CONTINUING AUTHORIZATIONS Captain COWART. Mr. Chairman, the next item is on page 34, four line items for which continuing authorization is available. We propose to fund these items in the total amount of $26,184,000. Senator STENNIS. That is page 34? Captain Cowart. Yes, sir; page 34 details the first item for minor construction at various locations for $6,000,000. Senator STENNIS. What did you get last year for minor construction? Captain COWART. $52 million, sir. Senator STENNIS. Did you use it up? Senator STENNIS. The next item. ACCESS ROAD CONSTRUCTION Captain COWART. The next item is on page 35. This is for $1 million to provide funds for construction of access roads. Authorization for this purpose is contained in Public Law 177-80. Senator STENNIS. The next item. LAND ACQUISITION Captain COWART. The next item we do not request funds for. We have included it for information. It is for Minor Land Acquisitions. We have no funds for this purpose except those we generate from savings or we take from the operation and maintenance money. The cost of a minor land acquisition would not exceed $25,000 per item. We estimate that this minor land acquisition for fiscal year 1966 will cost approximately $37,000. PLANNING AND DESIGN Page 37, Planning and Design money in the amount of $17 million. These funds will provide for preliminary engineering of each line item proposed for inclusion in the military construction program and for the preparation of final plans and specifications for each line item approved for construction. RESTORATION OF DAMAGED FACILITIES Page 40, this is Restoration of Damaged Facilities. Captain COWART. Page 38, I am sorry. This line item is for Restoration of Damaged Facilities at a total cost of $2,184,000. On October 27, 1964, during an airshow an aircraft crashed on the Naval Air Facility, El Centro, Calif. As result, the community center, which contained the Navy exchange, theater, enlisted men's club, bank, nursery, and commissary, was destroyed by fire. Construction of a permanent building to house the destroyed facilities is estimated to cost $886,000. In addition, the indoor swimming pool was severely damaged by fire. Restoration of the existing pool with new pool enclosure and bathhouse will cost an estimated $155,000. This is an essential facility in this isolated, very hot desert area. On January 8, 1964, one 860-man frame barracks was destroyed by fire at the Marine Corps Air Station, Iwakuni, Japan. Extreme overcrowding is resorted to in order to house the 4,363 men on board in the 1,042 adequate spaces and 2,682 inadequate spaces that remain. The replacement of these barracks with a permanent 664-man barracks is most essential. The estimated cost of this item is $1,143,000. The two restoration items total $2,184,000. Senator STENNIS. Please proceed. Captain COWART. The next item is in the classified book, sir, and we would like to clear the room. This is a secret item. (The subcommittee met in executive session.) APPEALS OF HOUSE REDUCTIONS Senator STENNIS. We shall now hear the Navy appeals. At this point of the record, the appeal letter will appear. (The appeal letter follows:) APPROPRIATION-MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, NAVY The Department of the Navy requests the following amendment: +22, 114, 000 334, 471, 000 PROPOSED AMENDMENT Page 2, line 16: Strike out "$312,357,000" and insert in lieu thereof the following: "$334,471,000". EFFECT OF PROPOSED AMENDMENT Restoration of $19,930,000 of the reduction of $25,943,000 in the appropriation as recommended by the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives on August 6, 1965, in House of Representatives Report No. 738, plus provision of the additional amount, $2,184,000, for two other urgent items for which funding has been requested subsequent to the action of the House of Representatives. This will provide a total of $334,471,000 which is the minimum fund requirement for Navy construction in fiscal year 1965. JUSTIFICATION OF PROPOSED AMENDMENT The Department of the Navy requests the approval of an additional $22,114,000 to permit the construction of authorized projects which are urgently required to fulfill the missions and objectives of the Navy. These objectives cannot be attained unless the funds requested are provided. More detailed justification for each item for which the restoration of funds are requested is provided in the pages which follow. HOUSE COMMITTEE REPORT "The committee has approved $312,357,000 for Military Construction, Navy, a reduction of $25,943,000 below the budget estimates of $338,300,000." - DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY Fiscal year 1966 military construction funding program Reclama-Summary [In thousands of dollars] (a) The activities in the Bremerton area are supported by the BOQ include the shipyard, naval hospital, Bremerton Group Reserve Fleet, and Marine barracks with a total assignment of 161 officers. This does not include the variable number of transient officers from ships under overhaul at the shipyard. Records of onboard count of officers from the area activities and from transient sources indicate a firm requirement for 81 BOQ spaces with occasional peaks as high as 90. In addition, the new shipyard assignment for POLARIS submarine overhaul will add another 24 officers to the area when two submarines are under overhaul simultaneously starting in fiscal year 1967. Since the submarines are not homeported at the shipyard at least 18 of the submarine officers are expected to occupy the BOQ making a firm peak requirement of 99 spaces. (b) The following facts are emphasized: (1) There is no foreseeable decrease in base loading. (2) There are no suitable commercial facilities available. (3) There are no additional bachelor officers' quarters being provided in the area. (4) Loadings in excess of requested 80 spaces will be accommodated by doubling up. (5) Item will replace existing old frame structure which is a fire hazard and which provides a living area of only 144 SF/man as against the minimum habitability standard of 330 SF/man. The old structure will be demolished upon construction of the new building. (c) The substandard and deteriorated condition of the existing BOQ forces the Navy to pay basic allowance for quarters to many officers to enable them to obtain adequate quarters off the base. HOUSE REPORT STATEMENT (P. 19) "The request of $765,000 for the construction of bachelor officers' quarters at the Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash., is denied. The committee is not convinced that adequate consideration has been given to the determination of the specific requirements for additional quarters at this installation." (a) The Naval Shipyard, Long Beach, is one of three shipyards on the west The Department of Defense has recently determined that this yard is essential to the Navy. Approximately one-third of the Pacific Fleet ships are homeported in the Long Beach area and it is the Navy Department's policy to overhaul ships whenever possible in their homeport to reduce to a minimum separation of naval personnel from their families. (b) This yard has the capability and skilled civilian personnel available to repair the TERRIER, TALOS, and TARTAR guided-missile systems. However, most of the spaces currently being utilized for a missile system repair were not designed for that purpose. The multiplicity of repair locations complicates subsystem checkout and increases cost due to duplication of efforts. (c) The possibility of meeting this workload by "farming out" work to local private industry was studied and rejected due to lack of skills, security problems, split responsibility and the requirement for rapid response. (d) If other naval shipyards are required to support Long Beach in part or to accomplish the total missile system workload additional facilities will be required in excess of their present facilities to handle the extra workload. To separate the weapon system from the ship during normal overhaul is impractical. "The final system checkout of the weapon system must be accomplished on the guided-missile ship. (e) The contract to commence the architectural and engineering plans for this line item was signed March 19, 1965. HOUSE REPORT STATEMENT "The committee is not satisfied that the Navy has conducted adequate studies to determine whether or not this workload can be met in whole or in part at other naval shipyards on the west coast. It is also noted that at the time of the committee hearings plans and designs for the construction of this facility had not been initiated. Request denied." (a) Although there are a goodly number of recreation facilities on Okinawa, these facilities are not in the right location to benefit ship crews. In the Buckner Bay area there are only two handball courts, two softball fields, one swimming pool and one 4-lane bowling alley. All of the other facilities are entirely too far from White Beach, where ships of the 7th Fleet anchor, to be of any benefit to fleet sailors. (b) With the increased tension existing in the Western Pacific area, ships arecontinually being required to work longer hours and with many more days at sea between in-port periods. However, this apparent reduction in numbers of ships in port at any one time is being offset by an overall increase in the number of ships assigned to the area. These working conditions further increase the urgent need for appropriate recreation during limited in-port periods. This project is for the benefit of ship crews. While it might be thought that a period of heavy operations is the wrong time to worry about recreation, the oppositeis true. We know from past experience that men are more efficient if they are allowed reasonable periods of rest and relaxation. (c) This item will provide the men a facility for healthful exercise and relaxation rather than encouraging them to seek entertainment in local villageswhere the only diversions are at best questionable both from a moral and sanitary point of view. We, therefore, earnestly request that the decision with respect to providing the 10-lane bowling alley at FLEACT Ruykyus be reconsidered and funding in fiscal year 1966 military construction be approved. HOUSE REPORT STATEMENT (P. 20) "The request for a bowling alley in the amount of $278,000 for Okinawa is denied. Existing recreational facilities at this location are adequate to meet the requirements." RECLAMA Installation: Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, Calif. |