The New London Ship and Engine Company (NELSECO) was established in

Groton, Connecticut Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London is ...

as a subsidiary of the

Electric Boat Company Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

to manufacture

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

History

Electric Boat acquired a

license A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

to manufacture

MAN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

diesels, probably in 1909. These were initially manufactured by the

Fore River Shipyard Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901 ...

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

, where most of Electric Boat's early

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

s were built under

subcontract A subcontractor is an individual or (in many cases) a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract. Put simply the role of a subcontractor is to execute the job they are hired by the contractor f ...

. NELSECO was established in Groton to take over diesel manufacturing from Fore River when difficulties were encountered, finishing the work on engines begun by Fore River. It was a subsidiary of the

for its entire existence. The E- and F-class submarines, launched 1911–12, were initially equipped with these diesels; they were replaced in 1915 as NELSECO's initial efforts were unsatisfactory. The company was incorporated on 11 October 1910, with production starting in July 1911. The company built the engines for first diesel powered yacht in America, ''Idealia'', launched by the

Electric Launch Company The Electric Launch Company, later renamed Elco Motor Yachts ("Elco"), is an American boat building and electric motor company that has operated from 1893 to 1949 and from 1987 to the present. History Elco first made its mark at the World's Col ...

(Elco) in 1912. ''Idealia'' was owned by ELCO into 1916 and used for demonstrating the application of diesel engines in yachts. The original ''Idealia'' installation was a reversible, air started, two cycle engine with six working cylinders and a two-stage air compression cylinder that was rated at 150 horsepower at 550 revolutions per minute. The original two stroke engine was replaced by a NELSECO 120 horsepower four cycle engine by February 1915. The company was probably disestablished around 1925, as the last

United States S-class submarine The United States' S-class submarines, often simply called S-boats (sometimes "Sugar" boats, after the then-contemporary Navy phonetic alphabet for "S"), were the first class of submarines with a significant number built to United States Navy des ...

was completed in that year, and no subsequent US submarines were equipped with NELSECO engines. Electric Boat had a drought in submarine contracts 1918–1931, which probably caused NELSECO's demise.

Founders

* President:

Lawrence York Spear Lawrence York Spear (23 October 1870 – 9 September 1950) was an American naval officer and businessman who spent the majority of his career working for the Electric Boat Company. Biography Born in Warren, Ohio, Spear graduated from the United St ...

* Vice-president and General Manager:

Frank Cable Frank Taylor Cable (19 June 1863 – 21 May 1945) was an early pioneer in submarine development and piloted the first United States Navy submarine, during its pre-commissioning trials. Early life and education Cable was born in New Milford, Co ...

* Vice-president: Gregory C. DavisonPersonal section, ''The Marine Review'' May 1913, p. 170
/ref> * Secretary and Treasurer: Henry R. Bond * Directors:

Isaac Rice Isaac Leopold Rice (February 22, 1850 – November 2, 1915) was a German-born Jewish American businessman, investor, musicologist, author, and chess patron.

Elihu B. Frost Elihu Brintnal Frost (May 12, 1860 – August 22, 1925) was an American lawyer with an early involvement in the submarine industry. Born in Peekskill, New York, Frost was the son of lawyer Calvin Frost and Mary Antoinette Oppie (Hait) Frost.http: ...

, Stacey C. Richmond, William H. Reeves and T.A. Scott.

Legacy

Nelseco Navigation Company (a.k.a. Interstate Navigation Co.) operates ferry service to

Block Island Block Island is an island in the U.S. state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washingt ...

in Rhode Island. At least two ferries have been named NELSECO. One was launched in 1917 and scrapped circa 1972 and the other was launched in 1981 and scrapped circa 2010.

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * *

External links

Office of New London Ship and Engine Co., Groton, CT (postcard)
Groton, Connecticut Manufacturing companies established in 1910 American companies established in 1910 Defunct manufacturing companies based in Connecticut {{US-manufacturing-company-stub

History

Founders

Legacy

See also

References

External links