Maine and New Hampshire officials said Monday they were not targeting a competing shipyard as they made a pitch to three base closing commissioners on behalf of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and two other imperiled bases in Maine.

Officials from both states told commissioners there’s enough work to support all four public shipyards that handle submarine repairs and overhauls.

The commission has asked the Pentagon about why it chose to retain the Pearl Harbor submarine depot while seeking to close the Portsmouth yard.

But Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe said officials from the two states aren’t pushing for saving Portsmouth at the expense of the Hawaii base.

Snowe said she has spoken to Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and that the delegation’s expert is sharing data with Hawaii officials. Also, the leader of Portsmouth’s largest union has talked to his counterpart from Pearl, she said.

“Our central argument is that the force structure plan that’s relevant to the base closure process requires four shipyards,” she said. “There is no excess capacity.”

Maine and New Hampshire political leaders took the opportunity Monday to make their case to three commissioners, including a retired Navy admiral who had not visited any Maine bases targeted for closure or attended the regional hearing in Boston.

Snowe said it was important to get face time with retired Navy Adm. Harold Gehman because two of the imperiled bases in Maine are naval facilities: Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the Brunswick Naval Air Station. Also targeted is the Defense Finance Accounting Service center in northern Maine. The other commissioners Monday were retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Sue E. Turner and defense consultant Philip Coyle.

Maine Gov. John Baldacci and New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch and other members of the states’ congressional delegations also attended the session.

Baldacci agreed that the Maine and New Hampshire officials are not advocating closing the submarine depot at Pearl Harbor to save the Portsmouth shipyard on the Maine-New Hampshire border, even though he said Portsmouth is more efficient.

“It’s clear that they cannot close the most efficient shipyard. At the same time, we don’t think they should close any of the four,” Baldacci said.

By doing a better job of managing its workload, the Navy can keep all four yards busy, officials told the commissioners.

New Hampshire Rep. Jeb Bradley said the questions posed by the commissioners suggest they’re listening to the Maine and New Hampshire leaders. “They’re asking if any of the four shipyards should close,” he said.

“I think we’ve made a very strong case,” added New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg. “I feel cautiously optimistic of getting off (the closing list). Period. But we aren’t there until we’re there.”

No-shows at Monday’s session were former Utah Rep. James Hansen and former Army Gen. James Hill, neither of whom visited the Maine bases or attended the Boston hearing. It was unclear why they did not attend the session.

Seven of the nine members of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission would have to agree at their meeting Tuesday in Washington to add a facility to the list of those under consideration for closure or realignment.

The panel faces a Sept. 8 deadline to come up with its final recommendations and present them to President Bush.