Long Beach Navy Shipyard Spared : Military: Base closing panel saves Sacramento’s McClellan, but cuts three Bay Area facilities. Local workers cheer, but 4-3 vote may mean bad news in two years.

In a tumultuous day of victory and defeat for California, the federal base closing commission spared the Long Beach Naval Shipyard and McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento but voted Friday to close three major Bay Area installations.

Listed for closure are the Alameda Naval Air Station, Mare Island Naval Shipyard and Treasure Island Naval Station, which together employ 18,600 military and civilian workers.

The decisions this week by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission are regarded as the key moment in the complex process that is expected to lead to closure of bases throughout the country. The hearings have been watched with intense interest at the hundreds of bases in jeopardy.

In Long Beach, cheers erupted as hundreds of shipyard workers crowding around televisions learned that their employer had been spared.

The decision to close the Bay Area facilities had been expected since March, when the Pentagon first issued its recommendations. Elected officials and community leaders had hoped to persuade the independent base closing panel that California was suffering disproportionately from Defense Department cutbacks.

As the votes were taken, the economic lobbying appeared to have paid little role in the decision-making. It also became clear that even those installations that were saved survived by the narrowest of margins.

The Long Beach shipyard won by a dramatic 4-3 vote reluctantly decided by commission Chairman James Courter. It seems certain to be put on the closure list during the next round of base closings in two years.

McClellan, deemed one of the most expendable of the air logistics bases by the Air Force, was spared on a 6-1 vote in the hopes that the high-tech facility can be used to consolidate the Defense Department’s excessive number of repair depots.

Later in the day, the commission voted 4 to 3 to close the Alameda base, home to more than 11,000 military and civilian workers. On a 7-0 vote, it closed Treasure Island, with more than 1,100 military and civilian jobs.

The commission’s list will be submitted to President Clinton by July 1. If he approves it, he must send it by July 15 to Congress, which can only accept or reject the package without any changes.

The Navy recommended Alameda for closure so that a new base can be completed in Everett, Wash.

“I must say I fail to see the logic other than they get a new base and lots of people lose their jobs,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Friday. “To me California has taken an unfair hit. This put a whole lot of people on unemployment insurance.

The senator said she would not support a package of base closures containing Alameda. “This is going to be a wipeout in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I’m not going to vote for it.”

In an often-noted irony, the Alameda Naval Air Station lies in the district of the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Ron Dellums (D-Oakland). Three other bases in Dellums’ district--the Alameda Naval Aviation Depot, Oakland Naval Supply Center and Oakland Naval Hospital--are also targeted for closure.

The vote to close Alameda Naval Air Station bodes ill for several other Bay Area support commands whose fates will be decided during hearings throughout the weekend.

Also to come over the weekend are decisions on the Naval Training Center in San Diego and the El Toro Naval Air Station in Orange County.

Mare Island, with more than 6,500 military and civilian employees, became a victim of the Navy’s slackening need to repair nuclear ships and an overall surplus of naval shipyard capacity nationwide. The vote to close it was unanimous.

Fifteen major California bases were on the commission’s review list--along with 238 nationwide--for possible closure or restructuring.

In other actions, the panel voted to close the Navy base and naval shipyard in Charleston, S.C., a historic Navy town.

“This is probably the worst disaster that’s happened to Charleston in my lifetime,” said 90-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.). “No people in the world has stood by the Navy like Charleston. This is worst than (Hurricane) Hugo.”

The panel also voted to close the Newark, Ohio, Air Force Base, an air logistics base similar to the McClellan facility.

The packed House hearing room was at times eerily quiet as the commission wrestled with what members variously called its painful and terrible decisions.

Robert D. Stuart urged his fellow commissioners to close the Long Beach shipyard, even though Defense Secretary Les Aspin had left it off his original list. Statistical information from the Pentagon underscored his argument that the Long Beach yard’s ability to repair conventional ships is not needed as the Navy faces the prospect of fewer ships in its post-Cold War fleet.

The Pentagon had recommended that only shipyards at Mare Island and Charleston be closed. But that projection was based on the Defense budget submitted by President George Bush, which, by law, is the commission’s basis for making its decisions.

“The requirements (for shipyard capacity) are going to continue to come down,” Stuart said. “We can save a lot of money and the cost of closing it is minimal.”

The fact that Long Beach was not recommended for closure--the Navy wanted to keep the base as an emergency dry dock for aircraft carriers--worked to its benefit. By law, the commission must find that Aspin deviated substantially from eight base closing criteria before making a change to his recommendations.

Commissioner Harry C. McPherson Jr., expressing the doubts of several panelists, said: “Closing two public shipyards (in California) is more than this commissioner wants to do in ’93. I resist your logic.”

Though tempted by the chance to rid the Navy of an unneeded facility and save millions of dollars, a bare majority of the commission wound up agreeing with McPherson. The first three commissioners were in favor of closing the base, the next three in favor of saving it. That left Chairman Courter with the decisive vote--”exactly where I didn’t want to be.”

A loud whoop went up as Courter cast his vote for sparing the yard.

“I’m elated but not surprised,” said Rep. Stephen Horn (R-Long Beach) on learning of the decision. “I will not pretend that this process has been easy. Thankfully, reason endured.”

The Long Beach facility had a similar scare in the 1991 base closing round, and several commissioners made it clear that they anticipated the shipyard would certainly be jettisoned by the next base closing commission as needed shipyard capacity continues to drop.

Another emotional moment came when Commissioner Peter B. Bowman, a former commander of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard with strong personal and Navy ties to Mare Island, tried to explain his position on the fate of Mare Island. He voted to close it.

“My family history to Mare Island goes back almost 50 years” Bowman said, his voice cracking. “I have searched for ways to save it, but I cannot support keeping it open.”

With the closing of Mare Island, much of its work will go the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Pearl Harbor shipyard was not considered for closure because of its strategic importance.

The commission’s decision on McClellan Air Force Base--also previously threatened with closure--was based on several factors. But the predicted severe economic impact on the Sacramento area was not the determining one, Courter said.

The Air Force wanted to close the base, but Aspin dropped it from his list because the region had been hit hard in earlier rounds. Mather Air Force Base had been ordered closed in 1988, and the Sacramento Army Depot suffered the same fate in 1993.

If McClellan had been closed, Commissioner McPherson said, the job losses in the Sacramento area would total 69,000.

Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento), a longtime McClellan backer, said he was ecstatic about the vote. “This is not just a victory, but a smashing victory.”

Times staff writer Glenn F. Bunting contributed to this report.

* WORKERS RELIEVED: Long Beach shipyard employees react with jubilation. B1