Why is Connecticut a good place to build submarines?

Answer 1

It isn't - it just happens to be the home of General Dynamics' Electric Boat Division, one of the 2 submarine contractors left in the United States. The other shipyard is the Newport News Shipbuilding and DryDock Company, in Norfolk, VA. During the Cold War, many of us felt safer riding NNSDDC built boats (my old boat was built there) as EB had quality problems on the 688 class program. The details are classified, but trust me when I say it was not good. During WW2, submarines were built in many areas of the country, but the primary location to build a modern submarine needs to be either near the ocean or a river deep enough for the newly constructed boat to travel to the ocean. Groton, CT, home of EB, has that type of location, being located on the Thames River, and a fairly short transit distance to the Atlantic Ocean.

What you see above the waterline is only about 1/5 of the actual boat - most is underwater, and keel depths below the waterline go beyond 32'. This means that any river or channel must be deep enough for the boat to transit through to the ocean. The Thames River is constantly dredged to keep it deep enough.

The reason there are only 2 contractors left is:

1. Federal Anti-Trust laws prohibit any company having a monopoly, even on submarine construction, and

2. Federal Acquisition Regulations require competitive contracts, and

3. Shipyards and submarine/ship technology must be kept going in order for the U.S. to maintain a strong Naval presence. If they were closed, and the subsequent experience if its workers lost with it, it would take years and billions of dollars in mistakes to reopen another shipyard. It is more cost effective to maintain active shipyards.