18 May 1994: As dependents and relatives walk from the pier, the guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60) gets underway from Naval Station Staten Island to take part in the 50th anniversary commemoration of D-Day in Europe on 6 June 1994. US Navy Photo DN-SC-95-01121
The above was Normandy’s— the only active warship stationed at the island’s Homeport– next to final departure from Naval Station Staten Island. She made what was thought at the time to be her final homecoming on 6 February 1994, some 30 years ago this month, when she returned to her homeport following an 182-day Mediterranean cruise.
As detailed by Douglas Martin in the NYT’s A Final Staten Island Homecoming:
The Homeport, which opened in 1990, is to close on Aug. 31. A victim of steep cuts in military spending, the $300 million base is being closed even as it is still being built — final touches are still being put on the general headquarters building.
The Normandy, an electronics-studded Aegis-class cruiser that was returning from the waters off the former Yugoslavia, is to be moved in June to Norfolk, Va. Similar dislocations are being seen from South Carolina to California as naval bases are closed. End of the Line
“This really represents the beginning of the end,” said Guy V. Molinari, the Staten Island Borough President. “It’s really a sad day for New York City, not just Staten Island.”
Indeed, Lieut. Cmdr. Roxie Thomsen, public affairs officer at the Homeport, said the closure of the Staten Island base means New York will be without a naval base for the first time in more than two centuries. When the Homeport opened, the Navy closed its only other local outpost, a repair site in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The port, which had been dedicated by the Vice CNO as part of Fleet Week in May 1989, was originally to house the Surface Action Group built around the battleship USS Iowa. However, when Iowa suffered her tragic turret explosion and was quickly decommissioned in 1990, that plan was shelved and Staten Island only served as a brief home to a trio of NRF frigates and Normandy.
When BRAC released its findings in 1993, it really came as no surprise that Staten Island was shut down along with Charleston and other small bases. Normandy, returning from her D-Day mission, was home to the 27 June 1994 closure ceremony for Staten Island, and she shifted her homeport to Norfolk, where she remains today.
Guided-missile frigate USS Stephen W. Groves (FFG 29), guided-missile cruisers USS Hue City (CG 66) and USS San Jacinto (CG 56), and guided-missile destroyers USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79) and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) tied up at the home port pier during Fleet Week in 2007. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kenneth R. Hendrix (RELEASED)