Whereas the Navy Installation of Connecticut, regarded as Naval Submarine Base New London, had its beginning as a naval yard and storage depot on April 11, 1868; Whereas the people of Connecticut made the installation possible when a deed of gift from the State of Connecticut and city of New London was signed, conveyed, and presented to Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles; Whereas the Navy Installation of Connecticut was first used for laying up inactive ships, then for refueling small naval ships traveling through the waters of New England, and ultimately as the first submarine base of the United States Navy; Whereas October 18, 1915, marked the arrival at the Navy Installation of Connecticut of the submarines G–1, G–2, and G–4 under the care of the tender USS Ozark (Monitor No. 7), soon followed by the arrival of submarines E–1, D–1, and D–3 under the care of the tender USS Tonopah (Monitor No. 8), and on November 2, 1915, the arrival of the first ship built as a submarine tender, the USS Fulton (AS–1); Whereas, on June 21, 1916, Commander Yates Stirling, Jr., assumed the command of the newly designated Naval Submarine Base New London, the New London Submarine Flotilla, and the Submarine School; Whereas the property of Naval Submarine Base New London expanded during the course of the involvement of the United States in World War I, with Congress approving more than $1,000,000 for real estate and facilities expansion, which created 81 buildings to support 1,400 men and 20 submarines by the end of World War I; Whereas the second largest expansion of Naval Submarine Base New London occurred during World War II when the submarine force exponentially grew in size, and the installation enlarged from 112 acres to 497 acres to accommodate the thousands of personnel that serviced the growing fleet