier Intrepid in New York City by Dennis
J. Picard, chairman and CEO of Raytheon Systems Company.
For the second time in
less than seven months, the Military Sealift Command has been called upon to transport
U.S. military equipment to Bosnia for NATO's Joint Guard peacekeeping operation. The
946-foot fast sealift ship USNS Antares carried 40 helicopters, 63 vehicles,
and other equipment and cargo of the Army's First Cavalry Division from Beaumont, Texas,
and Wilmington, N.C., to Rijeka, Croatia. The Antares, manned by U.S. merchant
mariners, is normally kept in a reduced operating status, but is capable of being fully
activated within four days.
The Los Angeles-class
nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) USS Boston has completed her final voyage
prior to an early deactivation. The 16-year-young SSN departed Naval Submarine Base
Groton, Conn., and arrived under her own power in Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, Hawaii,
where she is to be decommissioned.
The Cimarron-class oiler
USS Willamette has conducted the first at-sea transfer of a VLS (vertical
launching system) weapon to a Japanese warship. The crew of the Willamette,
with the assistance of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division,
transferred the weapon to the Kongo-class guided-missile destroyer JDS Chokai.
Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) have introduced legislation, at the
request of the USO, to designate May as National Military Appreciation Month.
"This bill," said Gen. Carl E. Mundy Jr., USMC (Ret.), World USO
president and CEO and a former commandant of the Marine Corps, "will encourage all
Americans to honor those who wear the uniform of the Armed Forces, something the USO has
done since 1941."
The Battleship New
Jersey Commission has announced that the retired battleship New Jersey will
be towed to her namesake state from Bremerton, Wash., via the Panama Canal in October
1999. Commission Chairman Joseph Azzolina said that the famous ship will be exhibited as a
museum and memorial after it completes the 7,000-mile journey. |
