Pearl Harbor submarine renovation to ensure jobs
| • | Senate OKs $355 billion for defense |
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
A second nuclear-attack submarine would be refueled and modernized at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard — meaning steady work for Hawai'i's biggest industrial employer — under the $355.4 billion defense appropriations bill approved yesterday by the U.S. Senate.
The bill, which passed the House last week and is headed for the White House, includes $202 million for the overhaul of the San Diego-based USS Bremerton at Pearl Harbor.
The measure also provides for a total of $683.6 million in Hawai'i-based defense initiatives.
"The (Bremerton) overhaul program is scheduled to begin in September 2003 and will last approximately two years, providing the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard's civilian labor force with job stability," said U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i chairman of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee.
The 24-year-old Bremerton would be the second sub to go through a reactor refueling at Pearl Harbor in a quarter century.
In June, shipyard workers began the first such renovation on the 19-year-old Pearl Harbor-based USS Buffalo, a project that is also expected to take two years.
Adm. Frank Bowman, director of the Navy's nuclear propulsion program, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last spring that the 54 operational attack submarines in the Navy's inventory fall short of what is needed.
A 1999 Joint Staff study found that 68 boats were necessary through 2015, building to 76 attack submarines by 2026.
"Let me briefly discuss the most important issue I see with our submarine force fleet today — put simply, we do not have enough of them," Bowman said, noting that while fewer attack submarines have been available for deployment, the demand has increased, especially since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The Pearl Harbor-based attack submarine USS Key West was the first Navy vessel positioned off Pakistan in the Arabian Sea after the Sept. 11 attacks.
U.S. submarines eventually accounted for a third of the Tomahawk cruise missiles fired into Afghanistan.
Bowman said the service is doing what it can to stretch the force — including refueling the first generation of its Los Angeles-class subs to increase their lifespan to 30 to 33 years. Inouye said the Bremerton overhaul will add 10 years of service life.
During a refueling overhaul in drydock, spent nuclear fuel rods are removed and shipped to the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. At Pearl Harbor, holes are cut into the pressure hull for access, thousands of replacements and upgrades are made, and ballast tanks are sandblasted and repainted.
Generally, Navy shipyard crews do most of the work on submarines, while private yards receive a portion of surface ship work at Pearl Harbor.
The Navy has said that 20 percent of its shipyard work force is needed for a submarine refueling and overhaul. About 4,000 civilians and 600 sailors work at the yard.
Bill Clifford, head of the Ship Repair Association of Hawai'i, which represents 12 employers and 665 workers, said the Navy shipyard's focus on submarines means the private sector will have continuous employment working on surface ships. About 18 submarines and 11 surface ships are based at Pearl Harbor.
"It's excellent news," Clifford said of the Bremerton overhaul. "If the shipyard doesn't have enough subs (to work on), then they go to surface ships. If they're fully employed with subs, then all of the surface ship work goes to the private sector and everyone is happy."
Private shipyards in Honolulu received $27.8 million in Navy contracts in fiscal 1999; $28.3 million in fiscal 2000; $35.81 million in fiscal 2001; and more than $44 million for fiscal 2002, which ended in September.
Clifford, who's also president of Honolulu Shipyard Inc., said the industry always fights the "peaks and valleys" of Navy work.
"By being able to do the surface ships, we stabilize the workload and minimize workload fluctuations, and hopefully we'll be in a position to increase our employment," Clifford said
The Navy said yesterday that it would be premature to comment on the budget addition for the shipyard — including $28.3 million for repairs, equipment and training — because the bill has not received approval from President Bush.
Inouye noted that the 360-foot Bremerton was scheduled for decommissioning before the congressional appropriation.
Last month, General Dynamics Corp.'s Electric Boat unit was awarded a $443 million contract to convert four Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines to carry up to 154 Tomahawks and 66 Navy SEAL commandos.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
