PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (AP) – Sen. Daniel Inouye has launched a campaign to keep Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard from being added to a list of military bases to be closed.

Inouye, D-Hawaii, met Thursday with Adm. Walter F. Doran, commander of the Pacific Fleet, and Capt. Frank Camelio, head of the Pearl Harbor shipyard. He also spoke by phone with Navy Secretary Gordon England, who is also acting deputy defense secretary.

“I discussed this matter with the secretary himself and I can assure you he is part of our team,” Inouye said. “He knows and realizes Pearl Harbor is an important part of Pacific Command. You take that away, and you really injure the Navy, you set back the nation.”

The Pentagon recommended closing the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine in May, but the Base Realignment and Closure Commission has asked the Pentagon why it didn’t consider closing Pearl Harbor instead.

On a brief visit to Honolulu, Inouye addressed thousands of shipyard workers whose jobs could be in jeopardy. He assured them he is doing the “utmost to make certain their message is conveyed to the commission.”

The commission will hold a hearing on July 19 in Washington to decide whether bases including Pearl Harbor should be added to the list. Seven of the nine commissioners would have to vote to add a base, and public hearings and base visits would follow.

Maine and New Hampshire officials on Wednesday made their case to the commission during a hearing in Boston. They said Portsmouth, the nation’s oldest federal shipyard, is a model of efficiency and closing Pearl Harbor would save the Navy far more money.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the Pentagon’s computer model indicated that closing Pearl Harbor could save $760 million more than closing Portsmouth over 20 years. The savings would be greater if the Navy took into account Portsmouth’s greater efficiency compared to yards like Pearl Harbor, she said.

Inouye said comparing the efficiency of the two yards is like “comparing apples and oranges,” because Pearl is the only “all-service” facility that does everything from emergency repairs to major work that takes a year.

“This is the only shipyard that does that and their overall record is the finest in the land,” he said.

Brig. Gen. Robert Lee, Hawaii’s adjutant general and head of state civil defense, said the Navy wants to keep the Hawaii yard, but “arguments from the folks in the Northeast” prompted the commission to take another look.

“The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard is a critical industrial complex not only for the state, but for our nation because it really supports the national military strategy,” he said.

With roughly 4,000 civilian employees, the yard is Hawaii’s largest industrial employer.

The country has been beefing up its forces in Hawaii, a key military location for the Asia-Pacific region. More than 30 vessels have Pearl Harbor as their home port, and the Navy is considering basing an aircraft carrier here.

Closing the yard and forcing ships and submarines to travel thousands of miles to the mainland would not make sense, Inouye said.

“Unfortunately, the government doesn’t always work on logic,” he said.

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On the Net:

Base Realignment and Closure Commission http://www.brac.gov/

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard: http://www.phnsy.navy.mil/

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