Base closings: Farewell, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

[Bluebear]

In 1799 chief naval constructor Humphries recommended to the Secretary of the Navy that Portsmouth Harbor be the site of a government owned and operated shipyard -- the swift waters, upriver islands, a ready source of materials and skilled labor being all the reasons he would need to convince Congress to allocate $5,500 for the purchase of the Fernalds Island in Portsmouth Harbor on June 12, 1800. Portsmouth is (was) the oldest shipyard in these United States.


The USS Portsmouth, launched in 1844 from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as a new sloop class.

The Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russian-Japanese War in 1905, was signed there, thanks to the mediation of President Theodore Roosevelt.


A vital part of World War II, that pesky war that Bush now says was fraught with "mistakes" by FDR.


USS Sand Lance (SSN-660), a Sturgeon-class fast attack, undergoes final checks at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine, shortly before her November 1969 launch.


Senator George Mitchell speaks to shipyard personnel in 1993.


Vice Adm. George P. Nanos, commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command, congratulates the workers of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Monday. Shipyard workers set new records for the shortest depot modernization and engineered refueling overhaul for submarines at any Navy shipyard.

Today there 104 enlisted and officer personnel, but 4300 civilians, a $318 million dollar civilian payroll. Property value in excess of $1B. Untold economic impact on the community. In tiny Sanford, Maine, for example 392 residents work at the yard, and their annual payroll amounts to $22,318,665.00...

Farewell, Portsmouth, over two hundred years of history and service now being closed by Rumsfeld. The "jewel in the crown of naval shipyards," as Sen. Olympia Snowe called it. After all, the base closings will save $20 billion over the next 20 years. How much did Congress just give Bush to "fight terrorism" in Iraq? Oh yeah, another $82 billion. Passed 100-0 in the Senate. And how many communities like Portsmouth, New Hampshire will be decimated? How many pizza parlors, convenience stores, you know, those enterpinooors that Bush always crows that he is helping?


Oh, how the yard tried to save itself.


Well done, George!

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Anyone in Maine will tell you the shipyard is in KITTERY (Dang New

Hampsherites, usurping our naval station)

Editing to add that this is obviously gonna be a real economic blow to both states. :(

[Bluebear]

3. Nonsense! It's in Portsmouth, silly!

kidding GPV...

This community is gonna be reeling from this.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. I remember when they shut down the Air Force base in portsmouth

That was what.. 10,000 people cut out of the economic system?? It was a pretty big number if I recall. (I had an aunt and uncle & cousins who lived there. I spent the night in base housing with them when I was about 8)

[Bluebear]

8. Pease AFB

It's taken 15 years to come back from that, and now this!

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. I think my aunt said they tore down that housing since then.. and it was

new when I stayed there barely 25 years ago.

[MrScorpio]

2. This is not good

Portsmouth will practically cease to exist now.

How fucked up can that get?

[Stinky The Clown]

4. I share your sadness

Those are wonderful pictures.

There are some bases and installations that are as much a part of our very heritage as they are a vital part of our national defense. Portsmouth is surely one of them.

So is Groton.

So is Walter Reed.

I'm not familiar with the state of the current infrastructure or conditions at either Groton or Portsmouth, but I know Walter Reed is pretty worn out. That said, it is simply too much a part of our heritage to be summarily closed and the dirt sold to the highest bidder.

This is a sad day, indeed

[Bluebear]

6. Thank you H2S.. indeed, you know us filthy libs don't care about heritage

Sad day for many, many communities all across this land. I wonder if Halliburton builds subs?

[Stinky The Clown]

9. I'll tell ya what

It takes a very special set of skills to build a subs. Far, far less room for error (can you say 'zero tolerance'?) for a deep dive pressure hull than absolutely anything afloat. Those skills, once lost, will be hard to gain back.

And another reality is that, like it or not, the nuke boat fleet is, in very real terms, a first line of defense for us, even in this 'post cold war' era. Until there are NO nukes, these boats are vital.

If Groton closes, how far behind will Electric Boat be? I've been shaking my head all day.

I VERY reflexively posted about it this morning ... here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3650483&mesg_id=3650483

[wuushew]

7. Why is everyone on this board opposed to base closings?

Military spending is the least effective use of government dollars in terms of job creation or return on investment.

Does everyone expect pro-imperialism Presidents to continue to occupy the White house in perpetuity? Nut balls like Buchanan and some moderates oppose PNAC philosophy so if and when a split occurs a non pro-war Democrat could conceivably win.

Also these closing are being announced years and decades before hand. The transition pain is much less then if a blue collar factory closed and moved to China with little notice.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. This (thread) is as much about history and heritage as militarism

Your point is well taken ... and in many ways, I agree with it. I just don't see it as particularly on topic in this particular thread.

[Bluebear]

11. You have no idea how this will impact our community

I don't care how much transition there is. It's not just the shipyard but the businesses around it which serve the workers. This place has been in existence for 204 years, even through "non pro-war Democratic" administrations.

[wuushew]

13. The U.S. is the sole superpower

In those previous 204 years many countries like Great Britain, Germany, Japan and Russia had equal or superior military power to us.

Given that these base closings are to reduce cost and excess capacity, who is too say that military community (A) is more important than military community (B)?

The only logical decision criteria should be in dollars. If we never reduce the size of the military industrial complex we will go bankrupt sooner rather than later.

[PurityOfEssence]

14. that's what ya get for going blue...

Look at the globe: navy bases on the Atlantic should be in the northeast or the southeast. If you want to fuck with Europe, your ships should be in Rhode Island, Massachussets, New Hampshire or Maine. If you want to fuck with South America, they should be in Florida, South Carolina or maybe Mobile, Alabama.

Nixon retaliated against New England in 1973 by closing the Boston Naval Shipyard, the Newport Navy Base and the Quonset Naval Air Station (where he served, no less) due to Massachussets going for McGovern and Rhode Island being 49.9% for him; it's a fine old tradition.

Closing Groton is beyond stupid.

[OneBlueSky]

15. every Senator and Representative in New England should . . .

pull out all the stops to reverse the Portsmouth closing . . . and enlist all of their colleagues to support them . . . eliminating the shipyard will absolutely devastate the economies on both sides of the river . . . Portsmouth will become a ghost town, and I have no idea what will happen to Kittery and the surrounding communities . . . they've already lost Pease AFB, and there has to be some consideration of proportion here . . .

[Braden]

16. Pease Closure was actually a plus for the city

the Naval Shipyard and its $318mm in annual payroll will not be such a blessing. the Air base took a lot of low payed Airmen who more or less bought everything at the PX and replaced them with office parks full of lucrative civilian jobs. Lonza, Hancock, Celestica (for a few months)

the Naval shipyard is almost all civilian workers and no matter which state you believe it exists in we're in serious trouble without it.

It will be interesting to see if * has the stones to show his coke and booze riddled face in the seacoast again.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

23. Strategically, it is a very bad move.

It has always been beneficial to have both Newport News and Portsmouth. National security concerns should trump economics and we should keep the shipyard in Portsmouth. If your representatives in that area have half a brain, that is how they should frame this discussion. I worry that too much concentration in specific areas makes us more vulnerable than we would be if we spread our assets around the country.

[all.of.me]

17. wow. what a bummer for the seacoast

i lived there for about 20 years. the shipyard is a huge part of that community! i can't believe this. portsmouth and the area will sink. it'll take forever to recover from this.

i had a lot of friends who would rotate between portsmouth, rotten groton, and a base in california. you can't even do that anymore!

what are their plans for the property?!

[Bluebear]

18. Nothing announced yet. Probably sell off the land for condos.

Proceeds to the Never Ending War. Or maybe a Rapture Theme Park.

[all.of.me]

19. what did they do with pease?

i left there in 1987, and it was still going strong.

what is the point of taking away so much from the northeast, leaving it vulnerable, esp with a nuke plant. unless that's closed, too! i don't keep tabs on 'back home' much anymore...

[Bluebear]

20. "Pease International Tradeport"

Quite a few office complexes, some very successul, others empty. "Pan Am" Airlines flew out of there for a few years (it was someone who bought the grand old name) then pulled out. Pease was in the running for an Airbus manufacturing plant until last week (I think only a few southern states still in the game.)

The area recovered but the shipyard is going to be a huge economic loss.

[maveric]

21. So what will happen to the Portsmouth/Kittery economy?

The hight-tech industry has allready fled southern NH/central New England. Jobs are allready scarce.
But then again these neocons dont give a shit about working americans in a blue area. Or red areas either IMA.

[all.of.me]

22. it's gonna crumble for a while

i remember it as a depressed area much of the time. when times were hard, they were VERY hard in portsmouth. phew. this is a huge blow.

[entanglement]

24. Just one day earlier, the navy awarded a commendation

to Portsmouth shipyard for exceptional performance. See this link
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2005/05/14/at_portsmouth_shipyard_defiance/

:eyes: