KINGS BAY GEORGIA WANTS OUR SUBMARINES….NOW!!!

A message from Bud Fay of Submarine Capital of the World.

May 09, 2009 5:23 AM - KINGS BAY GEORGIA WANTS OUR SUBMARINES….NOW!!!

Last week a group of thirty people representing business, State, Local and Community Action interests spent three days in Washington DC. They visited Navy, Department of Defense, and Coast Guard and Homeland Security people, lobbying for the transfer of at least one squadron of Virginia Class Fast Attack Submarines to be transferred to Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base as their home port. This is the 14th annual “fly-in” to DC for the people involved.
They presented carefully researched position papers, which they state are in preparation to establish their position prior to the next round of the Base Closure Commission expected between now and 2013. They have established a Homeland Security Coast Guard “Maritime Force Protection Unit” of 80 people, and a Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security team with as staff of 84.
“A squadron of fast attack Virginia Class Submarines would be better served at Kings Bay, rather than in the colder climate of Groton Connecticut. The Georgia Base has milder weather and is newer and underutilized”, a direct quote from the group.
This well funded and organized group has the complete support of their Governor and the State Administration.
This is “our competition”, and we could find ourselves as the “Submarine School” Capital of the world, should such a transfer of assets take place.
This is a wake-up call to State Legislators, and the Governor’s office, to recognize and fund organizations like our Subase Realignment Coalition, that has a track record and a 20 year experience record in protecting our interests.
The Governor and our Legislature should view this direct challenge to our Submarine Base as what it is, “a competition to gain business” by a serious competitor.
We deserve a focused, well funded, “Military Affairs” function that will encompass and fully utilize the talented people we have, to create and promote, “our story” to the Department of Defense, the Navy and Homeland Security, Coast Guard on a regular basis.
Taking no action is unacceptable. Connecticut’s economy has at its base the industrial/military complex. Risking the loss of this economic engine by ignoring the fierce competitive climate we face to keep it, would be a major disservice to the State and its citizens.
Norbert V. (Bud) Fay, 82 Longview St. #58, Waterford CT. 447-8826




See below story from Tribune and Georgian online.




News > Top Stories
Camden leaders will lobby in D.C.

COMMUNITY LEADERS WHO will be heading to Washington next week to ask for more missions at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base will also continue the argument that the Navy's Virginia class fast-attack submarines should be homeported at Kings Bay. A squadron of the fast-attack submarines would be better served at Kings Bay, they say, than in the colder climate of Groton, Conn., since the Georgia base has mild weather and is a newer, more spacious installation with underutilized repair and training centers. (Special to the Tribune & Georgian/U.S. Navy)
By Susan Respess

Published: Friday, April 17, 2009 9:45 AM EDT
Camden County leaders bent on protecting the future of Kings Bay plan to put the county's military assets and potential for growth in front of military and legislative leaders in Washington D.C. next week.

About 30 people representing county and municipal government, education, health care, business and Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base will join the 14th annual Washington Fly-In and meet Tuesday through Thursday with the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy, U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss and legislative staff.

The event, coordinated by Christine Daniel, president of the Camden County Chamber of Commerce, is considered by several in the group to be a dress rehearsal to head off potential cutbacks at Kings Bay. They're readying for a round of base closings by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which last met in 2005. The commission is an independent body that has convened periodically since 1990 to assess and recommend closing or realigning excess military installations.

Jim Wells, a retired Navy captain and chairman of the county's Community Action Group, has attended 10 of the fly-ins and said that the carefully researched position papers they will present are in preparation for the next BRAC. The action groups were set up by Gov. Sonny Purdue in 2003 for localities with military installations and work to prove the importance of their military assets and the quality of life inside and out of the base gates, he said.

Of concern in Camden County is the aging Trident ballistic-missile submarine squadron at Kings Bay and what would happen to the county's largest industry and its $500 million payroll and $67 million a year in goods and services if the squadron or any other operation went away. The earlier reassignment of some of Kings Bay's Trident submarines to the West Coast reduced Kings Bay's fleet and crews by 30 percent, Fly-In reports show, and the Trident Training Facility staff has been trimmed by half.

Sheila McNeill, a St. Marys business owner who originated the Fly-In, and retired Navy Capt. Mike McKinnon, former commanding officer at Kings Bay, see an opportunity to fill up that excess capacity on the 30-year-old base.

McNeill, who also is a member of the governor's military affairs coordinating committee, anticipates the next BRAC in 2013. The closure commission would be looking at "snapshots of the installations two years beforehand," she said. McNeill wants to be sure Kings Bay's snapshot is impressive.

That empty space at the Kings Bay waterfront should be filled with some of the Navy's new Virginia class fast-attack submarines and with the next generation of strategic-deterrent submarines that will replace the Trident boats, she said.

But the immediate growth industry at Kings Bay is the U.S. Coast Guard, she said. Kings Bay has a Maritime Force Protection Unit with 80 people, which is expected to nearly double, and a Maritime Safety and Security Team of 84 people.

"They are the hook in getting new missions," McNeill said. "The fact that Homeland Security has already recognized this area for those units is important. We're hoping they will look at new missions here as they expand the manpower, vessels and the aircraft."

"The Navy has already validated Kings Bay as a good place for the fast-attack subs," she said. According to the Navy, the fast-attack boats are designed to conduct anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, special-forces delivery and support, and mine delivery and minefield mapping. And the boats can work with joint task forces and carrier battle groups.

"Our [expanded] submarine force personnel would enjoy unequalled quality of life while the force itself would see improved readiness through the single-focus repair efforts of the Trident Refit Facility," McNeill's report for the Fly-In states.

Operational readiness also would be enhanced at the Trident Training Facility, which has plenty of space for additional programs. Kings Bay also could operate synergistically in training with Jacksonville Naval Air Station and Mayport Naval Station in Florida.

"Right after the last BRAC, the governor decided we needed to be prepared for the next one and offer our military installations the best we could offer," McNeill told a recent meeting of the Community Action Group. Georgia is the sixth largest state in Department of Defense revenue.

McKinnon, president of Camden Partnership Inc., a group that works to strengthen the county's military and community ties, hopes to see the payroll and programs grow at Kings Bay. The base already participates in special-forces activities on its two guided-missile submarines and there's plenty of underutilized space that would be ideal for a special-operations center, he said.

McKinnon's report for the Fly-In recommends the special-operations center and a special-operations training detachment at Kings Bay. The base's natural assets of woods, marsh and waterways, and its proximity to special-operations troops at nearby Fort Stewart and Warner Robins Air Force Base in middle Georgia could provide new training venues to practice and develop joint operations.

New this year to the Fly-In will be a recommendation that the federal government provide $3.5 million in the 2010 budget to fund planning, design and preliminary construction for the relocation of St. Marys Airport. The request, from The Camden Partnership, asks that the relocation be achieved without cost to the City of St. Marys government and that the city retain title to the existing airport property.

Like many of the reports in the Fly-In packet, the airport issue is related to Kings Bay. The Camden Partnership says moving the airport would enhance the safety of the Navy base and return 286 acres to the city for potential development. Some St. Marys leaders also say that moving the airport further away from the base will improve chances for expanded missions there and help secure the future of Kings Bay.

Despite a slumped economy and federal-budget constraints, Wells is optimistic that networking with officials next week in Washington will get results.

"In the past it has achieved very good things for Camden County," Wells said. "We have gotten the ear of the congressional delegation and staffers. We go up there very prepared and with one voice."

Wells credits McNeill and the first Fly-In group with getting two converted guided-missile submarines for Kings Bay.

"Sheila started that ball rolling, and the Fly-In group took it on," he said.

Wells told the Community Action Group participants in a preview of the Fly-In reports that their efforts are enhancing the quality of life in the community and on the base.