INDIAN ISLAND — A floating fence the Navy calls a “waterfront force protection barrier system” will be installed around the Naval Magazine Indian Island pier during the coming week, a homeland security measure to protect Navy vessels against terrorist attacks.

“The U.S. Navy realized that a physical barrier was needed at installations around the world to provide additional protection after the attack on the USS Cole in 2000,” said Sheila Murray, Navy Region Northwest environmental public affairs officer.

The attack in the Yemeni port of Aden killed 17 American sailors aboard the Cole and the two suicide bombers on the high- speed boat that rammed the Cole. The bombing injured 39 others.

Commercial and recreational vessel traffic will not be affected by the fence’s installation.

Residents may see a floating crane in Port Townsend Bay during installation by Navy contractor Harbor Offshore Barriers of Ventura, Calif.

Work begins Saturday

Installation will begin Saturday and is expected to complete by Oct. 4.

“It’s just a security upgrade,” Murray said. “It’s for the protection of the community as well as the installation.”

The Navy announced in late 2005 that at least two of four converted guided missile-special operations submarines would use Naval Magazine Indian Island to load and unload non-nuclear weapons and to receive minor maintenance.

Since then, subs escorted by Coast Guard vessels have been quietly cruising in and out of Port Townsend Bay, tying up at the Naval Magazine pier for short periods of time.

The 2,716-acre Indian Island installation, fenced and guarded by civilian and military security forces on Indian Island, handles non-nuclear bombs, including Tomahawk missiles, bullets, torpedoes, shells and other ordnance.

Trucks deliver most of the ordnance and are kept for only a short time at the Naval Magazine before being loaded onto ships.

Planned since 2007

The fence, which has been planned since 2007, will include about 6,000 linear feet of barriers and moorings with two large ship gates and two smaller service craft gates.

It is expected to be as tall as 9 feet.

It will extend 1,350 feet from the face of the munitions pier, almost to the restricted security boundary around the pier, Murray said.

The floating barrier consists of independent modules connected to each other to absorb water movements and levels.

More than 30 kilometers of floating barriers have already been successfully installed around Navy installations, Murray said.

Stops high-speed boats

The barrier is capable of stopping high-speed boats.

Flotation pontoons support a steel structure used for securing a vertical nylon or steel net that serves to catch watercraft attempting to jump the pontoons. The nets sit on cylindrical-shaped floats that form a floating fence.

Harbor Offshore Barriers installs similar barriers at military installations, including Bangor and Everett in Puget Sound, Greece, Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Japan and San Diego.

Other Puget Sound Navy installations, including Bangor on the Kitsap County side of Hood Canal, have barriers around their piers.

Concertina razor wire coils were added to the top of the chain-link fence around the Indian Island base this summer, another homeland security measure, Murray said.

Another major upgrade of the Naval Magazine’s facilities — a $20 million project to replace three Tomahawk cruise missile magazines — is also on schedule to begin construction in 2010, Murray said, and would be built as funding allows.

The 4.5-mile-long island is west of Marrowstone Island between the waters of Port Townsend and Kilisut Harbor.

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Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.