Naval Air

Awards Mind Over Machines Inc., a Timonium-based information technology company, received the Blue Ribbon Small Business award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for its dedication to excellence. Certifications Justin Berk has earned the certified broadcast meteorologist designation from the American Meteorological Society. The Channel 2 weatherman is the first in Baltimore to earn the designation, which was created in 2005. Appointment Paul Tiburzi, managing partner of DLA Piper, was tapped by the Maryland Stadium Authority to lead the Camden Yards Sports and Entertainment Commission, a panel of business and community leaders charged with developing new uses and attracting higher-profile events to the Baltimore facilities.

SAN DIEGO -- A pair of Navy submarine-hunting planes conducting warfare training in rough weather collided in a fireball over the Pacific, and the weather may have been a factor in the deaths of the 27 crew members.The Navy conducted an aggressive search into today although there was little hope of survivors in the cold, choppy waters. Search teams recovered some wreckage yesterday, but no bodies were found.The two P-3 Orions stationed at Moffett Naval Air Station in Northern California were taking part in anti-submarine warfare exercises when they crashed yesterday morning off the Mexican coast, about 60 miles southwest of San Diego.

Fennell is lieutenantAir Force 2nd Lt. Thomas E. Fennell, son of Frank F. and Bettye J. Fennell of Columbia, was promoted to his current rank after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.Recipient of a bachelor of science degree, Lieutenant Fennell will attend pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Del Rio, Texas.Edgerton given medalNavy Petty Officer 1st Class David A. Edgerton, son of Georgie M. Edgerton of Mount Airy, recently received the Navy Achievement Medal.

* AW3 Jon C. Eisberg has completed helicopter training school at North Island, Calif., and has been designated naval air crewman/rescue swimmer.He is en route to Naval Air Station, South Weymouth, Mass.Eisberg is the son of William H. Eisberg of Westminster. A 1989 graduate of Westminster High School, he joined the Navy in August 1989.* Navy Seaman Recruit Murdock A. Donnelly, son of Kathryn M. and Murdock A. Donnelly Jr. of Westminster, has completed recruit training at Recruit Training Command, San Diego.

WASHINGTON -- An independent commission said yesterday that it is considering another 36 military installations as "preliminary candidates for closure," including five of the Navy's brand-new home ports, long criticized as a billion-dollar boondoggle.The bases may join a slate of 43 installations previously nominated by the Pentagon as part of its post-Cold War, cost-cutting strategy. Within the next four weeks, the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission must review all the candidate bases, arrive at a final closure list, and then offer that list for all-or-nothing approval by President Bush and Congress.

The pressures of conducting foreign operations in a time of shrinking resources is forcing the Navy to ground several air squadrons.Five carrier squadrons at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Wash., have been fully or partially grounded because the Navy does not have enough money to pay for training flights and foreign operations at the same time, officials say.Nationwide, three carrier air wings and a half-dozen P-3C patrol squadrons have been partially or totally grounded until Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

Navy Capt. William T. R. "Randy" Bogle, the commanding officer of the U.S. Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla., will become the commandant of the U.S. Naval Academy next month.Captain Bogle, who was unavailable for comment yesterday, will begin his new duties on Aug. 16 as second-in-command to Adm. Charles Larson, the new superintendent who will take command Aug. 1.He will join two other members of the academy's class of 1968 in assuming leadership posts at a school fighting to rebound from a cheating scandal.

WASHINGTON -- Although Maryland actually stands to gain jobs under the Clinton administration's plan to cut military bases, a group of Maryland senators and representatives pleaded with the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission yesterday to spare two naval research sites in Annapolis and Southern Maryland from being closed.Democratic Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Paul S. Sarbanes, along with Democratic Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, and GOP Rep. Wayne T. Gilchrest -- who represent the districts in which the two research sites are located -- appealed to the commission to reverse a recommendation to close the Naval Electronics Systems Engineering Activity at St. Inigoes and the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Annapolis detachment.

WASHINGTON -- Nervous lawmakers made last-ditch efforts yesterday to keep their local military facilities off a list of more than 30 bases that are expected to be recommended today for closure or consolidation in a Pentagon budget-pruning move.Defense Secretary Dick Cheney is scheduled to announce his recommendations at a news conference -- the first step in a four-part process to bring the number of U.S. bases in line with troop cuts.Representative Vic Fazio, D-Calif., said yesterday that he expected the Sacramento Army Depot, which employs 3,700 workers in his district, to be among the facilities earmarked for shutdown.

The grounding of the Blue Angels, the Navy's precision flyin team, has created a problem for two Maryland air shows, including the annual demonstration during commissioning week at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.Cmdr. Robert Stumpf, the Angels' lead flier and commanding officer, was one of six officers ordered to shore duty Thursday so they could be "readily available" to Adm. J. Paul Reason and investigators conducting disciplinary proceedings in the Tailhook sex scandal.A Pentagon inspector general's report has recommended that as many as 140 officers be disciplined for their conduct at the 1991 Tailhook convention in Las Vegas.