On September 30, 1954, the U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Nautilus – the world’s first nuclear submarine. Before the Nautilus, submarines were diesel-electric. However, with the advent of the Nautilus, and atomic submarines, submarines could remain submerged for nearly unlimited periods of time. Unlike their predecessors, submarines fueled by atomic engines needed no air and only the smallest amount of nuclear fuel.
Construction
Russian-born engineer U.S. Navy Captain (later Admiral) Hyman G. Rickover oversaw the construction of the Nautilus. Rickover joined the U.S.’ atomic program in 1946. A year later, he took over the Navy’s nuclear-propulsion program. In July 1951, Congress authorized the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine for the U.S. Navy. Once in charge of the Navy’s program, Rickover began work on an atomic submarine. Captain Rickover ended up being successful in not only developing, but delivering, the first nuclear submarine years ahead of schedule. The USS Nautilus was christened and launched into the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut on January 21, 1954. The submarine shared a name with Captain Nemo’s fictional submarine in Jules Verne’s novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
In Service
The Nautilus’ initial commanding officer was Eugene “Dennis” Wilkinson. Commander Wilkinson went on to set many of the protocols for today’s modern Nuclear Navy. Due to her nuclear propulsion allowing her to remain submerged for much longer periods of time than diesel-electric submarines, the Nautilus broke many records during her first years of operation. She traveled to locations previously beyond the scope of diesel-electric submarines. The Nautilus was the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on August 3, 1958. As the first of her kind, the Nautilus’ shortcomings and limitations were used to improve subsequent submarines.
Decommission
After nearly three decades in service, The USS Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980. Two years later, in 1982, the Secretary of the Interior designated it a National Historic Landmark. Preserved as a museum ship at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut – the same city it launched in – it receives over 250,000 visitors a year.
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Info Source: History and Wikipedia
Photo Source: Pantagraph
