Model Submarine – Nautilus SSN 571
70 years ago in January 1954, the world’s first nuclear powered submarine was launched. Named after Captain Nemo’s submarine from the 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, the Nautilus was a large vessel at 323 feet long with a crew of 104. However, her pressurized-water nuclear reactor made her faster than any other submarine at the time. Her nuclear propulsion also allowed her to remain submerged far longer than diesel-electric powered subs, and she shattered all submerged speed and distance records in her first several years of operation. In August 1958, the Nautilus became the first sub to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole, a location previously beyond the limit of submarines.
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