U.S.S. NAUTILUS (submarine)

History

USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world's first nuclear-powered boat, nuclear-powered submarine, and the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on 3 August 1958. Her initial commanding officer was Eugene "Dennis" Wilkinson, a widely respected naval officer who set the stage for many of the protocols of today's Nuclear Navy in the US and who had a storied career during military service and afterwards.

Nautilus shares the name of the fictional submarine in Jules Verne's classic 1870 science fiction novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and the USS Nautilus (SS-168) that served with distinction in World War II.

The Nautilus was authorized in 1951. Construction began in 1952, and it was launched in January 1954, sponsored by Mamie Eisenhower, wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It was commissioned the following September into the United States Navy and was delivered to the Navy in 1955.

Her nuclear propulsion allowed her to remain submerged far longer than diesel-electric submarines, and she broke many records in her first years of operation and traveled to locations previously beyond the limits of submarines. In operation, she revealed a number of limitations in her design and construction, and this information was used to improve subsequent submarines.

Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. She has been preserved as a museum ship at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut, where she receives around 250,000 visitors per year.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.