Answers to Submarine Q.O.T.W. from AUG 11, 2016

Related information, photo(s) and links for questions are found in the original posting. 

Questions of the Week (Q.O.T.W.) with ANSWERS

1 - Which, if any, of the 5 closures on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were major naval installations?
ANSWER:  Two - (1) Naval Submarine Base New London and, (2) Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 

2 - Which, if any, of the major naval installations on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were submarine related installations?   ANSWER:  Originally, Naval Submarine Base New London and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, but both were later removed from the original closure list. [ibid]

3 - How many members are appointed to serve on the BRAC Commission?  ANSWER: The latest (2005) Defense Base Closure and Realignments Commission (BRAC) was comprised of 9-members.  [ibid.]

4 - Who chaired the 2005 BRAC Commission?  ANSWER:  Anthony Principi 

5 - When did a SecDef last seek a new BRAC Commission, and who was he?  ANSWER:  On March 2015,  Defense secretary Ashton Carter directed his (acting) Asst. Secretary of Defense, John Conger to request authority for another BRAC during Congressional testimony.  

6 - What high ranking Navy appointee spoke very recently of a new BRAC round?   ANSWER:  Navy Seretary Ray Mabus was quoted August 9th as supporting another Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round.   

 7 -  State officials recently claimed that there are national security interests in keeping waterways clear for the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn., and U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.  What state expressed such a claim, and in what context was that claim made?  ANSWER: Connecticut, of course, made the national security claim to defend its controversial plan to relocate dredged materials into New York state Long Island Sound.    

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submarine QOTW 11 AUG 2016

Background

BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) is the federal government's method of assuring Department of Defense efficiency in use and upkeep of U.S. military installations. More than 350 installations have been closed in five BRAC rounds since 1988.  The current process was created in 1988 to reduce pork barrel politics when facilities in Congress's home states face reduction.

The most recent process began in May 2005, when the U.S. Secretary of Defense forwarded his recommendations for realignments and closures to the  BRAC Commission.  The BRAC Commission removed 5 major installations from the Secretary of Defenses's closure list.

Questions of the Week

1 - Which, if any, of the 5 closures on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were major naval installations?

2 - Which, if any, of the major naval installations on the SecDef's 2005 hit list were submarine related installations?

3 - How many members are appointed to serve on the BRAC Commission?

4 - Who chaired the 2005 BRAC Commission?

5 - When did a SecDef last seek a new BRAC Commission, and who was he.

6 - What high ranking Navy appointee also spoke recently of a new BRAC round?

7 -  State officials recently claimed that there are national security interests in keeping waterways clear for the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn., and U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn.  What state expressed such a claim, and in what context was that claim made? 

ANSWERS:  Monday, 15 August

Submarines are always silemt and strange.

Submarine Quote of the Month (August 2016)

Background 

“It’s very clear (the Defense Department) as a whole has excess capacity, you need something to shrink that,” said Mabus in an interview with the Connecticut Mirror. “I’m sure we’d have something (on the base-closure list), but I don’t know what that would be.”

He said all Navy facilities, including sub bases like the one in New London, would be scrutinized in a new BRAC round, but he indicated the impact on the Navy and Marine Corps would be less severe than on the Army or Air Force.

Submarine Quote of the Month

Washington —

“The last BRAC round was in 2004, and the first several years I was here, I was still writing checks for that,” Mabus said. “If you are going to do something like this, you have to be more the ‘C’ than just the ‘R.’  If you just realign, it’s going to take a long time to save money…you actually have to close things.”  - Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, "Outgoing Navy secretary still urging a base-closing round",  Connecticut Mirror,  August 9, 2016.

Braggadocio [exaggerated talk of someone trying to sound very proud]

Mabus set a Navy goal of 308 battle force ships, consisting of aircraft carriers, submarines, surface combatants, amphibious, combat logistics, and support ships. That plan includes an increase of 10 Virginia-class attack submarines built by Electric Boat. The fleet today numbers 273 ships and subs.

“When I got here the fleet was declining, declining precipitously,” said Mabus, who took the reins of the Navy in 2009.  [implying the U.S. Navy is declining no longer]

Questions of the Week

1 - When did the U.S. Navy's fleet last have 273 ships?  1930 (eleven years before WW2)
2 - When did the U.S. Navy's fleet last have 308 ships?  1931 (ten years before WW2).
3 - Did Secretary Mabus brag in hopes of a future Democrat Navy Secretary naming a naval combatant the USS Ray Mabus?

Submarines are always silent and strange.
 

What George Washington (CVN-73) Will Mean for BRAC

One or two years ago

As part of the Navy's FY 2015 budget, Pentagon officials have hinted at the possibility of taking the USS George Washington (CVN-73) out of service due to budget reductions.  The George Washington is due for its midlife refueling and overhaul in 2016, at a cost of about $4.7 billion, according to Navy officials.

Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said it makes sense to reduce the fleet by one or two carriers and invest in new submarines or stealthy aircraft and bombers. But he said far more money could be saved by slowing procurement of new Ford-class carriers, which require fewer crew members and can launch planes more quickly, rather than retiring the George Washington 25 years early. Current plans call for the Navy to build one of these new carriers every five years, at a cost of about $13 billion each. Source

Note: The cost of putting the ship in mothballs would be $1.2 billion, says the Journal.

If Submarine Base New London ends up on closure list, it would be the third time. Groton’s sub base was targeted for partial closure in 1993 and total closure in 2005, but congressional leaders and the local community organized and prevented the cuts. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced last month that the president would request authorization from Congress for another round of reviews. 

Note:  Groton had also been spared permanent closure in 1912 by a Congressman from Norwich.

FEB 23, 2012  -Base Realignment and Closure Commission, and the defense department said recently it would request base reviews in 2013 and 2015. The commission makes recommendations about which bases should close. Former Congressman Rob Simmons said he is sure one will go through. This time will be harder, he said. He said the base has fewer submarines than it had in 2005, there’s been a shift from East Coast to West Coast bases, and two other bases in the east - in Norfolk, Va., and Kings Bay, Ga. - will not close.  Source


AUG 22, 2013  -Groton — Sequestration means Submarine Group Two will report to Norfolk 
The attack submarines on the East Coast soon will report to the submarine force commander in Norfolk, Va., instead of to an officer in Groton.  Source

Now

Feb. 3, 2014  Attack submarines on the East Coast will begin reporting to the submarine force commander in Norfolk, Va., instead of to a rear admiral in Groton in the fall.  Source


Feb. 6, 2014  WASHINGTON—The Pentagon has dropped a plan to retire one of its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers after the White House intervened to head off a brewing political fight. The military had proposed an early retirement of the USS George Washington, reducing the U.S. carrier fleet to 10, as part of plan to deal with cost cuts imposed by Congress. That touched a nerve among a bipartisan group of lawmakers, who called on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in a letter last week to block the move and preserve what they argued is a potent symbol of American power.  Source

______________SubBase Groton______________

The next Base Realignment and Closure Commission will definitely target Sub Base Groton, again.
The battle to keep it open will be the toughest yet for a variety of political reasons. Unfortunately, the writing is almost legible on abandoned walls. Where will the Submarine School be moved?

Submarines are always silent and strange.