Nuclear History archive — page 3

A frosted brass-and-grey naval signal lamp with louvred shutters sending pulses of light across a calm winter harbour

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

"Underway on Nuclear Power" — Nautilus Goes to Sea (1955)

On 17 January 1955 USS Nautilus signalled "Underway on nuclear power", then made a record 1,381-nautical-mile submerged run to San Juan and sailed more than 60,000 nautical miles before her first refuelling in 1957.

An unbroken champagne bottle in a white knotted rope net, hanging from a red, white and blue satin bow in front of a pale grey riveted steel hull on a bright winter morning

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

Launching USS Nautilus, 1954

Mamie Eisenhower christened USS Nautilus at Groton on 21 January 1954; the first nuclear submarine was commissioned that September and first went to sea under nuclear power in January 1955.

A large circular steel water tank standing in sunny sagebrush desert with mountains behind, holding a short grey cylindrical submarine hull section partly submerged in turquoise water

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

STR Mark I: the Submarine Prototype in the Desert

The STR Mark I (later S1W) prototype went critical in Idaho on 30 March 1953 and in June ran about 100 hours, plotted as an Atlantic crossing, clearing the way for USS Nautilus.

Two large meshing gears, one navy-blue enamel and one polished steel, on a white drafting-office desk beside a brass oil can

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

The Birth of the Naval Reactors Program

Between 1946 and 1952 the Navy and the Atomic Energy Commission built a two-hat organization under Rickover that set Westinghouse Bettis and GE Knolls to work on submarine reactors and led to the keel of Nautilus.

A plain wooden office chair whose front legs have been cut slightly shorter, with wood shavings on a bright floor

Nuclear Propulsion: Submarines, Ships & Space

Admiral Rickover and the Nuclear Navy Culture

Hyman G. Rickover hand-picked every nuclear officer, demanded personal responsibility and built a naval reactor program with a 70-year operating record, before being forced to retire in 1982 after 63 years in uniform.

An old steel sword lying on a pale wooden table whose blade gradually turns into a polished plowshare, with golden wheat ears beside it and sunny countryside in the background

Postwar Control & the Cold War

Eisenhower's Atoms for Peace Speech

On 8 December 1953 Eisenhower proposed at the UN that nations deposit uranium and fissionable material with an International Atomic Energy Agency for peaceful use, a speech that led toward the IAEA of 1957.

A 1950s wooden school desk and chair in a sunlit classroom, with a small wooden toy turtle tucked into its shell on the seat

Postwar Control & the Cold War

Duck and Cover and Cold War Civil Defense

After 1949 the US Federal Civil Defense Administration taught schoolchildren to duck and cover with Bert the Turtle, marked radio dials for CONELRAD and later posted fallout shelter signs, while monster films turned nuclear fear into entertainment.

A pale plaster and birch-wood architectural model of two tall chimneys, each topped by a square filter box, on a bright drafting table beside brass dividers

Postwar Control & the Cold War

Harwell and the Windscale Piles: Britain's Twin Pillars

From GLEEP going critical in a Harwell hangar on 15 August 1947 to the first British plutonium from the air-cooled Windscale Piles on 28 March 1952, Britain built research and production side by side.

A small sealed glass ampoule of clear water, a grey ceramic pellet and a sprig of pink roses on the stone sill of an arched fortress window in soft morning light

Postwar Control & the Cold War

France's CEA and the ZOE Reactor

France founded the CEA on 18 October 1945 under Frédéric Joliot-Curie and Raoul Dautry, and its first reactor, ZOE, a natural-uranium heavy-water pile, went critical on 15 December 1948.

A round flaky puff pastry cut in half to show many thin golden and silver-grey layers, on a steel tray beside brass calipers in bright light

Postwar Control & the Cold War

The Soviet Hydrogen Bombs, 1953 and 1955

The Soviet RDS-6s of 12 August 1953 was a single-stage 'sloika' of about 400 kt with only 15–20% fusion; the true two-stage RDS-37 followed on 22 November 1955, air-dropped at about 1.6 Mt.