The Life of NS Savannah #history #ship #shiplife #savannah #nuclearpower #nuclear #museumship #usa
Launched: 21 July 1959 Maiden voyage: 20 August 1962 Decommissioned: January 10, 1972 Fate: Museum ship NS Savannah was the first nuclear-powered merchant ship, launched on July 21, 1959, 2 years after the Soviet ice-breaker Lenin, the first nuclear-powered civilian vessel. A demonstration project for the potential peacetime uses of nuclear energy, she was built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million (including a $28.3 million nuclear reactor & fuel core). It took another 2.5 years to complete the reactor installation & initial trials before the ship was moved to Yorktown, Virginia, under temporary oil-fired power, where the reactor was started & tested. Full reactor power was achieved in April 1962. Savannah was delivered on May 1, 1962, to the Maritime Administration and turned over to her operators, the States Marine Lines. On her maiden voyage beginning on August 20, 1962, Savannah undertook demonstrations, first sailing to Savannah, her home port. During this trip a faulty instrument initiated a reactor shutdown, which was misreported as a major accident in the press. Savannah was given the new designation "NS" for "Nuclear Ship", replacing the traditional commercial vessel prefix "SS" for "Screw Steamer" & was named after SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She was funded by United States government agencies as part of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1955 "Atoms for Peace" program & was in service between 1962 & 1972 as 1 of only 4 nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built. Savannah served as a passenger-cargo liner until 1965, when passenger service was discontinued. By this time a total of 848 passengers had been carried along with 4,800 short tons (4,400 tonnes) of cargo. The ship was converted to all-cargo use, with the removal of 1,800 tons of ballast. Passenger spaces were closed. Savannah was deactivated in 1971 & after several moves were moored at Pier 13 of the Canton Marine Terminal in Baltimore, Maryland in 2008. Once Savannah was open for display, visitors could tour the ship's cargo holds, view the engine room from an observation area, look into staterooms & passenger areas & walk the ship's decks.