Nuclear History archive — page 2

A weathered cast-iron mooring bollard with a coiled hemp rope on an empty concrete quay, overlooking a calm, misty northern bay with distant green hills and rows of small floats

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

Japan's Nuclear Ship Mutsu

On 1 September 1974 fast neutrons streamed through a gap in the shielding of Japan's nuclear ship Mutsu; fishermen blocked her return for fifty days, and she sailed again only in 1990 before becoming the research vessel Mirai.

A tall cream-white ship's funnel with a pale blue band standing alone on a concrete plinth on a sunny harbour quay, with seagulls on its rim, turquoise water and distant cranes behind

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

NS Otto Hahn, Germany's Nuclear Cargo Ship

Launched in Kiel in 1964 and named after the chemist whose work revealed fission, the Otto Hahn sailed some 642,000 to 650,000 nautical miles on nuclear power before economics and port access ended her nuclear career in 1979.

A polished brass porthole in a pale mint ship's cabin looking out on a calm turquoise sea and a sunny harbour, with a steaming white coffee cup on a white tablecloth in front of it

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

NS Savannah, the First Nuclear Merchant Ship

Launched in 1959 and in service from 1962 to 1970, NS Savannah showed that a pressurized-water reactor could power a merchant ship, but liability rules, port access and cost kept nuclear merchant shipping from taking off.

Close-up of the red and white steel bow of an icebreaker riding up onto white Arctic sea ice, breaking it into clean blue-green plates under a bright blue sky with a low golden sun

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

Lenin, the First Nuclear Icebreaker

The Soviet icebreaker Lenin, commissioned on 3 December 1959 with three OK-150 reactors, was the first nuclear-powered surface ship; after a 1965 accident her reactors were replaced and she worked the Arctic until 1989.

A bright 3D render of a cylindrical submarine hull section with 16 closed round hatches, resting on a cradle in a sunlit shipyard hall between two other hull sections

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

USS George Washington: The First SSBN (1959–1960)

Built from a hull laid down as an attack submarine, USS George Washington made the first submerged ballistic missile launch on 20 July 1960 and began the first deterrent patrol on 15 November 1960.

A polished stainless-steel pipe with a hand-made weld seam and a brass valve with a red handwheel, beside folded white work gloves on a bright background

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

The K-19 Reactor Accident (1961)

On 4 July 1961 a reactor aboard the Soviet missile submarine K-19 lost its coolant; repair teams welded in a makeshift cooling line, eight of them died of acute radiation syndrome, and the accident was kept secret until around 1990.

Two identical polished steel reactor pressure vessels with bolted domed lids, linked by copper pipes, standing side by side on a white pedestal set on a slab of Arctic sea ice under a bright pale-blue sky

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

K-3 Leninsky Komsomol, the First Soviet Nuclear Submarine

K-3 first sailed on nuclear power on 4 July 1958, about three and a half years after Nautilus, reached the North Pole on 17 July 1962 and has been a museum exhibit in Kronstadt since 2023.

An antique bronze mariner's astrolabe standing on a pale blue ocean-depth map, with a glowing teal line looping around the world through its ring and sunlight rippling across the chart as if under shallow water

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

USS Triton Goes Around the World Submerged

From 24 February to 25 April 1960, USS Triton sailed 26,723 nautical miles around the world submerged, the first submerged circumnavigation, in a voyage planned to impress before the Paris summit.

Close-up of polished stainless-steel U-shaped heat-exchanger tubes with one double-walled tube cut open and a wisp of steam, on a bright background

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

USS Seawolf and the Sodium-Cooled Reactor

USS Seawolf, launched in 1955 with GE's liquid-sodium-cooled S2G reactor, suffered steam generator and superheater leaks; Rickover decided in November 1956 to replace it, and after 60 days submerged in 1958 she was recommissioned with a pressurized water reactor in 1960.

A polished brass and steel gimbal navigation instrument on a metal stand, lit by pale blue light filtering through sea ice overhead

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

Nautilus Crosses the North Pole (1958)

In Operation Sunshine, USS Nautilus left Pearl Harbor in July 1958, crossed the North Pole submerged at 11:15 p.m. (EDT) on 3 August with 116 men aboard, and surfaced in the Greenland Sea after 1,830 miles and 96 hours under the ice.