Coast Guard Station New London is a

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

station located in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

. It is a unit of Coast Guard Sector

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

and is located next to

Fort Trumbull Fort Trumbull is a fort near the mouth of the Thames River on Long Island Sound in New London, Connecticut and named for Governor Jonathan Trumbull. The original fort was built in 1777, but the present fortification was built between 1839 and ...

.Station New London
United States Coast Guard.

History

The first fort was constructed on the site in 1775. In 1798, the State of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

ceded the property to the

Federal government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

, and the site has housed military buildings since then. Stone buildings near Fort Trumbull began to house the

United States Revenue Cutter Service ) , colors= , colors_label= , march= , mascot= , equipment= , equipment_label= , battles= , anniversaries=4 August , decorations= , battle_honours= , battle_honours_label= , disbanded=28 January 1915 , flying_hours= , website= , commander1= , co ...

School of Commissioned Officers in 1910. In 1915, the Revenue Cutter Service was merged with the

United States Life-Saving Service The United States Life-Saving ServiceDespite the lack of hyphen in its insignia, the agency itself is hyphenated in government documents including: and was a United States government agency that grew out of private and local humanitarian effort ...

to form the

, and the School of Commissioned Officers became the

United States Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast Gu ...

. The Academy moved to its present-day campus in New London in 1932, and the old campus became Coast Guard Operating Base Fort Trumbull. The base was important during the

Prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The Coast Guard was a small force at the beginning of Prohibition, but it was greatly enlarged starting in 1924 in order to intercept

rumrunning Rum-running or bootlegging is the Black market, illegal business of smuggling alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law. Smuggling usually takes place to circumvent taxation or prohibition laws within a particular jurisdi ...

ships, and New London became the nation's largest Coast Guard base within two years. In 1948, the Coast Guard transferred 13.62 acres of Fort Trumbull buildings to the

Department of the Navy Navy Department or Department of the Navy may refer to: * United States Department of the Navy, * Navy Department (Ministry of Defence), in the United Kingdom, 1964-1997 * Confederate States Department of the Navy, 1861-1865 * Department of the ...

but retained buildings 45 and 12 and pier 2 as a tenant. The 1995

Base Realignment and Closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by a United States federal government commission to increase United States Department of Defense efficiency by coordinating the realignment and closure of military installations following the end o ...

Commission (BRAC) recommended that the New London Detachment of the

Naval Undersea Warfare Center The Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) is the United States Navy's full-spectrum research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support center for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, and offensive and defensive weapons ...

be disestablished and the facility be transferred to the Coast Guard after the closure.1995 BRAC Commission Report
/ref> This recommendation was adopted, and the location was returned to the Coast Guard in April 1997, after the New London detachment closed. The Navy Submarine Base, New London, Magnetic Silencing Facility remains at the station as a tenant of the Coast Guard. Today, Station New London is part of Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound within the First Coast Guard District. Units housed at the station conduct

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

, recreational boating safety,

maritime law enforcement Admiralty law or maritime law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

, military readiness, pollution response, and

port security Port security is part of a broader definition concerning maritime security. It refers to the defense, law and treaty enforcement, and counterterrorism activities that fall within the port and maritime domain. It includes the protection of the sea ...

activities, including enforcing two permanent security zones established along the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. Since September 2015 the 87 foot US Coast Guard cutter ''Albacore'' (WPB-87309) has been based upriver at the

. The unit personnel complement is one officer, 45

active duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, the equivalent term is active service. India The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be one ...

enlisted personnel, 13 Coast Guard reservists, and 10 Coast Guard Auxiliarists.

Notes

External links

Official website
{{coord, 41, 20, 44, N, 72, 05, 36, W, type:landmark_region:US-CT, display=title Military installations in Connecticut Buildings and structures in New London, Connecticut United States Coast Guard stations

History

See also

Notes

External links