Connecticut to celebrate 100 years of submarine activity

Staff, New London Day
29 September 2015

HARTFORD – The state is planning a year-long celebration to start in October, honoring 100 years of submarine activity in Connecticut.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made the announcement via a prepared statement Tuesday.
"Connecticut was the perfect location for our nation's first submarine base in 1916, and since that time our state has become the professional birthplace of every officer and crewmember in the Navy's undersea profession," Malloy said
The celebration dubbed "Connecticut's Submarine Century" coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Naval Submarine Base New London and the Naval Submarine School.
The celebration will run from October 2015 through October 2016.
Malloy penned a letter to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus asking for his support for the designation.
In 1868, the Navy received 86 acres of land along the eastern shore of the Thames River in Connecticut, but it wasn't until 1915 that the installation, then a Navy Yard, took on historic prominence.
The date of Oct. 18, 1915 marked the arrival of submarines G-1, G-2, and G-4 under the care of the tender USS OZARK.
On June 21, 1916, Commander Yeates Stirling assumed command of the newly designated Submarine Base, the newly established Submarine School, and the New London Submarine Flotilla.
The celebration will be coordinated through the Connecticut Office of Military Affairs and its executive director, Bob Ross.