The shipyard Electric Boat de Groton is an important center of construction of underwater, located at Groton, in the Connecticut (the United States). Electric Boat built there of the submarines since 1925. The majority of the nuclear submarines with propulsion of the United States were built there.
Electric Boat is also the name of a American Entreprise.
Origins of the shipyard
Electric Boat Company was created in 1899 to complete the US Holland , first genuine submarine, was named according to its inventor, John Philip Holland. During its first businesss year, Electric Boat built surface vessels for the the United Kingdom, the France, the Ottoman Empire, the Mexico, the Sweden, and other countries.In 1913, Electric Boat was at the edge of the bankruptcy, in spite of an ordering of 25 submarines by the American Navy. The drama of the Lusitania , British steamer run by a German submarine in 1915, reversed the situation. Day at the following day, the orders affluèrent : 20 submarines for the the United Kingdom, 12 for the Russia, 8 for the Italy. The American Navy ordered 88 for its part of them, without counting the revision of 30 others in the building site of Groton.
But after the First World War, Electric Boat did not accept any ordering of the American Navy until in 1934. Meanwhile, the building site built tug boats, trawlers, ferries and yachts. In 1934, the Cuttlefish , submarines with welded hull was launched in Groton. It was a major innovation and the US Navy placed a first order of three submarines of this type per annum.
Visiting the shipyard in August 1940, the president Roosevelt evoked the construction of 12 submarines per annum.
The Second world war
During the years of the Great Depression, Electric Boat was one of the two only American building sites to continue the construction of submarines, the other being Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (New Hampshire). During the Second world war, between the December 7th 1941 and the September 2nd 1945, Electric Boat built 74 submarines with Groton, first center of construction of submarines of the United States. These buildings were submarines of attack of two types :- 41 submarines of the Gato class, delivered December 1941 to April 1944 ;
- 33 submarines of the Balao class, delivered January 1944 at the end of the war.
Per year, the number of submarines delivered by the building site of Groton to US Navy is the suivant :
- 1941 : 1 submarine of the Gato class; ;
- 1942 : 15 submarines of the Gato class; ;
- 1943 : 21 submarines of the Gato class; ;
- 1944 : 4 submarines of the Gato class and 23 of the Balao class; ;
- 1945 : 10 submarines of the Balao class.
These submarines are credited with 39 percent of the total tonnage of the run Japanese ships throughout war, that is to say 1 178 tradind ships and 214 men-of-war. The built submarines with Groton were sold with the price low of all the American shipyards (2 765 000 dollars the unit). On the other hand, the times were longer: 14 month with Groton compared with 10 in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Electric Boat also supervised the construction of submarines by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, established on Western bank of the Lake Michigan, which delivered 28 buildings to US Navy before the end of the war.
The cold war
After the capitulation of the Japan, the US Navy cancelled the orders of 36 submarines, which plunged once again Electric Boat in serious difficulties. The manpower of the building site of Groton passed from 13 000 with 4 000 paid. The company diversified its activities and was in charge of repair or transformation with military ships of the Second world war.
In 1950, Electric Boat engaged in the construction industry of the underwater first with nuclear propulsion, the US Nautilus (SSN-571) , which was launched in 1954. Meanwhile, in 1952, Electric Boat had become a division of the General Dynamics Corporation.
During following years, the shipyard of Groton did not cease innovating in the design and the construction of submarines with nuclear propulsion. Electric Boat conceived fifteen of the eighteen classes of nuclear submarines of the United States, including the underwater launchers of ballistic missiles.
The US George Washington was, in 1960, the first of these submarines. The realization of the nuclear submarines ensured a great financial solidity Electric Boat and allowed him to carry out considerable investments on this site. The shipyard of Groton employed 12 thus; 500 paid in 1973.
Following a problem of welding on the US Bremerton , in 1979, the relations became tended between Electric Boat and US Navy.
Situation after the cold war
In 1989, Electric Boat undertook the construction of an entirely new type of submarines, the class Seawolf.But the reduction of the military expenditure led the American Navy to re-examine its projects. In 1999, the manpower of the shipyard was descended to 9 500.
To fulfill the requirements of the 21e century, Electric Boat launched out in the construction of a new type of submarine of attack, the class Virginia, in collaboration with the Shipyard Newport News Shipbuilding, in Virginia.
The manpower of the building site fell down to 7 500 people for the majority highly qualified.
Sources
- Nathaniel French Caldwell Jr., “ Electric Boat between the wars ”, Sea Power , August 1997.
- John K. Welch, “ Electric' S Boat Centennial ”, Sea Power , February 1999.
- David F. Winkler, “ Naval WWII submarines and the industrial complex ”, Sea¨Power , April 2000.
- David F. Winkler, “ Herculean Effort Got Nautilus Underway one Nuclear Power ”, Sea Power , September 2004.
External bonds
- Electric Boat in Groton on Google Maps
- General Dynamics Electric Boat
- History of Electric Boat
- Centenary of Electric Boat
- List of the ships built by Electric Boat Groton since 1924
- Electric Boat on GlobalSecurity
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