68 years ago today

[Rattlecan ★]

Mamie Eisenhower broke a bottle on the nose of the USS Nautilus. So much optimism about the future of atomic power.

 

[Kirby]

Mamie was so excited she glowed.  Or maybe that was the Nautilus.

[maddmaxx ★]

2 hours ago, Kirby said:

Mamie was so excited she glowed.  Or maybe that was the Nautilus.

The Nautilus is in the Groton Submarine Museum near here in New London.  You can tour the boat, but only the front half.  The back of the boat is hot enough to have a barrier built on the hull between it and the pier.

On one of our trips there a youngish E5 was standing watch in the control room when I was peeking into the sonar room through the porthole in the door.  He said "I have to apologize for all of the old equipment in there".  I responded "yes, and I can recognize and fix everything in there".  

Ladies, if you go there I'd advise against wearing a tight skirt.  The hatch comings are very high and must be stepped over from compartment to compartment.  For everyone, the museum is a good side trip if you are in the area.

[bikeman564™]

be a neat thing to be apart of

[Rattlecan ★]

1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

The Nautilus is in the Groton Submarine Museum near here in New London.  You can tour the boat, but only the front half.  The back of the boat is hot enough to have a barrier built on the hull between it and the pier.

On one of our trips there a youngish E5 was standing watch in the control room when I was peeking into the sonar room through the porthole in the door.  He said "I have to apologize for all of the old equipment in there".  I responded "yes, and I can recognize and fix everything in there".  

Ladies, if you go there I'd advise against wearing a tight skirt.  The hatch comings are very high and must be stepped over from compartment to compartment.  For everyone, the museum is a good side trip if you are in the area.

I have toured a couple of diesel electric subs but never a nuke. I do know what you mean about those hatches though.

[Page Turner]

...the Nautilus was still in active service, back in the fleet of subs served by the USS Fulton, back in '70-'71, when I was stationed there.

It got towed back in a couple of times when I was there, and the guys who worked back in the radiation areas used to dose out for the month more quickly than their counterparts on the newer subs there. But I did get the sense that the crew on that boat had a sort of love hate relationship with her.  I was invited to walk around below decks once, but I was still considering having kids.

 

The Fulton was apparently not as historically valuable, because they stripped and scrapped her when no longer needed, in 1991.

 

I was on board her in New London, and she was sold for scrap at Mare Island, here in California.  Must have been interesting sailing that tub through the Panama canal.

[MickinMD ★]

Back in 1975, a letter was sent to us chemistry grad students at IIT inviting us to join the Navy where we would be trained as officers to run the nuclear reactors on submarines.  That was around the time the Vietnam War was winding down and the military was having a hard time recruiting people.

I thought it would be a great way to save money over the 4-year hitch so I walked into a recruiting office.  "How tall are you?"  "Six foot three."  "Sorry, six feet tall is the limit for sub duty."

That was the beginning and end of my Navy career.