The striking secrets of the first and only nuclear-powered passenger ships, the NS Savannah, have been exposed. This happened in a report after the unique naval vessel anchored deep into the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, was opened for a tour.
Right in the Soviets’ Face
The NS Savannah was constructed in the 1950s, during the first height of the Cold War.
It came as a blunt, but mighty demonstration by the United States that nuclear power could have a tremendous application for peaceful purposes, including the powering of passengers’ vessels, NPR reveals in a report.
Thus, the ship proved the potential of the “peaceful atom” right in the face of Soviet Communists.
It’s particularly striking that it did so after December 1953, when the Russians detonated their first thermonuclear bomb, ushering into a new era of the Cold War’s MAD – the so-called “mutually-assured destruction.”
A year earlier, America tested such a device, a ten-megaton bomb that destroyed an entire island in the Pacific.
At that point, President Dwight Eisenhower declared in a United Nations speech that his nation was focusing on developing the full potential of peaceful nuclear energy. This was precisely what the NS Savannah achieved, the report points out.
The only vessel of this kind – a passenger ship powered by a 74-MW nuclear reactor – was built under the federal government’s “Atoms for Peace” program.
The NS Savannah was launched on the water in 1959 and its nuclear engine was powered up two years later.
Nuclear Cruise Ship Was Immensely Popular
Even though the vessel carried only 60 passengers at a time, it made voyages to 26 countries and 45 ports. Tickets for its voyages were available to all.
However, the unique ship was showcased internationally, with over one million people boarding it for the sole purpose of viewing first-hand a civilian vessel powered by a nuclear reactor.
The NS Savannah’s reactor was closed down in the early 1970s. This was a time when it served its purpose: namely, demonstrating the astonishing potential of peaceful nuclear energy, the report concludes.
Koehler reveals the US government is seeking ways to preserve the stunning vessel for posterity.
This article appeared in The State Today and has been published here with permission.
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