Connecticut Council of Navy League of the US

Upcoming and recent events:

Council honors WW2 vet on her 100th birthday:

Greenwich CT resident and WW2 Navy WAVE petty officer veteran, Winona Mullis, clebrated her 100th birthday in September. See details of her story in a USNI article here. Several Council board members and Dealey sea cadets honored her at a luncheon - see photo below:

Shelton CT to honor officer lost on USS Thresher on Sept 20th:

Lieutenant John Smarz was lost at sea in April 1963 when USS Thresher (SSN 593) sank off Cape Cod on a test dive. His home town of Shelton will dedicate a memorial on Sept 20th at 11am in Veterans Memorial Park.

Council supports Yale NROTC conference in March 2023:

our state's only college Navy ROTC unit, at Yale, hosted their 8th "global leadership and maritime strategy" conference on March 31st to April 1st, 2023. The keynote speaker was retired Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the joint chiefs. Our Council is a conference sponsor. For further details, click here.

Council Dinner was held July 26th, 2022 with VADM Buck:

very successful dinner with sell-out crowd. Thanks to all who attended. See event flyer here for details.

Council welcomes members from other parts of CT:

Navy League top management decided to merge the dormant Councils located in Hartford, CT and New London, CT into our Council in mid-2020. Thus our name was changed from the "Western Connecticut Council" to the "Connecticut Council".

Latest Council newsletter:

see November 2022 newsletter here.

Updates on our Council's two adopted Navy ships:

In March 2021, USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) completed her most recent 7 month overseas deployment. In May, the ship was chosen to receive the USS Arizona Memorial Trophy as most combat ready crew in the surface fleet. Congratulations!
In July 2022, the ship changed homeports from Norfolk to Mayport, FL, where she will enter drydock for the start of a year-long major refurbishment.

In May 2021, USS Connecticut (SSN 22) departed Bremerton homepost for a deployment to the northern and western Pacific. In July, the submarine made a brief stop in Yokosuka, Japan.
in early October 2021, the submarine hit an underwater sea mount in the South China Sea, returning to Guam with 11 injured crew members (none serious). We are again reminded of the dangers inherent in operating at (and under) sea.
In July 2022, the Navy announced that the sub will be repaired at a Washington state shipyard and returned to active service.

see more details of recent adopted ship news in our Helm newsletters here.
as always, we wish our adopted ships and their dedicated officers and crews well!

Welcome aboard:

       The Navy League has three missions in support of the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and US Flag Merchant Marine: to enhance the morale of active duty personnel and their families; to inform Congress and the public on the importance of strong sea services; and to support youth programs that expose young people to the values of our sea services. Local Councils around the world are dedicated to forwarding these goals.

        Our Council supports local youth programs: four CT Sea Cadet units and Naval Junior ROTC programs at four CT high schools. These programs foster leadership, self-confidence, and informed patriotism and citizenship. In addition to our two adopted active duty Navy ships, we also have a strong connection to the Navy SEAL community. We prepared a slide presentation for prospective members and contributors, summarizing our mission and activities.

        Membership in the Navy League includes a subscription to the monthly "Seapower" magazine. If you are not currently a Navy League member, please consider joining.