ATLANTA — Georgia wasn’t as big of a winner as planned, as an independent panel Wednesday not only voted to close four of the state’s bases, but rejected a proposal that would have brought thousands of new jobs to the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base.

The panel supported the Pentagon’s recommendations to close Fort McPherson and Fort Gillem in Atlanta, Naval Air Station-Atlanta in Marietta and the Naval Supply Corps School in Athens. The commission’s vote Wednesday all but confirmed the bases’ impending closure, although Congress and President Bush will have the final say.

However, because of other realignments and some base expansions, the state is still expected to gain more jobs than what it will lose in the process. Under the Pentagon’s original realignment plan, Georgia had stood to gain more than 7,400 new jobs — second only to Maryland — but after Wednesday’s votes, the state now looks to gain about 4,000.

That’s because the panel reversed the proposed closure of a Connecticut submarine base — a blow to Georgia’s Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, which had stood to inherit six relocated subs and 3,367 new jobs. If the Pentagon’s original plan had been approved, the submarine base near St. Marys would have grown per-capita more than any other base in the nation.

Among those backing the Groton, Conn., base was Georgia’s own former President Jimmy Carter, who warned of “adverse economic impact” should the Connecticut base close. One of the commissioners cited a letter from Carter as one of the reasons he voted against closure