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Private Shipyards Swamped, Navy may Build own Ships
(Michael Getler in The Washington Post, 14 June 1974)
The Navy, worried about getting all its ships and submarines built in commercial shipyards, is considering reversing an eight-year-old policy and reactivating at least one of its own shipyards.
Navy sources say that Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., is the yard most likely to be put back in the business of constructing new vessels, though no final decision has been made.
In contrast to a few years ago, private shipyards are booming with commercial business. Last year’s energy crisis accelerated the trend, with orders coming in fast for more crude oil and liquefied gas tankers and offshore drilling rigs. ’
Soaring inflation and labor costs in Japan and other nations with large shipbuilding industries have made U. S. builders more competitive for both domestic and foreign business.
Navy officials estimate that for the first time in many years, the backlog of construction work in private shipyards— measured in the dollar value of the contracts—has switched from Navy dominance to commercial. As recently as 1972, they say, the backlog was still two-thirds Navy to one-third commercial. Now they estimate it is more than 50% commercial.
The commercial business upsurge, say both industry and military sources, is more attractive to private shipbuilders. They generally can turn out merchant ships faster, with more profit, and quicker payment than complex warships, which involve stringent specifications and many inspections. In the case of ships and submarines using nuclear
power plants, the contractors must also deal with the fabled toughness of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover.
Most importantly, Navy officers say their biggest worry is not so much shipbuilding capacity but that the boom in commercial work and the Navy’s continuing sizable demands are creating a shortage of skilled workers able to turn out warships.
After the decision was made about eight years ago to put all new Navy construction into the more efficient private yards, two of the ten Navy-operated shipyards eventually were shut down and eight others operate only on overhaul, repair or conversion business.
Four of those yards—Mare Island, Calif.; Philadelphia, Bremerton, and Portsmouth, N.H.—were designated as having "replacement potential,” in other words the ability—now largely mothballed—to start up as new construction yards again.
Bremerton is viewed as the yard with the best capability to build the largest variety of vessels and it also is certified to handle nuclear ships.
Peking Criticizes U. S.,
U.S.S.R. Movements into Indian Ocean
(Jen Min Jih Pao [People’s Republic of China], 28 March 1974)
A New China News Agency correspondent comments: In intensifying contention with the Soviet Union in the Indian Ocean, the United States decided not too long ago to expand the military facilities on Diego Garcia, an island in the heart of the Indian Ocean, and to turn it into an important U. S. naval and air base there. This naturally
aroused strong opposition from many Asian countries. What merits attention, however, is that amidst the just voice of condemnation from the Asian nations were jarring notes of abuse and self-glorification from Moscow, describing the U. S. move as "a militarist action” and "a direct threat to peace and security” in the Indian Ocean region, and glorifying the Soviet Union as "consistently working to help bring about a situation in which the Indian Ocean countries could live in peace,” and so on and so forth.
It is crystal-clear that Soviet revisionist social-imperialism, like U. S. imperialism, is also a grave menace to the security of the Indian Ocean region, and yet it tries to disguise itself as a defender of the security of the region. This is the sheer tactic of a thief crying, "Stop thief!'”
Let’s look at the record: At the very time when the Soviet revisionists, with affected seriousness, accused the United States of taking "a militarist action,” they never ceased stretching their sinister tentacles toward the Indian Ocean.
In 1965, the warships of the Soviet revisionist social-imperialists began to intrude into the Indian Ocean under the pretext of "making calls;” in 1968 the Soviet Union officially set up a detached squadron in the Indian Ocean; in 1969, it began to send a permanent squadron to the Indian Ocean; and in 1971, cruisers of the Soviet Pacific Fleet sailed into the Indian Ocean in formation to hold a military exercise. At present, the number of Soviet warships in the Indian Ocean has reached 30 to 40, much greater than that of the United States. The Soviet revisionists have acquired permission to use over a dozen ports and bases in the Indian Ocean. Soviet war-
ships of various categories run amuck there, unscrupulously infringe on the sovereignty of the countries on the Indian Ocean, interfere in their internal affairs, plunder their resources and seriously threaten the security of this region. The Soviet revisionists repeatedly abstained from voting on "the Indian Ocean peace zone” proposal put forward by Sri Lanka [Ceylon] and other countries at the United Nations, and they openly declared that the Soviet Union "cannot subscribe to” this proposal, because it will put the Soviet Union "in an unfavorable position;” and that the Soviet Fleet "will not withdraw from the Indian Ocean,” etc.
Today, the scrambling for hegemony in the Indian Ocean between the two superpowers—the United States and the Soviet Union—has become ever fiercer, thus seriously jeopardizing the peace and security in this region. The countries on the Indian Ocean have become more clearly aware that in order to root out the cause of protracted instability in the Indian Ocean, the aggressive and expansionist activities of the two superpowers in this area must be checked.
Trident Submarine Base to Be In Area with Old Ties to Navy
(Douglas E. Kneeland in The New York Times, 18 June 1974)
Riding at anchor among the gray ghosts on the dark waters of Sinclair Inlet is an aging cruiser that once had a special kinship with the Navy town of Bremerton, Wash.
She was the USS Bremerton [CA-130]. Now decommissioned, she waits with the other post-nuclear anachronisms of the mothball fleet at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for the scrap dealer’s call to oblivion. Meanwhile, her lovingly polished brass bell, a gift from the local Chamber of Commerce, has reverted to a place of honor in the foyer of City Hall.
If any tears were shed at her retirement as an unworthy conventional weapon in any future unthinkable war, they were soon dried. For the Navy has announced that there will be another Bremerton, a new atomic submarine.
"That will be a wonderful namesake,” Mayor Glenn K. Jarstad said proudly the
other day as he told of the Navy’s intentions while demonstrating the timbre of the old USS Bremerton’s bell to two visitors at City Hall.
There are not many in this city of 35,000, or among the 70,000 other residents of Kitsap County, who would disagree with the mayor. Except for the logging interests that ravaged the fir forests of this Puget Sound peninsula in the early years of the century, the Navy has been the only major Kitsap industry since the 1890s.
But there are some who think the price of the continuing romance between Kitsap and the Navy may have risen too high.
That price now includes the proposed establishment of a permanent base and drydock facilities for the planned Trident submarines at the 8,500-acre Bangor Naval Ammunition Depot, which has about four miles of waterfront on the Hood Canal, a sylvan-shored deepwater estuary much treasured by out- doorsmen and conservationists, both locally and nationally.
Others, especially local residents and officials, are worried about the effect on such services as schools, housing, sewers and highways when the number of civilian and military employees at the untaxed base rises from the present 1,000 to more than 8,000 in 1983, bringing a projected increase of 27,000 in the county’s population.
But all in all, the vast majority of residents of the county reflect little of the disillusionment with rapid growth that has swept the nation in the last few years. Nor have they shown much inclination to bite the military hand that has fed them for generations.
"We have been supporting the needs of the Navy as our main industry for as long as I can remember,” explained Mayor Jarstad, a blocky, blond man who has held office for 10 years. I think the general public here accepts that to add to the strength of the Navy, it’s just one more facet—to improve the atomic submarine and its payload.”
The Trident submarines will be big-
ger and faster than the Polaris and will carry 24 missiles with more warheads each and greater range than the 16 on the Polaris.
Although he complained some about the problems of operating a government in an area with so much tax-free property, Mr. Jarstad declared:
"Most people realize that this is in the best interest of the United States. If it’s going to be inconvenient to some of the people, it’s going to be inconvenient. What’s the alternative?” Nevertheless, such state and local officials as Governor Daniel J. Evans and the Kitsap County Board of Commis-
sioners, headed by its chairman, Gene Lobe, raised such a fuss about the expected additional costs to taxpayers that the new installation would bring that the Navy agreed recently to support efforts by Senator Henry M. Jackson and Warren G. Magnuson and Representative Floyd V. Hicks to have the Department of Defense provide the needed funds.
Syria Beefs up Airpower
(The Christian Science Monitor,
11 June 1974)
The Soviet Union apparently has given Syria its first squadron of advanced MiG-23 fighters, according to U. S. intelligence sources. The MiG-23—a swing-wing craft with a top speed of nearly 2,000 miles an hour—has until now been limited to the Soviet Air Force.
U. S. analysts say one squadron in Syria will not influence the relative air- power balance with Israel. But they
believe the appearance of the Syrian MiG-23s in sizable numbers could cause serious problems for the Israeli Air Force if war flares again. The MiG-23 is a tactical fighter that can be used as an interceptor and to attack ground targets.
Half of Ships in San Diego’s Mothball Fleet to be Scrapped
(Los Angeles Times, 21 June 1974)
Half the ships remaining in San Diego’s once-large mothball fleet will be sold for scrap in the near future, Navy Chief of Material Isaac C. Kidd, Jr. disclosed yesterday.*
Admiral Kidd, visiting Navy installations in San Diego, said only 63 ships remain of the several hundred once mothballed in San Diego, and some of these have to go to make room for vessels in active service.
The 18,000-ton heavy cruiser Los
*Stt R. M. Heilenday, "The Mothball Fleet is Obsolete,” pp. 87-88, February 1974 Proceedings; pp. 91-93, June 1974; pp. 91-92, July 1974.
Angeles, part of the mothball fleet at San Diego, will not be one of those scrapped, Kidd said.
The old cruiser, its 8-inch and 5-inch guns still in working order, will be taken to Los Angeles Harbor sometime in the next two years to become a marine museum.
Kidd did not say which of the remaining ships are to be scrapped. Among those mothballed in San Diego presently are the carrier Ticonderoga, a submarine, and three cruisers in addition to the Los Angeles.
Navy Agrees to End Practice Shelling of Culebra in 1975
(The Washington Post [Associated Press] 28 June 1974)
The Pentagon and the Puerto Rican government yesterday announced that "unqualified decisions have been made” to stop naval practice shelling on Culebra Island by 1 July 1975.
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At the same time, Deputy Secretary
Notebook
125
of Defense William P. Clements and the Governor of Puerto Rico, Rafael Hernandez-Colon said such firing on smaller islands, the Culebra cays, will end as soon as possible after that date, but in no event later than 31 December 1975.
The action came under prodding from Congress, Puerto Rican groups, and others who accused the Navy of foot-dragging on moving its target practice away from Culebra.
The Navy had been under orders for about a year to prepare to shift these practice shellings by its Fleet units to the islands of Desecheo and Monito in the Mona Passage between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Academy Disciplines 20 Mids Involved in Cheating Scandal
(Edward Coltman in The Sun [Baltimore], 10 July 1974)
Seven midshipmen have been dismissed from the Naval Academy for cheating and 13 other midshipmen have
been put on probation in the wake of a cheating scandal that began when an instructor leaked the questions on a final examination given this spring.
The incident is believed to be the largest cheating episode in the Academy’s history.
The instructor, a Navy man who taught navigation, was disciplined after an administrative hearing last month. A letter of admonition was placed in his personnel file, delaying his chances of further promotion, and he was removed from his teaching post.
The two students to whom he showed the test and who passed the information on to their fellow midshipmen were not disciplined, nor were students who had advance access to the information but did not bring written notes into the examination rooms.
"There’s nothing wrong with memorizing information given to you,” Vice Admiral William P. Mack, the Academy superintendent, said yesterday. "That’s the name of the game.”
The 13 midshipmen who were placed
on honor probation, for example, were found to have brought written answers to the examination, but their incorrect solutions to problems were considered evidence that they had not used the answers.
The superintendent conceded that more than 200 midshipmen probably saw all or some of the questions which the instructor showed to the two students receiving "extra instruction,” an academy term for assistance given to pupils having academic difficulties.
The investigation, however, was limited to 61 midshipmen, those from whom notes and navigational tables were seized by proctors during the examination.
In 41 of the 61 cases, the notes which were seized were found to have no relation to the examination, and the investigations were dropped.
On the advice of the Navy Department’s Office of the Judge Advocate General, Admiral Mack refused to disclose the names of the midshipmen or the instructor involved.
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Changes in Status of Ships and Shore Establishments
1 June 1974 28 June 1974
28 June 1974
28 June 1974 28 June 1974 28 June 1974
28 June 1974 30 June 1974 30 June 1974 30 June 1974
30 June 1974
30 June 1974
Compiled by Commander J. B. Finkelstein, U. S. Naty 1-30 June 1974
Ships Commissioned: Date:
(DE-1095) Truett 6/l/74
Ships Stricken: Date:
(SS-368) Jallao 6/26/74
U. S. Navy Shore Establishment—
Facilities Established:
1 June 1974 Navy Public Works Center, San Francisco, Calif.
10 June 1974 Officer-in-charge of Construction, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Contracts, Bethesda, Md.
U. S. Navy Shore Establishment—
Facilities Modified:
1 June 1974 Change Officer-in-Charge, Navy Race Relations School, Naval Air Station, Memphis to Commanding Officer, Human Resource Management School, Naval Air Station, Memphis
30 June 1974 Change Marine Barracks, Naval Base, Los Angeles- Long Beach to Marine Barracks, Naval Support Activity, Long Beach, Calif.
30 June 1974 Relocate Naval Construction Battalion Unit-416 from Naval Station, Long Beach, Calif., to Naval Air Station, Alameda, Calif.
U. S. Navy Shore Establishment- Facilities Disestablished:
Naval Air Rework Facility, Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, R.I.
Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, Calif, (from Active [Fully Operational] to Inactive [Excess]) Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, R.I. (from Active [Fully Operational] to Inactive [Excess])
Naval Disciplinary Command, Portsmouth, N.H. Navy Finance Office, Boston, Mass.
Naval Hospital, Boston, Chelsea, Mass, (from Active [Fully Operational] to Inactive [Excess])
Naval Hospital, Quonset Point, R.I.
Marine Barracks, Boston, Mass.
Marine Barracks, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Marine Barracks, Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, San Francisco, Calif.
Marine Detachment, Naval Disciplinary Command, Portsmouth, N.H.
Naval Base, Los Angeles- Long Beach, Long Beach, Calif.
Naval Construction Battalion Unit-409, Alameda, Calif.
Naval Hospital, St. Albans, N.Y. (from Active [Fully Operational] to Inactive [Excess])
Naval Regional Procurement Office, Naval Supply Center, Oakland, Calif. Naval Station, Long Beach, Calif.
Naval Strategic Systems Navigation Facility, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Navy Overseas Air Cargo Terminal, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii Navy Public Works Center, Newport, R.I. (from Active [Fully Operational] to Inactive [Excess]) Regional Office of Civilian Manpower Management, Boston, Mass.
U. S. Naval Facility, American Embassy, Nicosia, Cyprus
U. S. Naval Investigative Service Office, Marianas U. S. Navy Fuel Depot, Rota, Spain
U. S. Navy Overseas Air Cargo Terminal, Rota,
Spain
30 June 1974 30 June 1974 30 June 1974
30 June 1974
30 June 1974 30 June 1974
30 June 1974
30 June 1974
30 June 1974
30 June 1974
30 June 1974 30 June 1974 30 June 1974
Naval Air Station, Albany, Ga. (from Active [Fully Operational] to Inactive [Excess])
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Pass-Down-The-Line-Notes
Declassification of World War II record holdings of the Naval History Division’s Operational Archives, U. S. Department of the Navy, has been completed. These materials include operational records of the Navy for World War II, the files of certain naval commands and offices participating in the formulation of naval strategy and policy, and papers of senior naval officers. A list of these declassified groups may be obtained by writing to the Director of Naval History, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. 20374.
The Naval History Division, U. S. Department of the Navy, has an
nounced that for the academic year 1975-76 it again plans to grant two fellowships of $4,000 each for pre- doctoral candidates. They will go to individuals undertaking research and writing on dissertations in the field of U. S. naval history. Applicants should be U. S. citizens enrolled in a recognized graduate school and have completed all requirements for the Ph.D. except the dissertation by September 1975. The deadline for submitting completed applications will be 1 February 1975. For further information on the fellowships and applications, individuals should address a letter (including approved dissertation title) to the Director of Naval History, Washington, D.C. 20374.
Progress
Jetfoil One, the first in a family of commercial hydrofoils being built by Boeing, began its high-speed foilborne tests 16 July on Puget Sound. The craft traveled across the sound at speeds up to 37 knots, and later tests will be at speeds up to 45 knots. Eventually, the 106-ton Jetfoil is expected to carry as many as 284 tourist passengers on a smooth ride in virtually all weather conditions. Propulsion of the vessel is by waterjet, a series of water pumps driven by marine gas turbines.
The second of the Navy’s new general purpose amphibious assault ships, the USS Saipan (LHA-2), was christened 20 July at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The actual pontoon launching of the ship took place several days earlier. The first vessel in the five-ship series, the USS Tarawa(iH/l-J), was launched last December. A year of outfitting work and systems testing is now in progress to prepare the Saipan to join the fleet. Mrs. J. William Middendorfi wife of the Secretary of the Navy, is the new ship’s sponsor.
The Naty recently received the first of 56 5-inch/54 Mk 45 lightweight gun mounts being produced by General Electric. Deliveries of the remaining 55 mounts will be made through 1977. The first gun mount went to the Naval Weapons Laboratory at Dahlgren, Virginia, for extensive test firing. Subsequently, it will be installed in the destroyer Spruance(DD-963). Other such mounts are scheduled for the new Virginia(DLGN-38)-class nuclear powered frigates.