|
NEW LONDON RESERVE FLEET
In
1868, the State of Connecticut
gave the Navy 112 acres (0.5 km²) of land along the Thames River
to build a Naval Station. Due to a lack of federal funding, it was not
until 1872 that two brick buildings and a "T" shaped pier were
constructed and officially declared a Navy Yard. This yard was used as
a coaling
station
by Atlantic
Fleet
small craft. It is located in the towns of Groton
and Ledyard.
A large
expansion of Submarine Base New London occurred during World War II,
when it grew from 112 acres to 497 acres. The Submarine Force leaped in
size, and the Base accommodated thousands of men to service the growing
combat fleet. Immediately after WWII the Submarine Force was
significantly reduced and many famous submarines were sent into
storage. Most of the fleet was sold for scrap metal during the
early 1960s. WikipediaGroton, Connecticut  In order to help preserve equipment on the reserve submarines, sailors encased guns and other deck items in plastic sheeting. Source: Google Books TenderTale
After World War Two - once again the notion that
peace meant
that the military should be stood down became popular - and indeed huge
numbers
of military assets were dismantled and disposed. The Navy decided that
it
didn't want to scrap it's submarine fleet - at least not right away.
But what
do you do then with 50+ submarines? New London was overwhelmed. No
place to
dock them - inadequate facilities to handle that many boats. Solution?
Sure -
instant sub base - the tender. Four of them at first - though that was
reduced
to three by February 1946. - The "New London Group" of the16th
Reserve Fleet was headed up by the tender USS Apollo (AS 25) with
assistance
from USS Anthedon (AS 24) and later USS Proteus (AS 19). These tenders
processed the submarines for storage - cleaning, sealing with
preservatives-
making sure that the boats could withstand being stored "on the
water" without being ravaged too severely. This process took a couple
of
years. By the end of the 50's - most boats had indeed been scrapped -
as the
technology of the newer boats soon made them obsolete. View several images at TenderTale |
 The
aerial image above was photographed in July 1947. It shows four
boundaries of the base. Once the Dampier property was purchased, the
northern boundary moved past the golf course to the north gate. State
Route 12, right, secured the eastern boundary, and Crystal Lake Road
was the southern boundary. In this image, the reserve submarine fleet
numbers 46 boats. (Courtesy of SFL&M)
|
 Redfin (SS-272) with the Grampus
(SS-523) and other subs alongside Orion (AS-18) was taken
between 1953-55. The "Nodding idiot" on Redfin was
converted to the electronic version in 1956. The other 3 boats are from
outboard in Migraine II Requin
(SS-481) and Migraine I Burrfish (SS-312) and Tigrone
(SS-419). The order of the last 2 might be reversed. Text contributed by
Larry
Derouin. Photographed and contributed by John Hummel, USN (Retired).
USS Balao SS-285 WIKIPEDIA |
|
OPERATION PETTICOAT Bow view of the Balao (SS-285) and a unknown friend together for the movie "Operation Petticoat" in 1959 while the boat was in Key West, Fla. Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp. The image right is a 2013
Google Earth photo. The insert displays that the area was called Mamacoke. Then there is the USS Nautilus Museum Go To: RESERVE FLEETS MAP  |
 |