Amid Navy’s demand for nuclear subs, recruitment efforts for shipbuilders begins in schools

(Source: Media Library)

Groton, Connecticut (CBS News) — At Charles Barnum Elementary School in Groton, Connecticut, a group of fifth graders are learning about submarines.

It’s the beginning of a recruitment effort by General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton’s biggest employer, and the Navy’s biggest submarine builder. The Navy has an order in with Electric Boat for 29 submarines to be delivered over the next 17 years.

“People are sometimes like, ‘Why are you in the elementary schools?’ In 2033, the people we’re hiring, some of them are in the fifth grade right now,” said Courtney Murphy, director of talent management for Electric Boat.

Murphy says trade workers, welders and machinists are currently in demand. And that training is well underway at nearby Ella Grasso Technical High School, where students work with the same state-of-art equipment in use at the shipyard.

The students learn to work in hot, cramped spaces similar to submarines.

“People are sometimes like, ‘Why are you in the elementary schools?’ In 2033, the people we’re hiring, some of them are in the fifth grade right now,” said Courtney Murphy, director of talent management for Electric Boat.

Murphy says trade workers, welders and machinists are currently in demand. And that training is well underway at nearby Ella Grasso Technical High School, where students work with the same state-of-art equipment in use at the shipyard.

The students learn to work in hot, cramped spaces similar to submarines.

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