Holy Loch Base Closure

The following is the article as reported in the paper above. It has been retyped in an effort to make it more readable and so that it will use less memory.

The information line at the bottom of the mast head above is reprinted here:

No 5514, 120th Year, Telephone - Dunoon 3218, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1991, Registered as a Newspaper, TWENTY SIX PENCE

DUNOON became the victim of peace this week with the terse announcement that the US Navy is to close the Holy Loch Base. But the truth that will squeeze and hurt for months and even years to come is how the catastrophic economic vacuum will be plugged.
- Years of speculation concerning the future of the Poseidon submarines, the depot ship and dry dock, along with the vast shore establishment at Ardnadam built up since March 1961 when the first submarine tender Proteus sailed into the loch, ended on Tuesday.
- Major economic initiatives must be directed towards the town at a speed reflecting the scale of the social and financial calamity in the same way that the Highlands and Islands Development Board released the results of their economic survey of the area this week, earlier than anticipated.
- This offers the Government, local authorities and other agencies some guidelines, and fast action has already been promised by the Secretary of State.
- Mere presence of the base accounts for 56 million pounds to the economy, not just of Cowal, but the West of Scotland. Direct impact of the axe, however, is that the 80 full time Dunoon people employed by the Navy and 65 part time will have lost their jobs by the time the USS Simon Lake, the present depot ship, ups anchor next January or February.

In Cowal, the estimated loss is put at 11 million pounds a year, with a figure of 800 local jobs - taxis, hotels, bed and breakfast and self catering establishments and other largely service trades being affected.
- While Strathclyde Regional Council have been the first apparently to request the US Government to treat the Holy Loch base as "home territory" in regard to compensation, this was declared "not on" on Wednesday by a government spokesman.
- The Office of Economic Adjustment in Washington said federal law did not permit assistance to other nations and communities when bases became inactive.

By BILL MILUR
and DAVID GOODWN

Run-down will begin this summer and although there is no established time schedule as yet, Navy sources say they know their mission to support the. remaining four submarines in the Poseidon fleet will end this summer, so general wind-down will follow that and through 1992.
- When the Simon Lake leaves Holy Loch next January or February, she will take her crew of 1600 men and women and it is likely a number of families will leave before then. Some three to four months after the Simon Lake, will see the departure of the dry dock, USS Los Alamos.
- No statement has been made as yet about the movement of smaller craft and tugs or the large floating crane.
- The last of the shore establishments to pack up will be the support section since they will have to deal with families and dependents who number around 1600.
- Navy spokesman Lieutenant Steve Lowry said it was unlikely that there would be one exodus of families. Houses would become vacant one by one, he imagined, and some families, perhaps with schooling commitments in mind, would leave in July and August this year. "As families leave, they will not be replaced," he said.
- Support activity and Submarine Squadron 14 staff (about 215 all told), and other active duty personnel bring the military establishment up to 2000.
- The shore facilities at Ardnadam include a restaurant and snack bar, gymnasium, and clubs with licensed bars for the enlisted men, petty officers and officers, bowling alley, cinema, church, launderette and other small facilities. But, says Lieutenant Lowry, apart from two warehouses leased from a private landlord, all the area is owned by the Ministry of Defence.
- "What happens when we turn out the lights for the last time and lock the door is anybody's guess," he added.
- Generally, Lieutenant Lowry said, just as with the people of Dunoon there are two groups -- one quite glad to leave and the other doing so with considerable emotion.
- This is the larger group, he points out. "Make no mistake many of us have made many friends and have had wonderful times over here. There will be a majority in Dunoon and a majority of Navy who will be sad. There is a special relationship here which I have not seen in any other base in Great Britain."
- Ministry of Defence police at the base, numbering about 18, will also become "redundant" when goodbyes are said.
- Other properties used by the US Navy are owned by the Ministry of Defence in Dunoon, including a petrol station, commissary and exchange and bank. A number of officers are located nearby dealing with public works and housing and there is also a credit union.
- The navy also have a number of contracts with various local concerns ranging from cleaning services to skip hire and general maintenance of houses and buildings.

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