U.S.S. Nautilus Strikes Gold
 

Groundbreaking Sub Turns 50, And The Party's Starting

By Katie Aberbach, New London Day, September 10, 2004

            Fifty years ago, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was President, a first-class stamp cost three cents, the World Series was broadcast in color for the first time and William Golding published "Lord of the Flies." It was the year in which Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka banned racial segregation in public schools, and the Senate censured Joseph McCarthy.

            And it was the year of the USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine.

            The Nautilus was launched on Jan. 21, 1954, after First Lady Mamie Eisenhower christened the ship, and it was commissioned (which means it was officially accepted by the Navy), on Sept. 30, 1954. Kenneth Carr, who served on the Nautilus's crew between 1953 and 1960, looks back on the ceremony as a "a big deal."

            "As I remember it, it was a sunshiney day," says Carr, who was a lieutenant and first duty officer at the time. "We were all lined up on the deck, in our dress blues."

            After a few speakers, the American flag was raised and the commissioning pennant was broken on the ship.

            "It was a great day," Carr says.

            The formal rigors, though seemingly low-key, were important steps in the Nautilus' groundbreaking history. After its commissioning in 1954, the Nautilus began its voyage "underway on nuclear power" in January 1955. By 1958, the Nautilus had not only broken all submarine records, but it had also become the first ship to cross the North Pole.

            Nuclear power, effectively harnessed by the Nautilus, "totally revolutionized submarines," says Lt. Cmdr. Frank Sides, officer-in-charge of the Nautilus and director of the Historic Ship Nautilus and Submarine Force Museum. The Nautilus' nuclear propulsion "just really made her unlimited in the endurance and speed and distance that she could travel," Sides says.

            This fall, current and past members of the U.S. Navy will celebrate the golden anniversary of the pioneering submarine. Between Sept. 30 and Oct. 3, the Nautilus Museum will host a number of special events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Nautilus' commissioning.

            A private ceremony will be held on Sept. 30 for approximately 200 Nautilus alumni, and another 200 active duty military members.

            Cmdr. Vice Admiral Wilkinson (retired), who was the first commanding officer of the Nautilus from September 1954 to June 1957, and Admiral Frank Bowman, Director of Naval Reactors, will deliver speeches from aboard the Nautilus, and a reception in the museum will follow the ceremony. To host the event, the Historic Ship Nautilus and Submarine Force Museum will be closed to the public on Sept. 30. But anybody, especially those driving north on I-95 in Groton, will take note of the date. On that evening, Groton's "Submarine Capital of the World" sign will be replaced by a Nautilus-shaped welcome sign.

            Besides noting the roadside change, the public can visit the museum and celebrate the Nautilus' commissioning on the following days - Oct. 1, 2 and 3. The museum will show footage from the Nautilus' launching and commissioning in 1954, and give away magazines and commemorative Nautilus coins.

            Since the Nautilus Alumni Association will hold a reunion at the museum, some alumni will give personalized tours.

            "It's a great opportunity for someone to come and visit the museum, and talk to somebody who's actually been on the Nautilus," says Sides.

            The commissioning's 50th anniversary events are just some of the Nautilus' special dates this year. Since February, the Nautilus museum has hosted a Golden Year Lecture Series that is open to the public, and there will be three more; one apiece in October, November and December.

Carr, who looks forward to attending the formal ceremony for the commissioning anniversary, believes the Nautilus deserves of all of the attention it has received.