Video – Undersea University – US Navy’s Submarine School
Training and rescue submarine S-4 submerging

Training and rescue submarine S-4 submerging at the US Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, ca. 1930
- Mystic Seaport and Connecticut History Online


Produced by the US Government in 1965, this film of the US Naval Submarine Base New London submarine training school includes a tour of its Submarine Library, a demonstration of a training simulator, and views of the Escape Training Tank. The latter, a tower-like structure, enabled submariners to learn and practice underwater evacuation techniques.

Though the name New London is associated with the base, it is physically located in the towns of Groton and Ledyard. The State of Connecticut, along with New London and other communities, donated the 112-acre tract along the Thames River in 1868 for the establishment of a Naval Base. It took four years before the Navy received federal funding to build a pier and turn the land into an official Navy Yard. The Yard became the Navy’s first submarine base in 1916, with a training facility established a year later. Today, according to the Base, every officer and nearly every enlisted sailor in the submarine force will be assigned to the US Naval Submarine Base New London at least once during their military careers.

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