NS Savannah soon open to the public

Hosted by the NS Savannah Association, a nonprofit that works to promote and preserve the history of the ship, the event will feature docent- and self-guided tours of the ship’s midcentury modern interiors, engine and control rooms, and containment vessel, which housed the ship’s reactor.

Event details: The ship will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (EDT). The SS John Brown (one of two remaining operational Liberty ships that participated in World War II) will also be open for tours, but it is recommended that visitors see the Savannah first if they wish to sign up for tours of the engine room.

Brief history: In 1954, after President Eisenhower’s seminal Atoms for Peace speech and the ensuing formation of the American Nuclear Society, the National Security Council launched deliberations on adding a nuclear-powered merchant ship to the nascent Atoms for Peace program.

A year and a half later, President Eisenhower announced the project publicly, and it received congressional authorization in 1956. Over the next six years, the 595-foot-long, 78-foot-wide ship was built at the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, N.J.

Savannah entered service in May 1962 and was removed in July 1970. In that time, the ship visited 32 domestic and 45 international ports, covering the East, Gulf, and West coasts; Hawaii; the Far East; northern Europe; and the Mediterranean. During its operational life, it used roughly 163 pounds of enriched uranium, which fueled its 69-MWt pressurized water reactor (later uprated to 80 MWt).

In the more than 450,000 nautical miles it crossed, the NS Savannah served as a floating ambassador for the safe and peaceful use of nuclear power. It was named after the revolutionary SS Savannah of 1819, the first steamship to make a transoceanic voyage.