Naval Submarine Base New London

Naval Submarine Base New London is the United States Navy's principal submarine base on the East Coast and is known within the service as the "Home of the Submarine Force." Despite its name, the installation lies in Groton, Connecticut, on the east bank of the Thames River estuary, opposite the city of New London.

The base is the seat of Commander, Submarine Group 2, and hosts the staffs of three submarine squadrons. Submarine Squadron 4 and Submarine Squadron 12 homeport attack submarines of the Virginia and Los Angeles classes, together with pre-commissioning units for Virginia-class boats fitting out nearby. The installation is the Navy's centre for submarine training: all officer and enlisted submariners are stationed at Groton for their initial instruction, with the exception of nuclear-trained electronics technicians, electrician's mates and machinist's mates. Enlisted personnel pass through Basic Enlisted Submarine School, an eight-week course covering shoring, patching of leaks and ruptured piping, firefighting and boat handling, before proceeding to a boat or to follow-on schools.

Tenant commands number more than seventy and include the Naval Submarine School, the Submarine Learning Center, the Naval Submarine Support Facility, the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, the Naval Undersea Medical Institute, a Naval Branch Health Clinic and a Navy Information Operations detachment. The main base covers more than 687 acres, with a further 530 acres of family housing, and supports over 21,000 service members, civilian employees and dependants. The Submarine Escape Trainer, in service since 2007, provides escape-trunk training in up to 40 feet of water using Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment; it replaced the 100-foot Escape Training Tank used between 1930 and 1994 for buoyant-ascent training with the Momsen lung and Steinke hood. General Dynamics Electric Boat, the submarine construction yard, adjoins the base.

Connecticut ceded 112 acres on the Thames to the Navy in 1868, and a navy yard with two brick buildings and a pier was declared in 1872, later serving as a coaling station and lay-up berth for inactive ships. The yard's conversion began on 18 October 1915 with the arrival of the submarines G-1, G-2 and G-4 and the tender Ozark, followed by D-1, D-2, D-3 and E-1; the facility was designated the Navy's first submarine base the following year. Schools and training facilities were added after the First World War, and the site expanded to 497 acres during the Second World War. The base was recommended for closure in May 2005 but removed from the list by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission on 24 August 2005.