CONCORD, N.H. – A bipartisan delegation of New England members of Congress continue to lobby the Defense Department to keep the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard off the next military base closure list.

The lawmakers met in Washington, D.C., on Monday with Navy Secretary Gordon England and Assistant Secretary of the Navy John Young.

“We are grateful to Secretary England and Secretary Young for meeting with us today to discuss our concerns about the future workload” at the submarine tending yard, the eight-member delegation said in a statement following the meeting.

The statement said England and Young “understand our belief that the best-performing shipyard in the country, public or private, should not bear the brunt of these reductions but rather the Navy should do all it can to give Portsmouth as much work as possible.”

The shipyard in Kittery, Maine, located on an island in the Piscataqua River between New Hampshire and Maine, specializes in maintaining and overhauling nuclear submarines.

It draws its work force from eastern New Hampshire, southern Maine and northeastern Massachusetts, with peak civilian employment last year of almost 5,000.

Monday’s meeting was the latest in a series of initiatives on behalf of the yard and its work force.

The shipyard is considered vulnerable in the Pentagon’s next round of military base closings, part of a continuing drive to eliminate duplicative bases and turn work over to contractors.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld must recommend a list of bases for closure or downsizing to a special commission by mid-May.

Lawmakers have argued that the shipyard has unobstructed access to the open ocean, delivers submarine overhauls ahead of schedule, is in a very secure location and has the space to accommodate more personnel and duties.