Base Reset
The Navy embarks on a major, long-term revamping of infrastructure
By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor
Global Vision
■ The plan is called a “perfect fit” for joint basing.
The Navy has selected its largest regional command to lead the implementation of a new
vision of shore basing. Shore Vision 2035
includes a substantial reduction of base infrastructure
and a new model of base layout that zones infrastructure along functional lines.
The plan, looking toward 2035, aims to reduce the
financial drain of unneeded infrastructure — buildings, land and other facilities — and devote the funds
to recapitalizing bases and other needs of the Navy.
Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, led by Rear Adm. Mark S.
Boensel and headquartered at Naval Station Norfolk, Va.,
the hub of the world’s largest naval complex, has been
selected by Vice Adm. Robert T. Conway Jr., commander,
Navy Installations Command (CNIC), to be the first command to implement the Global Shore Infrastructure Plan
(GSIP), an action plan embodying Shore Vision 2035.
“The GSIP is this collaborative effort that the
warfighting enterprises are doing to identify what level
of support, infrastructure-wise, they require on the
bases in order to execute their mission,” Conway said.
The Navy is saddled with “a great amount of the
same infrastructure that we had in World War II,” he
said. “We have excess infrastructure or excess capacity
that may no longer be required to effectively and efficiently support the Maritime Strategy.”
The infrastructure to which Conway referred once supported the more than 7,000 ships the Navy operated dur-
ing World War II. Today, the Navy is
down to 280 battle-force ships and
126 ships operated by the Military
Sealift Command, many of which are
supported from naval bases.
The Navy has reduced the number of bases it operates, as well as
the infrastructure at existing bases,
but many buildings and other structures date from the war era and are
inadequate for current uses or no
longer required. Conway’s goal is to
have the Navy’s base commanders identify which ones
can be shut down and “mothballed” or torn down.
Naval bases are extremely complex, Conway points
out, and their elements run the gamut of piers, runways, maintenance facilities, warehouses, power plants,
offices, real estate, property management, transportation, logistics, security, housing and educational facilities, as well as morale, welfare and recreation facilities,
such as fitness centers and day-care centers.
The Navy’s initiative to reduce the infrastructure of its shore
installations will be the largest change since World War II.
■ Savings will be used to recapitalize infrastructure and other needs.
■ Mid-Atlantic Region will develop a template for other regions.
U.S. NAVY ILLUSTRATION
The Navy’s Shore Vision 2035 provides for a substantial
reduction of surplus or obsolete base infrastructure and
a new model of base layout that zones infrastructure
along functional lines.
