My dad finished his 20-year Navy career in the mid-1970s at the Groton, Ct. Navy base, which is on the list released today for closure. It is one of the largest recommended shutdowns on the list, with 8,000 projected jobs lost there (moving mostly elsewhere, probably).
I grew up in North Kingstown, RI, where Quonset Naval Base and the Davisville Seabee Station were located, and where my dad was stationed before I was born (1964). Those bases were closed when I was real young (mid-1970s) and I grew up remembering them as mostly abandoned, except for a golf course and an Electric Boat submarine construction plant.
Here’s what my dad had to say about the closing of Groton and his memories of the RI bases:
Don’t know if you remember, but shortly after I left the Navy, DOD closed Quonset Naval Air Station and the Davisville Seabee base, and they moved many ships out of Newport (RI). People suffered hardships but they survived. Some civil service employees relocated to other states. Others found new jobs.
I never liked Groton as a base. The upper base above the submarine piers is jammed tightly against a hill. It was hard to move around and park. Many people in RI have worked for Electric Boat over the years, making the long commute for what they used to call EB over time back when the submarine building program was at top speed. Times change.
I guess DOD is winding down ship construction. No need for 500-600 ships in the post-Cold War Navy. Rumsfeld had streamlining plans before 9/11, and I think he was right. The Navy should have been streamlined during my Cold War years of service.
