DoD News 03/10/93
CMSgt Mike Bergman
From CMSgt Mike Bergman <ber...@afpan.pa.af.mil>
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No. 097-93
(703) 697-5342 (Info) (703)
697-3189 (Copies)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 11, 1993 (703) 697-5737 (Public)
NAVY TO COMMISSION NUCLEAL-POWERED ATTACK SUBMARINE MONTPELIER (SSN 765)
The Department of the Navy will commission the nuclear-powered attack
submarine USS Montpelier (SSN 765) at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, March 13, 1993, at
Naval Base, Norfolk, Virginia.
Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) will be the ceremony's principal speaker.
Mrs. Nancy Sununu, wife of John Sununu, former White House Chief of Staff, will
be the ship's sponsor.
Montpelier (SSN 765) honors the capital city of the state of Vermont. Two
previous U.S. Navy ships have been named Montpelier. The first, a steamer
built in Rostock, Germany, in 1912, was requisitioned by the U.S. Government in
1917 when war was declared. Montpelier subsequently served as an Army trans-
port ship. The second, a light cruiser (CL 57) commissioned in 1942, earned
thirteen battle stars for service during World War II. She was decommissioned
in 1947.
Montpelier is the fifty-second Los Angeles class nuclear-powered submarine
delivered to the Navy. Sixty-two are authorized to be built. In addition,
Montpelier is one of an improved version of the Los Angeles class, having a
hardened sail for surfacing during Arctic missions and retractable bow planes.
Montpelier's mission will be to support joint forces in regional conflicts and
contingencies. She is equipped with the Tomahawk cruise missile system, giving
her a significant covert land attack/strike capability. In addition, Montpe-
lier will provide timely surveillance capabilities and the ability to dominate
her battle space, prohibiting the employment of enemy naval forces against U.S.
or allied ships.
Montpelier is 360 feet in length, has a beam of 33 feet and displaces
approximately 6,900 tons submerged. She will carry a crew of 115 enlisted
personnel and 12 officers. Commander Victor Fiegbig, U.S. Navy, a native of
Chicago, Illinois, will be the ship's commanding officer.
-END-
MEMORANDUM FOR CORRESPONDENTS: March 10, 1993
Secretary of Defense Les Aspin today forwarded to each member of Congress
identical memos outlining his rationale and process for the 1993 round of base
closure recommendations. It is as follows:
THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
WASHINGTON, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
March 9, 1993
MEMORANDUM FOR LES ASPIN, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
SUBJECT: Base Closure and Realignment
Because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war,
the Defense Department must get smaller. We are downsizing in the same way
many maior corporations are. Just as they are eliminating overhead and closing
unneeded plants, so we are inactivating forces, eliminating overhead, and
closing unneeded military bases worldwide.
By downsizing in this way, we make resources available to allow us to do
the right things in defense: maintain the quality of the people in uniform and
maintain the technological edge of their weapons.
Our overall base closure policy is an important part of this effort. The
policy has five compelling characteristics:
o It saves money that would otherwise go to unnecessary
overhead.
o It supports military effectiveness by reducing the
competition for ever scarcer resources.
o It is fair and objective.
o It hits bases overseas harder than those at home.
o It supports the investment necessary to foster economic
growth.
SAVING TAXPAYER DOLLARS AND MAINTAINING MILITARY EFFECTIVENESS
Closing military bases worldwide saves taxpayer dollars; permits DoD to
invest properly in the forces and bases it keeps in order to ensure their
continued effectiveness: and frees up valuable defense assets (people, facili-
ties and real estate) for productive private sector reuse.
The defense budget will decline by 40 percent in real terms from 1985 to
1997, and military personnel in the United States will be reduced by 30
percent. Base closures have lagged behind this overall drawdown. No bases
were closed until two years ago, following decisions made in the 1988 and 1991
rounds of base closures. Under those two rounds, domestic base structure was
reduced by only nine percent, measured by plant replacement value.
Plant replacement value is what it would cost to replace all the build-
ings, pavements, and utilities at a base. We measure our progress in terms of
plant replacement value because it is a better measure of magnitude than simply
counting large bases and small bases equally.
Failure to close bases in line with reductions in budgets and personnel
constitutes a double hit; Resources are drained into bases we don't need, and
therefore are not available to buy the things we do need.
BEING OBJECTIVE AND FAIR
Congress has given the Executive Branch extraordinary authority to close
domestic bases, provided the Executive Branch follows the established rules
strictly, and keeps faith with the Congress.
This means using an objective, fair analytical process for closing bases
that will withstand scrutiny by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment
Commission, the General Accounting Office, Congress and the public. The
process has worked well so far.
The Military Departments and Defense Agencies made their recommendations
to me on February 22, 1993. The Joint Staff and the Office of the Secretary of
Defense reviewed the recommendations and underlying analyses to ensure that the
law and DoD policies were followed.
I will not recommend any base for closure that would conceivably be kept
open under a revised force structure plan.
The recommendations I will make, however, are consistent with a six-year
force structure plan. The plan DoD has used is the Bush Administration's "base
force." The legal deadline for recommendations precluded us from making
changes based on future force reductions not yet decided.
The "base force" has 12 active Army divisions: we will have room to
station all of them. It has 12 carriers: we will have room to berth all of
them. It has 1098 active Air Force fighters; we will have room to beddown all
of the.
Unless the force structure is increased above the "base force, we will
have all the bases we need.
I am confident, therefore, that future changes will decrease force
structure, and will require more, not fewer, base closures than those I will
recommend at this time.
REDUCING OVERSEAS BASES EVEN MORE
DoD is reducing its military forces and its overseas base structure much
more than in the U.S.
DoD has, to date, announced it will end or reduce its operations overseas
at sites accounting for 28 percent of replacement value.
Our plan is to reduce the overseas base structure by 35-40% as we complete
our reduction in personnel stationed overseas to about 200,000, down 56 percent
from 1985.
DoD base spending overseas will also decline dramatically, both because of
troop reductions and because Japan and Korea are paying an increasing share of
the costs of stationing U.S. forces there.
While DoD will continue to reduce its forward deployed forces, those
forces have played a fundamental role in regions vital to the national inter-
est. Permanently stationing and periodically deploying forces overseas have
been key to averting crises and preventing, war. They show our commitment,
lend credibility to our alliances, enhance regional stability, provide crisis
response capability, and promote U.S. influence and access throughout the,
world.
SUPPORTING THE REINVESTMENT NECESSARY TO RESTORE ECONOMIC GROWTH
Closing domestic bases and reducing DoD's weapons and equipment purchases
are critical elements of a balanced defense drawdown one which will preserve a
fully capable, albeit smaller, military.
Nationally, the drawdown in defense spending does not pose any extraordi-
nary problems for the economy. The economic impact of the planned drawdown is
actually smaller than the impacts after the Korean and Vietnam wars. However,
the impacts are substantial in regions where the local economy depends heavily
on defense spending.
There are three ways DoD can help support economic growth: investing in
people, investing in industry, and, investing in communities. The President
will soon announce more details on his plans in this regard.
END
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