On This Day In History The USS Nautilus Was Commissioned

As History.com notes, on this day in 1954 the USS Nautilus was commissioned.

The USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear submarine, is commissioned by the U.S. Navy.

The Nautilus was constructed under the direction of U.S. Navy Captain Hyman G. Rickover (seen in the below photo), a brilliant Russian-born engineer who joined the U.S. atomic program in 1946. In 1947, he was put in charge of the navy’s nuclear-propulsion program and began work on an atomic submarine. Regarded as a fanatic by his detractors, Rickover succeeded in developing and delivering the world’s first nuclear submarine years ahead of schedule. In 1952, the Nautilus‘ keel was laid by President Harry S. Truman, and on January 21, 1954, first lady Mamie Eisenhower broke a bottle of champagne across its bow as it was launched into the Thames River at Groton, Connecticut. Commissioned on September 30, 1954, it first ran under nuclear power on the morning of January 17, 1955.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/uss-nautilus-commissioned?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2017-0930-09302017&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=247063539&kx_EmailCampaignID=14869&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2017-0930-09302017&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa 

PBS Special Offers Profile of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, Father of the American Nuclear Navy

I interviewed John Lehman, the former Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan, yesterday and he told me that PBS aired a profile of Hyman G. Rickover this week.

Rickover was the Navy admiral who oversaw the development and expansion of the nuclear-powered navy.

Combative, provocative and searingly blunt, Admiral Hyman G. Rickover was a flamboyant maverick, a unique American hero. Unafraid to buck the system, he alienated Navy brass, yet inspired the men under him.

When few thought it possible, then-Captain Rickover undertook a quest to harness the fearsome power of the atom to drive the first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, whose trip under the polar ice pack was one of the great adventure stories of the 1950s. Later, Rickover built the world’s first commercial nuclear power plant at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. Rickover’s achievements made him into a national celebrity; he appeared on the cover of Time magazine.

You can read the rest of the piece and watch the PBS special via the below link:

http://www.pbs.org/program/rickover-birth-nuclear-power/