Rich?s Service Center is just a block away from Electric Boat?s Groton shipyard and that has kept the car repair shop afloat for many years.

?Somewhere between 70 and 75 percent of our customers come from EB,? said owner Rich Hurne.

News that EB will be hiring 1,500 new employees this year is welcome.

?It helps,? said Hurne. ?It definitely helps. In this economy in this small business the State of Connecticut everything is very tough so absolutely any increase like that in big business helps the small business.?

n addition to filling jobs left vacant through attrition ,the submarine builder will be adding 840 new jobs as well.

The jobs in the trades, design and engineering, and support programs come with the continued work with the Virginia-class submarine program and the Ohio-class replacement program. Adams is studying computer science and engineering at UConn now and hopes he?ll have an opportunity to work at Electric Boat when he graduates.

?Maybe designing software or programs maybe designing hardware things like that that would be great,? said Adams.

?These are the young men that we want and young women that we want working here and staying here in this beautiful southeastern Connecticut coast line,? said Camille Taylor who owns Taylor Realty Group in Mystic.

She said those who come to work in southeastern Connecticut make their homes there as well. She already helps many EB employees find places to rent and buy.

?We have many young Electric Boat employees who are starting families here, buying homes,? said Taylor. ?It?s great to work with them. They are very detailed so you have to be right on the ball when you?re writing their contracts out.?