History
The company was founded in 1899 by Isaac Rice as the Electric Boat Company to build John Philip Holland's submersible designs, which were developed at Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard, located in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The first submarine that this shipyard built was (originally) named Holland VI, later called USS Holland (SS-1). This was the first submarine to be purchased and commissioned into United States naval service on 11 April 1900. The success of Holland VI ushered in the demand for follow-up models (A-class or Plunger class) that began with the prototype submersible Fulton built at the same shipyard as Holland. Many foreign governments were interested in John Holland's latest submarine designs, and began purchasing the rights to build them under licensing contracts through the Electric Boat Company. These governments included Great Britain (Royal Navy), Japan (Imperial Japanese Navy), Russia (Imperial Russian Navy), the Netherlands (Royal Netherlands Navy), among other countries.
During World War I, the company and its subsidiaries built 85 submarines and 722 submarine chasers for the US Navy. After the war, the Navy did not order another submarine from the company until Cuttlefish in 1931. During World War II, the company built 74 submarines.
The firm renamed itself General Dynamics Corporation in 1952, and when Convair was acquired the next year, the holding company assumed the "General Dynamics" name, with the submarine building operation retaining the "Electric Boat" name.
Electric Boat built the first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus, which was launched in January 1954, and the first ballistic missile submarine, USS George Washington, in 1959, amongst others. Submarines of the Ohio-, Los Angeles-, Seawolf- and Virginia-classes were also constructed by Electric Boat.
In 2002, Electric Boat conducted preservation work on the world's first nuclear powered craft, Nautilus, preparing her for her berth at the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut, where she now resides as a museum. Electric Boat's first submarine, Holland was scrapped for one hundred dollars in 1913.
Electric Boat is also in the business of performing overhaul and repair work on fast attack class boats. Electric Boat built the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and Seawolf-class submarines as well as others. However, most of the work done in the shipyard is focused on construction of the Virginia class.
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