Submarine Development Squadron TWELVE (DEVRON-12)

Submarine Development Squadron TWELVE is situated in Building 3 at Naval Submarine Base New London. Tasked with tactical development for both the Atlantic and Pacific Submarine Forces, Squadron TWELVE focuses on enhancing submarine tactics and evaluating the capabilities of the latest submarines.

From the 1960s, SubDevRon 12 (previously known as SubDevGru 2) has been a hub for operational and analytical submarine activities. It was the birthplace of the Tactical Analysis Group (TAG) and significantly contributed to the "Big Daddy" exercise series. Moreover, submarines from DevRon 12 have been crucial in intelligence missions.

TAG's primary role was to craft methods to analyze exercise results, anticipating operational performance. The Big Daddy exercise, an annual SSN vs. SSN ASW event, collaborated with TAG to craft models vital for war planning, force requirement determination, and new system designs. Crucially, these models helped the Navy validate its ASW stance. With the quantitative methodologies introduced by Robert McNamara in the early 1960s, TAG became essential in advocating for new submarine development, especially in validating the Sturgeon, the predominant SSN class.

Furthermore, DevRon 12 was pivotal in pioneering new sensor technologies. Not only was it mandated to trial new equipment, but due to its operational duties, these evaluations often took place in live scenarios. Once an experimental system proved valuable, it was typically integrated into the DevRon fleet instead of being sent back for further refinements. This blending of technical and operational aspects paved the way for innovations like LOFAR and the towed array to be integrated into the submarine force.