On This Day: First nuclear submarine commissioned, a rapid technology breakthrough - Sep. 30, 1954
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The USS Nautilus is One of the Most Important Submarines of All Time
In an era where technological progress was rapid, Nautilus was a stunning achievement. Just nine years after the atomic bomb test at Alamogordo, New Mexico, Nautilus was underway and using nuclear power. Not only that, but the submarine proved that nuclear propulsion was safe and efficient, paving the way for an all-nuclear U.S. Navy submarine fleet. During its career it had made 2,507 dives and traveled 513,550 miles without incident. A trailblazer, Nautilus’s success ensured that the U.S. submarine fleet would maintain technological superiority over its Soviet Navy for the remainder of the Cold War.
In 1948, the U.S. Navy established a Nuclear Power Branch, kicking off a revolution in ship propulsion. The department, headed by legendary naval officer Adm. Hyman Rickover, would oversee the construction of a unique ship, the first to take advantage of the benefits of nuclear propulsion. That ship was the nuclear submarine USS Nautilus. Nautilus was formally commissioned into service on September 30, 1954. Its reactor was started up on December 30, and on January 17, 1955, it finally left the pier.
The U.S. Navy, used to traveling long distances to fight its battles, was an early fan of nuclear propulsion. Nuclear power promised to eliminate the need for massive quantities of ship fuel, reducing the logistical demands of a fleet at sea. As Norman Polmar and K. J. Moore explained in their book Cold War Submarines, nuclear-powered submarines would have a virtually unlimited range, be faster above and below the surface of the ocean, generate more power per volume than diesel engines, and operate more easily than diesel engines.
In 1958, the United States government pushed to have a nuclear-powered submarine reach the North Pole, both as a response to the Sputnik satellite launch and to prove that Polaris-missile-armed submarines could operate above the Arctic Circle. On July 23, 1958, Nautilus became the first ship to reach the North Pole—above or below the ice. Nautilus traveled from Hawaii to Greenland, perhaps the most unusual voyage undertaken thus far by any ship.
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https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/uss-nautilus-one-most-important-submarines-all-time-196948
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Because her nuclear propulsion allowed her to remain submerged far longer than diesel-electric submarines, she broke many records in her first years of operation and traveled to locations previously beyond the limits of submarines. In operation, she revealed a number of limitations in her design and construction. This information was used to improve subsequent submarines.
Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. The submarine has been preserved as a museum ship at the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut, where the vessel receives around 250,000 visitors per year.
Operation Sunshine – under the North Pole
In response to the nuclear ICBM threat posed by Sputnik, President Eisenhower ordered the U.S. Navy to attempt a submarine transit of the North Pole to gain credibility for the soon-to-come SLBM weapons system. On 25 April 1958, Nautilus was underway again for the West Coast, now commanded by Commander William R. Anderson, USN. Stopping at San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle, she began her history-making polar transit, "Operation Sunshine", as she departed the latter port on 9 June. On 19 June, she entered the Chukchi Sea, but was turned back by deep drift ice in those shallow waters. On 28 June, she arrived at Pearl Harbor to await better ice conditions.
By 23 July, her wait was over, and she set a course northward. She submerged in the Barrow Sea Valley on 1 August and on 3 August, at 2315 hrs. EDT she became the first watercraft to reach the geographic North Pole. The ability to navigate at extreme latitudes without surfacing was enabled by the technology of the North American Aviation N6A-1 Inertial Navigation System, a naval modification of the N6A used in the Navaho cruise missile; it had been installed on Nautilus and Skate after initial sea trials on USS Compass Island in 1957. From the North Pole, she continued and after 96 hours and 1,590 nmi (2,940 km; 1,830 mi) under the ice, surfaced northeast of Greenland, having completed the first successful submerged voyage around the North Pole. The technical details of this mission were planned by scientists from the Naval Electronics Laboratory including Dr. Waldo Lyon who accompanied Nautilus as chief scientist and ice pilot.
Navigation beneath the arctic ice sheet was difficult. Above 85°N both magnetic compasses and normal gyrocompasses become inaccurate. A special gyrocompass built by Sperry Rand was installed shortly before the journey. There was a risk that the submarine would become disoriented beneath the ice and that the crew would have to play "longitude roulette". Commander Anderson had considered using torpedoes to blow a hole in the ice if the submarine needed to surface.
The most difficult part of the journey was in the Bering Strait. The ice extended as much as 60 ft (18 m) below sea level. During the initial attempt to go through the Bering Strait, there was insufficient room between the ice and the sea bottom. During the second, successful attempt to pass through the Bering passage, the submarine passed through a known channel close to Alaska (this was not the first choice, as the submarine wanted to avoid detection).
The trip beneath the ice cap was an important boost for America as the Soviets had recently launched Sputnik, but had no nuclear submarine of their own. During the address announcing the journey, the president mentioned that one day nuclear cargo submarines might use that route for trade.
As Nautilus proceeded south from Greenland, a helicopter airlifted Commander Anderson to connect with transport to Washington, D.C. At a White House ceremony on 8 August, President Eisenhower presented him with the Legion of Merit and announced that the crew had earned a Presidential Unit Citation.
[Cuban missile crisis]
Nautilus operated in the Atlantic, conducting evaluation tests for ASW improvements, participating in NATO exercises, and during October 1962, in the naval quarantine of Cuba.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nautilus_(SSN-571)
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