Shipyard Leader Retires as Closure Report Nears

Capt. Larry D. Johnson, commander of the Long Beach Naval Shipyard the past four years, is retiring after 31 years in the service.

His successor is Capt. Bernard Janov, who has been assistant chief of staff for maintenance and engineering for Naval Surface Forces in the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Shipyard commanders normally serve three years, but Johnson, 54, was given an extension last year.

The change comes at a time when the shipyard is among military installations around the country on a list targeted for possible closing.

The federal Base Closure and Realignment Commission is scheduled to issue a final report to Congress by Monday on whether the Long Beach shipyard and other installations should be closed. Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a recent letter that the shipyard is too important militarily to be on the list of bases targeted for closure or realignment.

The shipyard, which has 4,300 civilian employees, also has come under criticism in recent years. In 1988 it was cited as having the most hazardous working conditions of any of the nation’s eight government yards. And last March federal inspectors said they found dozens of health and safety violations at the shipyard.

That report came a day after the shipyard received an award for excelling in safety and efficiency in the “highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

Shipyard officials said at the time that most of the violations had been corrected.

Janov, 45, a native of Mahanoy City, Pa., graduated from Villanova University in 1968 and was commissioned through the NROTC program. He served from 1987 to 1988 as assistant repair officer at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, and from 1988 to 1990 as business officer in Long Beach.

* Michael Hull, chairman of the Whittier Library Board of Trustees, will be one of 48 delegates representing California at the White House Conference on Library and Informational Services July 9 to 13.

* Henry J. Meyer, owner of Hamburger Henry’s restaurant in Belmont Shore, has been elected president of the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners.

* Virginia Mathony is the author of “Whittier Revisited,” a comprehensive history of the city.