DATE: Wednesday, October 8, 1997            TAG: 9710040849

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A17  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: SPECIAL REPORT: THE CHANGING FACE OF THE NAVY SAILOR 

SERIES: FUTURE OF THE FLEET 

                                            LENGTH:   35 lines

FUTURE OF THE FLEET

As goes the Navy, so goes Hampton Roads.

That conventional wisdom is grounded in the fact that the service is the region's largest employer, and the engine driving a host of the area's interconnected civilian businesses.

But the Cold War's end has upended the assumptions that have guided the sea service for decades, and forced the Navy to rethink its definition of readiness.

Some of its ships and aircraft, cutting-edge just a handful of years ago, have been rendered obsolete by fast-changing technology.

Sailors trained for sensitive and sophisticated jobs have grown weary of long hours, heavy workloads and frequent separation from their families.

An ever-greater portion of its men and women are marrying and starting families, requiring the Navy to devote more money and attention to their welfare.

And the Navy must improve its efficiency and reliability in warfighting, even while the hardware that will enable it to do so threatens to bust the service's budget.

Each Wednesday for the next several weeks, The Pilot will examine the Navy of the early 21st century - the changing face of its sailors, the ships and airplanes the service hopes to perfect, the leaps in technology that will rewrite its tactical manuals.

We'll assess the Navy's evolving economics, and the ripple effect on myriad civilian businesses in Hampton Roads.

And we'll try to explain how the decisions the Navy now ponders could change not only the way it works, but life for all of us.

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