Navy
US Navy’s Submarine Force celebrates 126th birthday
Stars and Stripes
April 14, 2026
A scene from the Groton Area Submarine Birthday Ball in Mashantucket, Conn., April 11, 2026. The event marked the 126th anniversary of the submarine force. (John Bellino/U.S. Navy)
The U.S. Navy’s Submarine Force celebrated its 126th anniversary on Sunday.
A birthday ball was held in Mashantucket, Conn., in the vicinity of Naval Submarine Base New London. General Dynamics subsidiary Electric Boat, a major submarine builder, is also headquartered in the area.
“If you can operate where others cannot, if you can see without being seen, if you can hold an adversary at risk without revealing yourself, you don’t just participate in maritime warfare, you change it,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle at the event.
The oldest and newest submarine warfare qualified sailors cut the cake at a birthday ball honoring the submarine force in Mashantucket, Conn., Apr. 11, 2026. (Lucas J. Hastings/U.S. Navy)
An ice sculpture at the Groton Area Submarine Birthday Ball in Mashantucket, Conn., April 11, 2026. (John Bellino/U.S. Navy)
Another ball will be held at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., on Saturday.
The origin of the force is dated to the Navy’s purchase of the USS Holland on April 11, 1900, which was primarily used for experimental purposes. The U.S. deployed submarines to a limited extent in World War I, but they became a serious component of American maritime power from World War II onward.
Today’s Submarine Force counts 69 submarines, all of which are nuclear-powered and 14 of which form the seaborne leg of the U.S. nuclear triad. The force continues to evolve: the Navy last week said it would decommission the long-idle submarine USS Boise, which had become a symbol of shipbuilding and maintenance dysfunction.
Earlier in the month, the White House proposed a $1.5 trillion defense budget that called for the maintenance or increased procurement of “existing battle force platforms,” with the priorities including amphibious assault vessels, Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and Virginia-class attack submarines.
The request comes as China has built up its submarine fleet, though many of its new submarines use conventional fuel rather than nuclear power.