Groton — Electric Boat has been awarded a $25.7 million Navy contract to perform maintenance and modernization upgrades to the USS Providence, a Los Angeles-class attack submarine, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, announced Thursday.

"This contract is confirmation that U.S. Navy officials recognize that Electric Boat has the talented, dedicated and flexible workforce to ensure that our submarines are operating at their best," Courtney said in a press release. "Projects like the USS Providence maintenance availability are crucial to keeping EB's workforce on-the-job and ensuring that our industrial base can continue to sustain the skills needed to support our submarine force."

An estimated 300 employees will work on the boat.

Originally scheduled to be conducted at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the work on the Providence was moved to Electric Boat as a result of impacts caused by the fire on the USS Miami. The repair is scheduled to be completed in the spring.