KITTERY – After years of decline, the work force at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is on the rise again.

Employment has increased from 3,709 workers to 4,253 workers since 2000. The shipyard is in Maine, on Seavey Island in the Piscataqua River, the border between New Hampshire and Maine.

“All of a sudden people are realizing nuclear submarines are important to the defense of our country,” said Portsmouth, N.H., City Councilor Harold Whitehouse, who worked at the shipyard from 1976 to 1993.

“My father started working there in 1938, and my uncle worked there too, both for more than 30 years,” he said. “It’s part of the family.”

Although the employment rate is not what it was during World War II – with more than 24,000 workers, according to Whitehouse – the shipyard continues to be the largest employer in the Seacoast area.

Just a few years ago, its fate teetered between staying open or losing its nuclear license forever. Today, payroll exceeds $267 million annually.

Currently two submarines are undergoing maintenance, The USS Albuquerque (SNN 706) and the USS Norfolk (SNN 714). Another, the USS Annapolis (SNN 760), will arrive in the spring.

Whitehouse was one of many who chose to work with the Save Our Shipyard committee, which helped keep the shipyard going during several rounds of base closures in the 1990s with lobbying and other support.

A few years ago, the shipyard was being looked at as a possible site for a private repair or shipbuilding facility.

“In order to maintain a work force in the area and make use of the shipyard, it would not have generated submarines [had it become privately owned],” said City Councilor John Hynes, who was chairman of the Portsmouth Vision Committee from 1997 to 1999.

Hynes said private ownership looked like a viable option to keep the Navy yard location as a source for much-needed revenue in the Seacoast area.

“But not at the present time, with war imminent,” Hynes said. “The shipyard will hire more people, and begin expanding to meet the needs of the Navy in the event they need more of that kind of craft.”