May 2013 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 5. NAVY NEWS: BUDGET, USS THRESHER AND CHURCHILL
Department of the Navy Releases Fiscal 2014 Budget Proposal
From Defense Media Activity-Navy WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Department of the Navy released April 10 its proposed $155.8 billion budget for fi scal year 2014. This budget is part of the $525 billion defense budget President Barack Obama submitted to Congress on the same day. Rear Adm. Joseph Mulloy, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, briefed media at the Department of Defense budget press conference about the Navy and Marine Corps portion of the budget, which was a $4.2 billion decrease from last year’s baseline appropriation.
“So the bottom line (for military person-
nel), the Navy’s going to slow growth slight- ly over time. We’ve pretty much reached the point where, to be able to operate with the force we have and to be able to properly man and train, we need these forces,” Mulloy said.
This year’s budget submission was guided by the CNO’s tenants of warfi ghting fi rst, operate forward and be ready. Mulloy said the Navy is funding our forces operating forward, providing money to maintain and train those units getting ready to deploy, and investing in the people, ships and technology of our future force.
The budget includes a $49 billion request for operations and maintenance. This is an approximately three percent re- duction, but it allows the Navy to maintain its commitment in the Middle East and the Western Pacifi c, consistent with the Defense Strategy.
This year’s submission also supports readiness for our next-to-deploy ships and units who will be preparing for their deploy- ments in FY14. The Navy has also increased its ship depot-level maintenance account to increase the scope and complexity of our maintenance availabilities.
The Navy has also requested $43.5B for ship, aircraft, weapons and other procure- ment for programs including Joint Strike Fighter, Littoral Combat Ship, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and P-8A Poseidon aircraft. Following last year’s budget for FY13, this budget includes cuts and other initia- tives that will reduce planned spending across several years. The FY14 budget request does not refl ect the future uncer- tainty associated with the implementation of sequestration as it is submitted as part of the President’s balanced defi cit reduction plan. To view the proposed FY14 DoN bud- get documents, visit
http://www.fi nance.
hq.navy.mil/fmb/14pres/books.htm. To view the U.S. Navy Program Guide for 2013, visit:
http://www.navy.mil/na- vydata/policy/seapower/npg13/top-npg13. pdf.
Highlights of the proposed DoD budget
are outlined at
http://www.defense.gov/ news/2014budget.pdf. For more informa- tion and to view the entire fi scal 2014 budget proposal, visit
http://www.budget.mil and download the “FY 2014 Budget Request Overview Book.”
Military, Families Honor USS THRESHER Heroes
By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW/EXW) Jason J. Perry and Lt. Cmdr. Jennifer Cragg, Commander, Subma- rine Group Two Public Affairs PORTSMOUTH, NH (NNS) -- Nearly 1,000 family members, active and retired submariners, shipyard workers, and mem- bers of the community came together to pay tribute to the 129 men who perished aboard USS THRESHER (SSN 593) during the 50th Anniversary commemoration at Ports- mouth High School’s Auditorium. The distinguished visitors in atten- dance included Sens. Kelly Ayotte; Jeanne Shaheen; Rep. Carol Shea-Porter; Keynote Speaker Vice Adm. Michael J. Connor, commander, Submarine Forces; Capt. L. Bryant Fuller III, commander, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Dr. Thomas E. Hassan, New Hampshire fi rst gentlemen, Al Single- man Jr., national junior vice commander, United States Submarine Veterans and Gary Hildreth, master of ceremonies, former commander, USSVI THRESHER Base. During the ceremony Hildreth read letters to the attendees written by the Secre- tary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Vice Adm. Kevin M. McCoy, Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command.
In his letter Secretary Mabus wrote, “On behalf of the Department of Navy and a grateful nation, I join you on the 50th anniversary of its loss in remembrance in honoring USS THRESHER (SSN 593) and her crew. THRESHER was the lead boat of her class of nuclear-powered attack subma- rine of the United States Navy. On April 10, 1963, while on a deep test dive about 200 miles off the Northeast coast of the United States, USS THRESHER was lost and all hands perished aboard her at sea. The loss of the lead ship of a new fast, quiet, deep-diving class of submarines led the Navy to reevalu- ate the methods used to build its submarines. The Submarine Safety Program (SUBSA- FE) was created as the direct result and has no doubt saved countless lives and enabled our modern submarine fl eet to remain the best in the world.”
Connor referred to the men of THRESH- ER as pioneers and thanked them and their families for their sacrifi ces and service to our nation. “We are here today to honor 129 pio- neers that were lost at sea sailing from this city,” said Connor. “THRESHER didn’t just change submarine safety, it changed the
USS WINSTON S. CHURCHILL coming out of the Kennebec River. world.”
Fuller spoke to the attendees who gathered to pay tribute to those lost aboard THRESHER, refl ecting on the need to en- sure such a tragedy never happens again. “THRESHER was, and still is, our boat,” said Fuller. “THRESHER will always be a part of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and not a day passes that we don’t remember the lessons we learned and refl ect on our great responsibility.” In 1963, USS THRESHER, the fi rst of her class, was a state-of-the-art submarine with the most modern technology of the day, allowing her to be fast, quiet and deep diving. At the time of THRESHER’s loss, she had been in service for only 36 months and had not even conducted a full-length deployment. Instead, she operated in the At- lantic Ocean, testing her systems while also taking part in two anti-submarine exercises
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prior to entering Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for a scheduled maintenance period. On April 10, 1963, USS THRESHER
sank off the coast of Massachusetts during a deep-diving test, making it the fi rst nucle- ar-powered submarine lost at sea and the largest loss of life in the submarine force’s history. This tragic loss led directly to the establishment of the SUBSAFE program, which is known worldwide as a model for safety and quality assurance. The SUBSA- FE program works to ensure that submarines do not experience fl ooding events and, if they do, they have the ability to surface. The program does this by enforcing a set of strin- gent quality processes and material control requirements beginning in the design phase and enforced throughout the submarine’s entire service life.
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