DESTROYER ESCORT

displacement: 3533 tons (surfaced), 4092 tons (submerged); length: 323.8'; beam: 27.8'; draft: 22'; speed: 22 kt (surfaced), 25 kt (submerged); test depth: 700'; armament: 6-21" torpedo tubes; complement: 13 officers - 92 enlisted men

On December 12, 1951, the Navy Department announced that the world's first nuclear submarine, SSN-571, would carry the name NAUTILUS. Construction of NAUTILUS was made possible by the successful development of a nuclear propulsion plant by a group of scientists and engineers at the Naval Reactors Branch of the Atomic Energy Commission, under the leadership of Captain Hyman G. Rickover, USN. Authorized by Congress in July 1951, her keel was laid on June 14, 1952 at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation, Groton, Connecticut., by President Harry S. Truman. A year and a half later, on January 21, 1954, Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower broke the traditional bottle of champagne across her bow as NAUTILUS slid down the ways into the Thames River.

NAUTILUS returned to New London in July 1957 and had an availability until August 19 to prepare her for her next trip, which took her to latitude 87-degrees North -- 180 miles from the North Pole, and further north than any ship previously. NAUTILUS steamed 1,383 miles under the polar ice cap on three excursions lasting a total of five and one-half days. On her way to the Arctic, NAUTILUS completed a dive of 287 hours, covering 4,039 miles. This polar trip was of great scientific importance. In the area in which she operated, NAUTILUS was able to gather many times the amount of data on ice characteristics and water depths than previously obtained in the whole of arctic exploration.

On March 25, 1963 NAUTILUS became the first ship to cruise one-quarter of a million miles on nuclear power.

In recognition of her pioneering role in the practical use of nuclear power, NAUTILUS was designated a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior on May 20, 1982. Following an extensive historic ship conversion at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, NAUTILUS was towed to Groton, Connecticut arriving on July 6, 1985.

On April 11, 1986, eighty-six years to the day after the birth of the Submarine Force, Historic Ship NAUTILUS and the Submarine Force Museum opened to the public as the First and Finest exhibit of its kind in the world, providing an exciting, visible link between yesterday's Submarine Force and the Submarine Force of tomorrow.

http://www.subguru.com/nautilus571.htm   One awsome web site.