Atlantic_Reserve_Fleet,_New_London
Atlantic Reserve Fleet, New London
Former US Navy installation in Connecticut
Atlantic Reserve Fleet, New London opened in 1946 at the Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut on the Thames River. The New London Reserve Fleet was 3 miles north of the city New London, Connecticut. Naval Submarine Base New London opened in 1872 as a Navy yard, gained its first submarines on 13 Oct 1915, and earned the designation of Submarine Base in about 1916. The freshwater port became a good site to store both submarines and ships after World War II as part of the United States Navy reserve fleets. Three submarine tender ships were given the task of mothballing the submarines. The three ships: USS Apollo, USS Anthedon, USS Proteus (AS-19) cleaned the ship and sealed the subs with preservatives. It took a few years to process the over 50 submarines in the New London Reserve fleet. Some submarines there were reactivated for the Korean War. By 1965 the fleet of World War II submarine were obsolete and the fleet had been scrapped.[1][2]
The USS Apollo worked at the Reserve fleet till 1963. The USS Proteus worked at the fleet until January 1959, then transferred to the Charleston Naval Shipyard and was converted to a Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile submarine tender. USS Anthedon served the fleet until 1969 when she was sold to Turkey and became the Turkish Navy TCG Donatan (A-583).[3][4]
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