Three Decades of Service : Two Top Admirals in S.D. Will Retire

The top two Navy officers in San Diego, Vice Adm. James E. Service and Rear Adm. Bruce Boland, will retire next month after more than three decades of military service.

The Navy announced Wednesday that Boland, 54, the commander of the San Diego Naval Base who is known unofficially as the “Navy Mayor of San Diego,” will be replaced Aug. 28 by Rear Adm. Benjamin Hacker. Hacker, currently commander of the Naval Training Center in San Diego, will become the first black commander of the San Diego naval base.

“We’re delighted to be retiring and remaining here in San Diego,” said Boland, who has been rumored in Republican Party circles to be considering running for the congressional seat held by Rep Jim Bates (R-San Diego). “I’m looking forward to being a very active member of the community.”

Boland said Wednesday he felt it was inappropriate to comment on whether he plans to run for political office until he officially retires.

Service, 56, said he decided six months ago to retire as commander of the Pacific Fleet’s naval air force. He will be replaced on Aug. 21 by Vice Adm. John H. Fetterman Jr.

Service said one of the more memorable moments in his distinguished 37-year naval career came in August, 1981, when he was the 6th Fleet battle force commander who directed Navy pilots to shoot down two Libyan jets in the Gulf of Sidra.

‘Tremendous Asset’

“The thing you always look back at is the excellence and the incredible dedication of the individuals with whom you’re involved,” Service said. “The work conditions aren’t the greatest in the world, the family separations are long and the pay isn’t anything to brag about . . . I look at that and I sometimes wonder how many Americans really recognize what a tremendous asset they have in the armed services.”

Service, who flew more than 70 combat missions over Vietnam from the decks of aircraft carriers, said he will maintain a strong interest in flying. He and his wife, Natalie, a San Diego native, plan to move to their Carmel Valley home in the Monterey Peninsula.

The former president of the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., said he hopes to work as a consultant for the military or the defense industry.

Boland, who plans to continue living in San Diego with his wife, Elaine, said he is looking forward to working as an administrator for local government. As naval base commander, Boland worked with city and county officials from the Mexican border to LeMoore Naval Air Station near Fresno.

He was the driving force behind gaining approval for redevelopment of Navy-owned real estate at the foot of Broadway. The controversial plan calls for private development of high-rise offices, shops, restaurants and hotels in exchange for the Navy using some of the facilities at no cost.

“Within the next 18 months, we will begin to see demolition taking place at the foot of Broadway making way for the new buildings that will be eventually built there,” Boland said.