Navy to Remove 4 S.D. Ships From Active Status

The Navy announced Thursday that four San Diego-based warships will be decommissioned or transferred to the Naval Reserve by the end of the year. But some of the ships will probably be replaced by three new generations of warships that will eventually be assigned to the Pacific Fleet.

Cmdr. David Dillon, spokesman for the Pacific Fleet Surface Force headquarters in Coronado, said that two Charles F. Adams class guided missile destroyers, the Henry B. Wilson and the Hoel, will be decommissioned during the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. Two Knox class frigates, the Hepburn and Cook, will be transferred to the Naval Reserve during the same period.

The transfers and decommissions are part of the Defense Department’s plans to trim the military budget by $10 billion. Two months ago, senior Navy officers said they would trim their portion of the defense budget in part by decommissioning all Charles F. Adams class of destroyers.

On Thursday, the San Diego Tribune reported that in addition to the Henry B. Wilson and Hoel, the Navy would also decommission the Lynde McCormick and the Robison, which are also assigned to San Diego, in Fiscal Year 1991. Both ships are also Charles F. Adams class destroyers. Dillon said he had no knowledge of the possible additional decommissionings.

“We knew that all guided missile destroyers in this class were going to be decommissioned. We knew this was coming. We just didn’t know which ones would go first and when,” Dillon said.

According to Dillon, the Navy has not decided what will done with the decommissioned ships. He said there is a possibility that the vessels may be sold or leased to another country, or they could be mothballed.

Each of the ships scheduled for decommissioning carries a crew of 360 and has an annual payroll of about $10 million, Dillon said. Navy officials said they would try to keep the men from each ship in San Diego. The annual payroll for the frigates, which have crews of 288, were not available.

Dillon said the ships affected by the budget cuts are repaired in local shipyards, but said that he had no idea how much the yards will lose in repair contracts because of the decommissions. However, part of those losses will be offset when the new ships began arriving in 1993.

Beginning in four years, the Pacific Fleet is scheduled to get three new Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers, six Aegis system cruisers and two Wasp class helicopter carriers. The new ships are currently under construction or scheduled for construction. Dillon said he is unsure how many of the vessels will be assigned to San Diego.