Nuclear Ship Savannah
American nuclear-powered commercial ship (1959–72) in Newport News, Virginia. Added to the National Register in 1982, and a National Historic Landmark.
What it is
NS Savannah was the first nuclear-powered merchant ship, launched on July 21, 1959, two years after the Soviet ice-breaker Lenin, the first nuclear-powered civilian vessel. A demonstration project for the potential peacetime uses of nuclear energy, she was built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million. Savannah was given the new designation "NS" for "Nuclear Ship", replacing the traditional commercial vessel prefix "SS" for "Screw Steamer", and was named after SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She was funded by United States government agencies as part of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1955 "Atoms for Peace" program, and was in service between 1962 and 1972 as one of only four nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built.
Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
The record
| Property type | Structure |
| Address | James River reserve fleet, Newport News vicinity, VA |
| County | York County |
| Listed | Nov 14, 1982 |
| Reference number | 82001518 |
| Type of place | merchant vessel, nuclear-powered ship, museum ship |
| Designations | National Historic Landmark |
| Contributing resources | 1 structures |
| Standing | Yes |
Visiting
| Address | James River reserve fleet, Newport News, VA |
| Website | ns-savannah.com ↗ |
| Coordinates | 39.25847, -76.55542 · Directions ↗ |
| Nearest national park unit | Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine · 1 mi · on Park Atlas |
| Federal campgrounds nearby | Greenbelt Campground 26 mi · Greenbelt Park Picnic Areas 26 mi · Greenbelt Park Ranger Station 27 mi |
Explore
Reference
Sources
Location, dates, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 82001518. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.