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Inouye:
Shipyard imperiled
unless modernized

The Hawaii senator says it
needs to go high-tech for
the newer vessels

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

WASHINGTON -- Pearl Harbor is one of only four Navy shipyards still in operation, and unless steps are taken to modernize it, its future is in jeopardy, says Sen. Daniel K. Inouye.

This is because the Navy's fleet -- which at one time numbered upwards of 600 ships -- has dwindled to half that, and the shipyards that work on those ships have been cut from eight to four.

"We need to modernize," said Inouye, ranking senior Democratic member on the Senate's defense subcommittee, which controls Congress' purse strings on military spending and construction.

"If we are to maintain a shipyard in the Pacific to provide services for all those high tech surface vessels, we will need the equipment."

Another way to ensure Pearl Harbor's future, Inouye said, is to get more submarines based at Pearl Harbor.

Bring in more subs

Right now 21 fast-attack nuclear submarines are homeported in Hawaii. But Adm. Al Konetzni, Pacific Fleet submarine commander, said last year that he couldn't meet some of his commitments because he was stretched too thin.

Adm. Dennis Blair, Pacific Forces commander, has said that he needs at least 35 fast-attack submarines in the Pacific.

"By allocating more submarines to Hawaii and bringing more of them to Pearl Harbor," Inouye said, "you would have to upgrade the operations there."

Inouye and others have long maintained that Island waters, especially those off Kauai's Barking Sands at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, are ideal for the testing and training of submarines and their crews.

Star-Bulletin file photo
The aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, shown entering Pearl
Harbor, is among several vessels now in Hawaii
for the Rimpac military exercises.

"The Gulf War experience showed the need for a shallow water Navy," he said.

The Navy, in the past, has argued that much of its current submarine operations now take place in waters not deeper than 150 to 180 feet, unlike the Cold War era when ballistic missile subs used to roam in deep blue oceans.

Also in jeopardy, Inouye said, is the cost-of-living allowance (COLA) now enjoyed by all federal employees who work in Hawaii. They receive an added benefit of 25 percent of their pay to offset the high cost of living here, which is not taxed by the federal government.

Even up the pay scale

"But the message out there is COLA will be a thing of the past," Inouye said. There have been attempts to eliminate it, since the arguments have been made that similar allowances are not made for places like New York and Washington, D.C., where the cost of living is equally expensive."

Inouye said that COLA was established after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to entice workers to come to Hawaii "when it was considered a war zone."

One of the ways to counter the attack on COLA, Inouye added, is to try to level the pay scales for shipyard workers, some of whom now do not get the same pay as their colleagues at Mare Island and Puget Sound.

"They are essentially doing the same thing, but at lesser pay if you don't count COLA," Inouye said.

Some yards are closed

The Navy also maintains shipyard operations at Puget Sound in Bremerton, Wa.; Norfolk, Va.; and Portsmouth, N.H. It has closed the yards in Long Beach and Mare Island, Calif.; Charleston, S.C.; and Philadelphia.

More than 4,000 people, including 3,400 civilians, are employed at the shipyard, which is now the state's largest industrial employer with $403 million in gross annual revenues.

The shipyard now handles all the repairs and overhaul needs of the Pacific Fleet's 13 surface vessels and 21 submarines based at Pearl Harbor.