Norwich -- U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said today during a breakfast meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut that he believes any proposal to eliminate the U.S. Naval Base in Groton would not be supported by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

“Last week, in an Armed Services Committee hearing, I asked the secretary of the Navy about the strategic importance of the base and he was very positive, not only publicly, but in private conversation,” Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said after his speech at the Holiday Inn.

Last week, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Dorothy Robyn warned a generally hostile House Armed Services Committee that any attempts to thwart a new round of base closings would be futile. If Congress refuses to authorize a new Base Closure and Realignment Commission, she said, the Pentagon would act on its own.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, seeking to drastically reduce his budget to comply with austerity measures, has called for two rounds of base closings, one in 2013 and another two years later.

But state lawmakers, worried the ax will fall on the Groton base as has been proposed two times in the past, has been on overdrive to see that BRAC is dead on arrival this time around.

 “It’s really important for the area,” said William Stanley, president of the Chamber’s board, after the meeting.

Blumenthal said Navy Secretary Mabus mentioned the millions of dollars in investments that Connecticut has kicked in over the past few years to make improvements at the submarine base. He also acknowledged the unique synergy that the base has with nearby Electric Boat, which builds submarines for the Navy, Blumenthal said.

The state’s junior senator also said he has received positive vibes in conversations with Mabus about the possibility of pushing ahead with a production schedule at EB that would maintain a two-subs-a-year quota through 2017. Because of budget constraints, the Navy had been poised to reduce sub production to one in 2014.

“We’re having ongoing discussions that leave the door open (to maintaining two-sub production),” Blumenthal said.

Robert Hamilton, an EB spokesman who attended the meeting today, said the shipyard supports maintaining the two-subs schedule because it would reduce re-training and labor costs, which are passed along to the Navy. He wouldn’t give a figure for how much the Navy would save by maintaining the two-subs schedule, but previous reports have put the number at about $600 million.