Electric Boat Needs Hundreds Of Workers For New Building

Electric Boat has just unveiled a new building at its facility in Rhode Island, and says it will hire hundreds of new workers at the site. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

The shipyard, which has its headquarters in Groton, builds submarines using facilities both in Connecticut and at Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Monday the company, which is part of defense giant General Dynamics, celebrated the opening of a renovated warehouse at Quonset Point that is part of its preparations for ramping up production to two submarines a year.

The company will expand the Rhode Island workforce from its present level of 2,000, hiring an additional 450 workers. EB employs more than 8,000 people in Groton – although it’s in the process of hiring new designers and engineers there, it has also implemented layoffs among maintenance and repair workers this year.

After years of lobbying, the Navy finally has the funding from Congress to include production of two submarines a year in the next fiscal year, with the expectation that the build rate will continue through at least 2013.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.