Electric Boat Company, Groton CT

Electric Boat (EB) was founded in 1899 to build and promote John P. Holland's design of submarine, in direct competition with Simon Lake's Lake Torpedo Boat Company.  In its first 25 years, it contracted with the US Navy for at least 85 submarines but subcontracted the actual construction.  EB expanded its capability for the WWII effort, with the aid of $13mm from the Navy.  After the war it continued as the world's leading submarine builder, which it remains today.  It is owned by General Dynamics.  Visit the shipyard at www.gdeb.com and see it from the air on Google here.

In addition to building submarines at Groton, EB established two subsidiaries during World War I.  The Submarine Boat Company, in Newark NJ, was one of the three large builders of emergency cargo ships for the U.S. Shipping Board: it closed at the end of the war.  The Electric Launch Company, (ELCO), in Bayonne NJ, built sub chasers for the Navy: it continued after the war, building recreational launches, and then built almost 400 PT boats in WWII.  ELCO continues today, but under different ownership.