A Brief History
On August 20, 1962, the NS Savannah set out on her maiden voyage, a trip from Yorktown, Virginia to Savannah, Georgia, through the Panama Canal and on to Hawaii. This nuclear-powered cargo ship, the first of its kind, was built in New Jersey at a cost of $47 million.
Digging Deeper
The ship itself only cost $18 million, but adding the nuclear reactor and fuel added a whopping $29 million to the price, paid by the US government. An allegedly “civilian” nuclear-powered icebreaker had been built by the USSR in 1957, and in all, only four nuclear-powered merchant ships have ever been built.
Optimized for good looks and performance as a technology demonstration vessel, Savannah was not good at hauling cargo, with difficult loading and meager capacity. She served as a passenger/cargo ship and then as a cargo carrier only, sailing 350,000 miles before needing a fuel change. She retired in 1971 and is now a museum ship in Baltimore.
Note: The USSR and Russia have built additional nuclear-powered icebreakers.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Will we ever again see nuclear powered civilian ships?
If you liked this article and would like to receive notifications of new articles, please feel welcome to follow History and Headlines on Facebook and X!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Devanney, Jack. Why Nuclear Power Has Been a Flop: at Solving the Gordian Knot of Electricity Poverty and Global Warming. BookBaby, 2020.
NS Savannah Technical Staff. NS Savannah Training Manual: Ship and Systems Description, Volume 2. NS Savannah Technical Staff, 1964.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Nuclear Regulatory Commission from US of NS Savannah reaching the Golden Gate Bridge in 1962, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
