History of Electric Boat Quonset Point

Electric Boat Quonset Point was established over 50 years ago in November 1973. The facility, formally known as the Quonset Point Naval Air Station, was purchased to expand Electric Boat’s facilities and capabilities beyond the shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. What began as a shoestring operation with only eight employees and a couple of managers has evolved into a world-class manufacturing hub essential to the submarine-building process.

Quonset Point became operational and began to ramp up in 1974 to support construction of Ohio-class submarines. In building an initial workforce, the facility found many available workers from the former Naval Air Station. Used to operating on aircraft and unfamiliar with the complexities of submarines, workers had to be taught the task of shipbuilding. Booklets of drawings illustrating the steps of building a submarine were created, forming the basis for the later work packages and today’s computer-aided drawings and work instructions. The momentum and efficiency of Quonset Point continued to grow, and by 1975, the facility became Electric Boat’s principal center for hull fabrication, sub-assemblies and other large components. The first Ohio module was shipped to Groton that year.

It wasn’t until about 1977 that Quonset Point obtained twentieth-century equipment, and began to apply a mass-production philosophy in the facility with the simultaneous construction of Ohio and Los Angles-class submarines. In 1978, construction began on Quonset Point’s Automated Frame and Cylinder (AFC) manufacturing facility. Completed in 1979, the AFC facility was a breakthrough in submarine construction technology which allowed hull sections to be built and components to be loaded quickly and efficiently. Essentially, this is where modular construction was born.

The facility continued to expand and technical developments continued through the 1980s and into the 1990s. The site marked the first piece of steel cut for the Seawolf-class Jimmy Carter (SSN 23) in 1995 and just a year later started work on the Virginia class. Fast forward almost 20 years later and the first steel for the lead ship of the Columbia class, District of Columbia, was cut at Quonset Point in 2016.