USS Nautilus: The First Nuclear Powered Submarine

hello everybody welcome back to another episode of mega projects this one's all about the uss nautilus it's the first nuclear powered submarine you already knew that because you read the title let's just jump in but before you do this video is brought to you by surf shark safety and security online are critically important and you can protect yourself online with surf shark yes 83 percent off three months for free there is a link in the description below if you'd been standing at the north pole on the 3rd of august 1958 you would have been present when history was made but as you gazed around you'd be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about almost 50 years since humans had first trekked overland to the north pole it was now the turn for the first visit not coming across the ice but rather from underneath it because insane the progress is made of it 50 years before the nuclear submarine no one had been to the north pole ever wild below the north pole that day sat the uss nautilus not only the first submarine and first sailing vessel of any kind for that matter to reach this spot but also the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine we tend to hurl the word trailblazer around these days especially on this channel but the uss nautilus i promise you it was exactly that it was a piece of engineering that completely redefined naval warfare with the cold war now in full swing this submarine inched the united states ahead of the soviet union in terms of submarine technology and combined with the emergence of ballistic missiles the uss nautilus was a vessel that set off an era of deadly nuclear-powered submarines prowling through the oceans capable of destroying large portions of the planet in an instant [Music] submarines had come to the fore during world war one particularly in the atlantic german u-boats had caused catastrophic damage to the british and american merchant fleets and while the threat of u-boats eventually diminished in part thanks to the deciphering of the german enigma codes their legacy remained long after the fighting ended the u.s had used several different submarines during the war the gato class was the first mass-produced american submarine and 77 were built between 1941 and 1944. they were improved upon by the balau class submarine of which 120 appeared between 1942 and 1946. the final class of submarine to fight in world war ii was the tench class which were larger stronger and had a better layout than their younger siblings while 29 of them were completed 51 were cancelled as it became clear that with japan now on the ropes of asked a murder of submarines was just no longer needed [Music] as war became peace the need for such enormous armies and neighbors disappeared but five years after the culmination of the largest bloodbath in all of history the united states was now eyeing a very different type of enemy the soviet union was positioning himself as the natural competitor to the united states and its first atomic detonation in 1949 showed the americans that the soviets were really rather hot on their heels as we discussed before on i believe this channel or maybe another channel side projects which you should absolutely subscribe to the soviets got their nuclear bomb way faster than the americans expected possibly likely due to spying while a massive military buildup in terms of physical numbers wouldn't happen again the arms race was just getting started traditional diesel submarines needed to surface every day for a few hours to charge their batteries a fact that made them highly vulnerable and on the surface even after the introduction of submarine snorkels the problem was not fully addressed because now while the submarines could remain underwater its speed was limited and compartments inside typically saw an unhealthy build-up of co2 so design work began what would be the world's first nuclear submarine in march 1950 but it wasn't until july 1951 that congress officially authorized the construction of the vessel at that point she was known simply as ssn 571 but by the end of 1951 she had a new name the name nautilus comes from jules verne's classic 1872 book 20 000 leagues under the sea it's a story about a feared underwater monster that in fact turns out to be a cutting-edge submarine it seemed like an appropriate choice and actually the third time the u.s navy had used it her keel was laid down by president harry s truman on the 14th of june 1952 at the electric boat shipyard in groton connecticut she was first launched a year and a half later on the 21st of january 1954 and finally commissioned on the 30th of september 1954 under the command of commander eugene p wilkinson the uss nautilus measured 98 meters in length and had a beam of 8.5 meters she had a smurge displacement of 4092 tons which was pretty big at the time but just to give you an idea of just how big things got from here on out the soviet typhoon class submarines which began appearing in the early 1980s had a displacement of nearly 12 times that of the uss nautilus we've actually already covered the typhoon here on megaprojects in fact it was one of the most popular videos we've ever done so if you're looking for a deep dive on cold war submarines why not give that a watch after deep dive the nautilus was powered by a submarine's thermal reactor later redesignated as the s2w a pressurized water reactor built by westinghouse electric corporation the shuttle around the reactor alone weighed 35 tons while all of the biological protection put in place including lead steel and other materials layers added up to around 740 tons it came with an installed power of 13 400 horsepower and a top speed of the submarine of 23 knots which is about 43 kilometers an hour or 26 miles per hour as would be almost universal in the coming years and decades the nautilus nuclear reactor lay almost exactly in the middle of the submarine directly behind it was the engine room with the after cruise quarters located in the stern of the submarine if you move forward from the reactor we've got the control room bridge attack center and periscope room further forward is the galley store rooms the captain's stateroom the officer's wardroom and the rest of the cruise quarters located in the bow of the submarine is of course the torpedo room with six torpedo tubes standing by the crew was composed of 13 officers and 92 enlisted men now we'll find out a little more about what the nautilus did in just a moment but first a word from today's video sponsors surf shark do you use the internet well yeah of course you do look you're using it right now do you have personal information that you'd rather remain personal well who doesn't unfortunately the internet is all kinds of weird there are people out there who want to ruin your day take your details steal your identity thankfully surf shark users have the protection of hack lock this search is database for your password which sounds like a bad thing but no surf shark are the good guys they find it they let you know then you change the password and boom you're nice and safe and once you're back in that warm comfort and safety maybe you're like let's watch some netflix let's chill out but what's that the show you want to watch is only available in the uk and you livid miami well don't worry just fire up surf shark hit up that vpn and boom before you know it you're over in london or at least your netflix thinks so and you're watching whatever you like and also surf shark is totally unlimited so if you want to watch in 4k you can absolutely do that you don't have to worry about bandwidth also they've got great support and a 30 day money back guarantee if you're not happy get 83 percent off and three months for free through the link in the description below or just use my code mega and let's get back to the nautilus occasionally real life throws up some real zingers that any hollywood scriptwriter would have been proud of and so was the case on the 17th of january 1955. the historic words underway on nuclear power said by commander eugene p wilkinson shortly before the uss nautilus left port for the first time have gone down in naval folklore and understandably so for the first time in history a naval vessel was venturing out at sea using nuclear power a few months later she set a course once again this time the shakedown testing period and records immediately started tumbling in her wake the journey of 1 200 nautical miles between new london and san juan puerto rico was completed fully submerged throughout and in less than 90 hours this immediately became the longest submerged cruise by a submarine and at the fastest sustained speed for one hour or more ever seen over the next few years the submarine clocked up mileage like there was no tomorrow and by early 1957 she had reached 60 000 nautical miles that's around 110 000 kilometers or 69 000 regular miles for the keen jules verne fans out there you might recognize that number as what the fictional nautilus had achieved in the early stages of the book later that year the uss nautilus took part in nato exercises for the first time and made stops in britain and france where american allies were treated to a tour of this next generation submarine but in october 1957 the united states and her nato friends were not so much interested in what was in the ocean rather they were interested in what was in the sky [Music] when sputnik 1 began signaling back to earth as it orbited our planet on the 4th of october 1957 it sparked a series of events that would change both the space race and the arms race with the soviet-made object now passing freely and directly above the united states it provided a new layer of fear and suspicion the americans were of course well advanced in their rocketry program but they had been beaten to the punch in the coming years the u.s would overtake the soviet union in the space race but in terms of arms it remained neck and neck towards the end of the 1950s both nations were nearing another nuclear milestone the submarine launched ballistic missile or slbm which would completely change the landscape of any potential nuclear war between the two sides once both nations had nuclear powered submarines armed with slbms the notion of trying to knock out a country's nuclear capacity in a pre-emptive strike just became impossible by spreading nuclear weapons around the world both countries made sure they would have plenty in reserve if any strike came but we're still not quite at that point in our story just yet the first american operational ballistic missile submarine ssbn was the uss george washington which was commissioned in 1959 and commenced its first nuclear deterrent patrol in november 1960. before that however u.s president dwight eisenhower wanted to test the feasibility of a polar transit that might garner support for the slbm program as well as providing something of a prestige boost after the demoralizing news regarding spunking one by this point the uss nautilus was under the command of commander william r anderson and on the 25th of april 1958 she began traveling along the california coast the submarine stopped first to san diego then san francisco and finally seattle after final preparations the uss nautilus began a historic trip on the 9th of june but alas it was not meant to be ten days after leaving seattle the submarine entered the chukchi sea but was almost immediately turned back by deep drift ice in relatively shallow water the crew on board the nautilus would have to be patient but nearly a month in hawaii probably helped after retreating from the ice the nautilus sailed to pearl harbor and remained there until the 23rd of july 1958 when once again she headed north on august 1 1958 the nautilus disappeared below the waves and into the barrow sea valley off the coast of alaska on board the submarine was the special gyro compass built by sperry rand that had been installed specifically for this trip normally gyro compasses become inaccurate above 85 degrees north and there was a real danger that the submarine might lose its way beneath the ice apparently commander anderson had simply planned to blast through the ice with torpedoes if it came to that which i suppose is one way to do it another gadget that greatly aided the groundbreaking trip was the north american aviation n6a1 inertial navigation system ins a modification of what has been used on the navajo cruise missile and had recently been successfully trialled the ins uses a combination of instruments including a computer motion sensors and gyroscopes to continuously calculate the position orientation and speed of the submarine without relying on external references shortly before midnight on august 3rd 1958 the uss nautilus became the first naval vessel ever to reach the north pole the crew on board were no doubt electrified by commander anderson's words for the world our country and the navy the north pole [Music] over the next 20 years the uss nautilus crisscrossed the globe but in may 1966 she logged her 300 000th nautical mile at 560 000 kilometers or 350 000 miles as with much of what goes on behind the veil of military secrecy we don't know that much about the rest of the distinguished boat's career what we do know is that she took part in the naval blockade of cuba in 1962 as well as several nato exercises both in the atlantic and the mediterranean in november 1966 she collided with the aircraft carrier uss essex but the damage was minimal and after a brief period resting up while being repaired she ventured out into the open seas once again [Music] as groundbreaking as the uss nautilus was in 1954 time stands by for nobody towards the end of its naval life the submarine showed its age badly vibrations within a hull had become so loud that sonar was effectively useless at speeds above four knots she may have been a pioneering submarine but the u.s navy also learned a lot from what not to do from the uss nautilus on the night of april 1979 the submarine began its final journey from groton connecticut to the mayor island naval shipyard of vallejo california where she would be decommissioned her final day at sea was the 26th of may 1979 and she was officially removed from the naval vessel register on the 3rd of march 1980. but that's not the end of our story in 1982 the uss nautilus was designated as a national historic landmark and the following year it became the official state ship of connecticut after extensive renovation she was towed back to groton and on the 11th of april 1986 the nautilus opened its doors or hatches we should probably say to the general public as part of the submarine force library and museum as she approaches her 70th birthday the uss nautilus now welcomes roughly a quarter of a million visitors every single year it might be a far cry from its next generation burs and its humming nuclear reactor but this old submarine certainly cemented its place in naval history so i really hope you found this video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below don't forget to subscribe also please do check out our fantastic sponsor surfshark and look if you've got a suggestion for a future megaprojects video please do use the comments below and thank you for watching [Music] you

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 274,361

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Id: -9OPNIw3w90

Length: 15min 6sec (906 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 09 2021