New Seabee Chief Confident Base Will Survive Cuts : Port Hueneme: Construction Battalion Center commander says he doubts the facility will take ‘a hard hit’ next year in the military’s closure program.

Capt. James L. Delker, the newly installed commander of the Port Hueneme Seabee base, has discounted rumors that the 52-year-old facility--the hub of all Seabee activities in the Pacific--would fall victim next year to the federal military base closure and realignment program.

“I would doubt if we take a hard hit next year,” Delker said last week. “It would be hard to continue our level of service to the fleet and the other branches of the armed services if Hueneme was closed or scaled back.”

Delker said modern war planners want the United States to be able to carry on two “regional conflicts” simultaneously--yet another reason the captain said he is reasonably certain the Seabee base will emerge unscathed.

Delker was installed as commander of the Construction Battalion Center during formal change of command ceremonies May 6.

During the 1993 Base Re-Alignment and Closure program, the biggest change for Port Hueneme was the closure of the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory and the absorption of its operations onto the 1,615-acre base. At both Port Hueneme and the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station, a total of less than 20 jobs were lost to the cutbacks.

Delker began his naval career in 1969 as an ensign assigned to a Seabee battalion constructing roads and bridges in Vietnam. Working near the sprawling U. S. military base at Da Nang on the South China Sea, Delker said his duty was not as hazardous as some others in the war but was dangerous enough to impress upon him the difficulties of trying to build things under fire in a war zone.

“We were there to build roads, bridges and office buildings primarily for the Marine Corps,” Delker said. “I remember that we had to always be in a defensive posture because you never knew when someone might try to come into the camp. You’d never know when a mortar when come in or you’d go out to a job site and encounter a land mine.”

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Now, 24 years later, Delker says he is in charge of making sure that the more than 9,000 men and women in the 10 active and reserve battalions under his command honor the Seabee tradition--a tradition built on such assignments as scratching out airstrips on South Pacific islands during World War II, etching out roads in the jungles of Vietnam and establishing campsites on the beaches of Somalia.

Delker said during a recent interview that aside from some of the heavy melodrama, the 1944 John Wayne film classic “The Fighting Seabees” accurately captured the spirit of the modern Navy builder-sailor.

“I think the film communicated the can-do confidence we have in ourselves,” Delker said. “That’s what our fleet commanders love best about the Seabees. They know they can ask us to go anywhere, anytime, under any set of conditions, and chances are we’ll get the job done.”

The 49-year-old Delker, a naval civil engineer by training with a master’s degree from the University of Detroit, has served tours around the globe--including stops in Spain, Italy and Guam--and has been awarded the Legion of Merit medal, the Navy’s seventh highest-ranking award.

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His most recent post was as director of personnel and Seabee support for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in Alexandria, Va.

Rear Adm. David J. Nash, Delker’s predecessor and superior officer, said the captain’s knowledge and insight of the inner workings of Washington and the Pentagon will help the base.

“His insight to how things work back there is invaluable,” Nash said.

Nash, who was transferred to command the Third Naval Construction Brigade in Hawaii, called Delker an effective officer who works well with his subordinates.

“He’s a regular kind of guy and he’s a very good listener,” Nash said. “I really can’t think of a better person to whom I could leave a command. I think he will work out just fine in (Port) Hueneme.”

Nash, who likes to jog and play golf, described his approach to management as proactive.

“I’m the kind of person that likes to get involved in solving problems. I like rolling my sleeves up,” Delker said. “I don’t think much of running a command from behind a desk.”

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Delker has been married the past 20 years to the former Anna Maria Mossa of Italy, who was his Italian teacher while he was on assignment to that country.

“Jim is really looking forward to this command--it’s all he talks about,” she said. “The people that we’ve met so far have been great, and they seem very supportive of the base. We’re really looking forward to this.”

Delker said he will focus on trying to improve the quality of life for the sailors and their families who live on base.

“Whether it’s the housing, the gym facilities or the kinds of activities we have in our clubs, we have to do those things that make life better for our people,” Delker said. “I think Admiral Nash did a great job in this area, but I intend to keep the quality-of-life factor a high priority under my command.”

The sprawling Construction Battalion Center, home to more than 9,000 military and civilian personnel and with an annual $297-million payroll, is the largest command of Delker’s 25-year Navy career. It is one that he already relishes, he says.

“I was about as happy as a person can be,” Delker said. “I was honored to be selected for this command.”