KITTERY – A decision to repair a nuclear submarine at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard instead of at privately owned Electric Boat in Groton, Conn., will save the Navy $59 million, a Navy spokesman said.

“The issue was cost savings,” Lt. John Gay told Foster’s Daily Democrat on Monday.

The maintenance of the USS Philadelphia will cost $85.8 million now, Gay said.

He said the Navy’s decision to switch the contract was “very recent.” He said he did not know whether the decision by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to keep the naval shipyard open led to the change.

The base had been recommended for closure by the Department of Defense, despite Navy findings that it was the most cost-efficient government shipyard. It was spared by the BRAC commission in August after intensive lobbying by shipyard workers from Maine and New Hampshire, as well as the congressional delegations and governors of both states.

Paul O’Connor, president of the shipyard’s metal trades union, said the contract switch and resultant savings were proof that all along, the Defense Department had tried to use the base-closing process to privatize submarine repair work at taxpayer expense.

“It’s like we were saying all along,” O’Connor said. “Our work would have gone to the private sector, to what is by now the least efficient shipyard.”

U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., criticized the Navy’s decision, saying it had an insufficient shipbuilding schedule and a shortsighted maintenance plan.

“It makes no sense for Portsmouth to hire new government workers,” he said, “and for EB to be forced to consider letting go already-trained private workers.”

However, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard issued a statement Tuesday saying it would not need to hire additional workers to service the Philadelphia.

The work, which is scheduled to start in February, is intended to extend the Los Angeles class submarine’s life until its scheduled decommissioning in 2010.