Navy secretary to tour Portsmouth

KITTERY – Navy Secretary Gordon England will tour the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Thursday, getting a firsthand look at the work of the facility’s nearly 4,600 employees.

Members of the U.S. congressional delegations from New Hampshire and Maine will accompany England on the visit and said they’ll urge him to keep the yard off next year’s Base Realignment and Closure list.

N.H. Rep. Jeb Bradley, R-1st District, said he thinks England’s tour will help keep the yard in business.

“It will be helpful not only in the BRAC process, but also in the process of getting more work dedicated to the shipyard,” said Bradley, who invited England to visit the yard during a meeting with the secretary about six weeks ago.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said at least 24 percent of the nation’s 425 bases could be closed during next year’s BRAC round.

Former shipyard commander Bill McDonough described England as a “key player” in the base closure process and called his visit significant.

McDonough is a retired Navy captain who serves as the Seacoast Shipyard Association’s spokesman. The association is the yard’s advocacy group during the closures.

“He is in constant contact with the other secretaries as well as the secretary of Defense and the uniformed part of the Navy,” McDonough said. England “will be given an underlying message: We are an asset you should keep.”

Members of Congress who plan to tour with England said that’s exactly the message they want to send.

“We will have the opportunity to show the secretary why [the shipyard] is the jewel in the crown of our naval shipyards that has made us all proud,” U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said. “We are thrilled he is coming and look forward to showing him this truly irreplaceable asset.”