Gov. Ned Lamont delivered a modest $7.7 million grant to the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton on Thursday for dock and waterfront improvements as part of the state’s continuing effort to keep the base open and operating in southeastern Connecticut.
The grant is part of a commitment the state made two decades ago to keep the sub base, a powerful driver of the regional economy, off the U.S. Navy’s list of installations subject to possible closure.
In a ceremony Thursday afternoon, Lamont and base commander Capt. Kenneth Curtin signed documents acknowledging transfer of the money that Curtin said will be used to improve for small craft dockage along the base’s secured waterfront on the Thames River.
The small craft, some of which must now be stored on and launched from trailers, are used for waterfront security and environmental response to events such as oil spills, Curtin said.
The $7 million, the latest installment on about $23 million the state has turned over the the U.S. Navy since 2009, is a symbolic contribution to the cost of operating the base, home to 6,000 sailors and Department of Defense civilian employees, the location off the U.S. Navy’s submarine school and home port to 22 submarines.
The base opened in Groton in 1867 about a mile north of the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, which historically has been the U.S. Navy’s principal contractor on nuclear submarines and is now building cutting edge Virginia and Columbia class attack and missile subs.
In the early 2000s, the Pentagon put the Groton submarine base on its list of excess bases and scheduled its possible closure as part of the Congressionally-authorized Base Realignment and Closure process. The process was designed to close excess military infrastructure in order to enhance overall military efficiency and readiness.
The base was removed from the possible closure list by an extraordinary lobbying campaign by political, economic and military interests in the state. Included in the state’s argument was the commitment to make financial contributions to base operations.