Our Ship

Published 9:00 pm Saturday, January 6, 2007

EVERETT It was a cloudy Wednesday afternoon when one of the largest warships ever made first rounded the southern tip of Whidbey Island.

A private airplane toting a Welcome Home banner soon flew overhead and the behemoth that is the USS Abraham Lincoln dodged a flotilla of small pleasure boats that sailed out in greeting.

On the pier and along the shore, thousands of people gathered to watch the carrier arrive. Naval Station Everett had been built and running for three years, and an assortment of smaller warships had already been assigned to the Navys newest and most modern base.

The missing link, the centerpiece of the Navys presence in Everett, now was approaching home.

On Monday, it will be 10 years since the Lincoln arrived.

That day, Jan. 8, 1997, marked the beginning of an era in Everett and Snohomish County and the advent of a love affair between a community and a warship.

Since then, the ship has come and gone from Everett many times as its crews trained and the ship deployed in the nations interest.

On one of those trips from Everett, the Lincoln and its crew endured a military-record-setting 10-month deployment and became a central launching point for aircraft at the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003.

In May 2003, President Bush stood on the ships deck and declared the end of major combat in Iraq under a mission accomplished sign.

Arriving home a few days later, the ship and its crew were greeted by tens of thousands of onlookers. The greeting and a parade of sailors a few days later combined to comprise one of Everetts biggest civic celebrations ever.

The celebrations were the fulfillment of a longtime dream by many civic and governmental officials, said Pat McClain, Everett governmental affairs director.

I was in tears, McClain said.

The carrier, now in Bremerton for an overhaul, is expected to return once again to its home port in March, when the crew will begin training for yet another deployment to the western Pacific.

Not only is the carrier the most visible pier-side component of Navy life here, but it also maintains a crew of more than 3,000 about half the total military and civilian personnel who work at the base.

The ship and crew certainly benefit from being here, Lincoln commanding officer Capt. Andrew McCawley said.

I hope what the ship and sailors have to offer also benefit the community, McCawley said.

Hes been at the helm of the Lincoln nearly two years. In his career, McCawley has been assigned to as many as 20 stations.

Of all the home ports in the Navy, I think Naval Station Everett is the best home port, McCawley said.

The political battle

Bringing the naval station and the Lincoln to Everett was not easy.

Some argued for more than a decade against making Everett a Navy town. They predicted gloom, doom and environmental disaster with the advent of the base.

Those problems never materialized, McClain said.

Those who pushed for a decade and a half to build the base said the Navy would integrate smoothly into the community, add economic stability and instill a sense of pride.

That promise was fulfilled, McClain said.

Since the early 1980s, McClain, who has served under three Everett mayors, has been involved in planning for the base and working to protect it from base-closure bids.

He recalls the words of the late Bill Moore, who was Everetts mayor during many of the political battles leading up to the creation of the base. Moore told him that Everett would be good for the Navy and that the Navy would be good for Everett.

As it turned out, I think its pretty much as advertised, McClain said.

The ships $120 million-a-year payroll and purchase of goods and services has become an inflation-proof addition to the economy of the county and the entire Puget Sound area.

Everett and Snohomish County worked hard to have a balanced community with a balanced economy, said U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash. He was a Snohomish County Council member when the Lincoln arrived.

The Navy and the Lincoln play an important part of that. Its really a great relationship, Larsen said.

Even some vigorous opponents in the 1980s concede that the carrier and the naval station have meshed with the community.

David Mascarenas of Everett was a leader in an organization called the Port Gardner Information League, a group that for years opposed the Navys coming to Everett.

He concedes the stance was unpopular at the time. An advisory ballot in 1984 showed that nearly 70 percent of Everett voters approved of building the base

.

Now, Mascarenas says he enjoys watching the Lincoln pulling in and out of Port Gardner Bay.

I think basically the Navy has turned out to be a pretty good neighbor, Mascarenas said. But I think they are doing that because of efforts of the Port Gardner League and others who had concerns. They knew when they came here people would be watching.

A welcome feeling

Her new neighbors were watching when Sandy Annis, wife of a senior chief aboard the Lincoln, and her family moved into their home east of Everett in 2005.

She served 10 years in the Navy herself and has lived in numerous communities.

She was impressed with the area from the outset when new neighbors showed up at her doorstep armed with cookies and goodwill.

You dont often get 17 people standing at your front door as youre moving in, Annis said.

I love it, she said of living here. I guess the pure and simple is its got big city amenities and the people are friendly.

At the same time theres a small-town feel and its easy to get away to the mountains or the water, said Annis, a ship ombudsman and a representative of the Lincoln commanding officer to spouses of sailors.

Of course theres Boeing and the high-tech industry in Snohomish County, but Navy families think of themselves as another integral component.

We are an important part of Everett and this community, Annis said.

Sen. Jacksons vision

Bringing a carrier and the other ships to Everett was the brainchild of the late U.S. Sen. Henry Scoop Jackson and former Navy Secretary John Lehman.

Lehman proposed a strategic home-porting plan that would spread U.S. naval assets around the country. Jackson suggested that Everett would make a good home port.

The Everett base originally was planned for 15 ships, but the end of the Cold War and decreasing defense dollars reduced the size of the naval station. The military downturn scuttled a bid to build a 500-ship Navy, nearly twice the present size. However, Everett got the carrier, and the naval station is the only one of those bases that remains close to what was originally advertised.

Scoop and Bill (Moore) knew the Navy base would be a good thing for Everett, said Jim Langus, former top aide to Moore. After all this time, clearly they wouldnt have been disappointed.

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson agrees.

Its a very good mix. You see military personnel involved in our communities with sports, in our churches and serving on our boards, Stephanson said. I think its no accident that Everett is the sailors choice.

Former base commander Capt. Dale Moses retired before the Lincoln arrived. He recalls riding the big ship after it got out of the shipyard in Bremerton and steamed 45 miles across Puget Sound to tie up in Everett for the first time.

He said he has always felt welcome here, and he remains a Snohomish County resident.

Over the recent holidays, Moses visited a daughter who lives in Virginia Beach near Norfolk, Va., which has one of the Navys largest concentrations of ships.

The local paper carried a story about that community possibly not wanting the Navy.

I thought, boy is that a difference from the Everett area, Moses said. What a difference in the two communities. Its nice to be welcomed.

A matter of pride

The early planners ran into unexpected turns.

The Navys decision to build a large support center for the base in north Marysville induced many sailors and their families to find homes in the north part of the county rather than concentrating solely in Everett, as was first thought.

Others are spread out and have assimilated themselves in Everett, Mill Creek and other parts of south Snohomish County.

You have a considerable (Navy) influence in Lynnwood, and Lynnwood doesnt even know it, Everetts McClain said.

Rep. Larsen said the welcome mat was put out for the Navy when the Lincoln arrived and it remains out.

The Lincoln and its crew integrated well into Snohomish County, Larsen said. Snohomish County has more than welcomed the Lincoln and the other surface ships that call Everett home.

This also is a community proud to play host to one of the worlds largest warships and its crew.

The Lincoln brought some unusual exposure to Everett, McClain said.

The large crowds squinting for a view of the ship when it returned in 2003 and the subsequent parade signify a real sense of appreciation, McClain said. It far exceeded anyones expectation.

When Sen. Jackson started talking about an Everett Navy base in the early 1980s, there was some hesitation along with the promotion of the idea, Larsen added.

The community decided to support it and once the decision was made it was full steam ahead, Larsen said. Now that the Lincoln is here, its a matter of pride.

Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.