USSVI Regular Membership - is open to all (active/retired/seperated) personnel who qualified in submarines. Other persons interested in submarines are also welcome to join as associate members.

Columbus Base - covers the greater Columbus and surrounding metropolitan areas of midwestern Ohio.  Membership is not exclusive, and members of other USSVI bases are welcome to become members of the Columbus Base.

Cost - The annual cost of membership in USSVI and Columbus Base is $30,which includes $20 for USSVI national dues, and $10 for Columbus Base dues.  Life memberships are available with fees based on your current age.  Membership includes a subscription to the USSVI national magazine, American Submariner and the Green Board, the Columbus base newsletter.

Meetings - Columbus Base Meetings are typically held the first Saturday of the Month at Noon, check the Online Base Calendar for the time and location of the next meeting. You can also view the Columbus Base Bylaws online by clicking Here

Joining is easy - Simply click one of the three buttons below: Request Additional Information - our membership chairman will answer any questions you may have and forward you a membership application; Online Membership Form Fill in the form and click its "submitt" button to send you application electronically to our membership chairman; Offline Membership Form Print the empty form and fill in by hand and mail it in; or attend one our meetings and join there.

Base Officers

USSVI was founded in Groton, Connecticut in July 1964.

The UNITED STATES SUBMARINE VETERANS INC. was started by a group of United States Submarine Veterans of World War II.  They shared a belief in the need of an organization open to all submariners, from the very beginning of the Submarine Service through to the present and into the future - not limited to just those who served so ably in the second World War.

They wanted to make it known that those lost on Submarines, in the line of duty for their country, will never be forgotten.

In Groton Connecticut, the 'Submarine Capital of the World', the above group started contacting past shipmates. Favorable responses came from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and many more from Connecticut.

In 1963 members from CT, MA, NJ, NY and PA held several meetings in Groton, CT, Paramus, NJ and Orange, NJ to firm up plans for what was to become the U.S. SUBMARINE VETERANS INC.  The final meeting was held in Orange, NJ and the United States Submarine Veterans was born.

It was several months later that the organization was officially chartered and incorporated in the State of Connecticut.  The shipmates listed on the charter are DJ (Joe)Negri, Joe Marion and KO Walkington.   The members who did the ground work in starting the organization were as follows: Dick Higman, Dusty May, Joe Webb, Mike Drucker, Bob Link, Wes Aldag, Tom Rowan, Joe Burgress, Warren Gannon, Joe Conrad and Wop Lapadozza in addition to the three named on the charter.

The Groton base started immediately and held meetings at the K of C in Groton. The attendance at these meetings was between 60-75 members.  Joe Negri was elected the first state commander and Dick Higman was the first base commander.  About a year later it was determined that they needed their own building and it was voted to sell raffle tickets (1000 tickets at $10 each) for a gold Cadillac to raise the money for the down payment on the present home at 40 School Street.

The base building on School Street became a reality in 1966.  Due to the fact that the Groton USSVI/Base was incorporated within the state of Connecticut and they had their own building, it was voted that Groton become the National Headquarters of USSVI.

USSVI regular membership requires that you currently are (active duty) or were (retired/seperated) qualified in submarines.  Other persons interested in submarines, especially tender personnel or other submarine connnected occupations,are also welcome to join as associate members.

The details of the USSVI organization can be seen on the National USSVI site Located at: http://ussvi.org, including the location of all USSVI bases at: http://ussvi.org/States.asp.  There are also two internet bases not related to a specific location(Cyberspace Base and Lockwood Internet Base), and a "members-at-large" (MAL) category, for those who don't belong to any particular base.

A local unit of USSVI is called a "BASE".  This term is equivalent to "POST" as used by the American Legion and VFW.