DATE: Sunday, October 26, 1997              TAG: 9710260028

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A15  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   51 lines

TO MOVE NAVY FORWARD, TAKE STEPS BACKWARD ATLANTIC FLEET'S LEADER SAYS NAVAL DISTRICTS ARE A KEY TO THE FUTURE.

Remember the old 5th Naval District?

It began here in 1917 and was served by about 30 commandants until the Navy wiped it out in 1980 ``to increase efficiency and effectiveness,'' as it said then.

Well, it may be coming back - for the same reason.

Adm. J. Paul Reason believes the time has come to return to the era when ``crusty old two-star'' admirals, known as district commandants, ruled their geographic districts with an authoritative hand.

Each of the nation's seven naval districts covered several states and bestowed on the admiral in charge a great deal of control over what took place within its boundaries. The 5th Naval District, headquartered in Norfolk, included all of West Virginia and Kentucky, Virginia except for the Washington suburbs, most of Maryland and a chunk of North Carolina.

``Every one of the naval activities within that region worked for him,'' Reason said of the commandant. ``Either he wrote their fitness reports, controlled their money, or controlled their vehicles or piers. Everyone was beholden to him. He had so much clout. He could stamp out duplication.''

The naval districts took on added importance after World War II, when the service needed to downsize and close dozens of facilities that had sprouted during the war, Reason said.

``The only way to get rid of duplicative effort was to have a very powerful kingpin in a finite area,'' he explained. ``He got to know the congressmen and senators, the board of supervisors and mayor. He was in power to push down the infrastructure to match the needs of the Navy that was shrinking very, very rapidly at that time.

``We are sort of at that point where we need to do that again,'' he said. ``We still have a lot of functions that are accomplished in three or four different places right here in Hampton Roads, all doing the same things simply because we had enough money.''

Nowadays a one-star admiral, known as Commander Naval Base Norfolk, serves as a regional commander for all naval activities within a 50-mile radius. However, his authority is more limited than the district commandants of yore.

Reason says he'd like to straighten it all out again in the name of regionalization. That way certain commands can be combined, or eliminated to make the overall command more efficient.

``That is what we have to do,'' he said, ``to draw down the infrastructure.''

Navy spokesmen said Reason's suggestion must win further approval. It was unclear when it could go into effect, but many elements are expected to be approved this fiscal year, which started Oct. 1. KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu