CONCORD, N.H. – As the Pentagon narrows its list of military bases targeted for closure, supporters of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard sought funding Tuesday for a broad campaign to save the facility.

The Seacoast Shipyard Association is seeking $100,000 in state money for legal fees, lobbying and other promotional efforts aimed at keeping the shipyard running. The money would help supplement what individual towns, cities and businesses already have contributed, supporters told the Senate Finance Committee.

“It’s clear we need to provide a united front,” said state Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth, the bill’s sponsor. “We need to be able to have the New Hampshire House and Senate send a powerful message to all those in Washington making this decision that this state and its policy-makers stand behind the fight to keep this shipyard open.”

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said he believes the military has about 25 percent excess capacity at its bases. By May 16, he will provide a list of targeted bases to a commission that will have until Sept. 8 to make final recommendations to President Bush.

Gov. John Lynch told senators that next month’s deadline adds urgency to the need for state funding. He emphasized the shipyard’s economic value, noting that it employed more than 2,000 New Hampshire residents and 3,000 Maine residents last year.

“I believe we must do everything we can to make sure the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is not on that list,” he said. “It is essential to the nation’s defense and our state’s economy.”

The shipyard, on an island in the river that separates New Hampshire from Maine, survived three rounds of cuts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the first round, the shipyard was protected by executive action. After that, it took the full weight of the Maine and the New Hampshire congressional delegations to keep it off the list.

Members of both delegations were getting together Tuesday to receive thousands of letters written in support of the shipyard. The Seacoast Shipyard Association coordinated the letter-writing campaign.

Asked by a senator whether he believes Portsmouth will be on the latest list, retired Navy Capt. William McDonough said Tuesday he is “very fearful.”

“I hate to say yes, but I see too many indicators,” he said.

McDonough, head of the shipyard association and a former commander at the yard, said he expects Maine to match whatever dollar amount New Hampshire approves.

The committee later amended the bill to give the association $40,000 up front, with $60,000 to follow if the shipyard is on the targeted list. The bill now goes to the full Senate.

Though the shipyard has proven to be superior to others like it when it comes to performance, it still could fall victim to politics, he said.

“On the basis of fact, we should be perfectly safe, but we’re not,” he said.