January 21, 1954

USS Nautilus (SSN-571)

USS Nautilus is christened and launched at Groton

Mamie Eisenhower sent the world's first nuclear-powered submarine into the water with a bottle of champagne — into a river called the Thames, in Connecticut.

Champagne on the bow

On 21 January 1954, USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was launched at the Electric Boat Company shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, the submarine's sponsor, christened it by breaking a traditional bottle of champagne across the bow.

Nautilus then slid down the shipyard ways into the Thames River — the Connecticut river at Groton, not the English one.

It was the first submarine designed and built with nuclear propulsion.

Eighteen months from keel to ways

Congress had authorized construction in July 1951. President Harry Truman laid the keel at Electric Boat on 14 June 1952, and nearly eighteen months of building brought the hull to the launching stage.

The propulsion plant came from Naval Reactors, the organization led by Hyman G. Rickover.

The finished submarine had an official complement of 105.

Afloat is not in service

The launch put a hull in the water. Nautilus was not commissioned that day, and it did not move under nuclear power.

Fitting-out and testing continued alongside the dock through the rest of 1954.

The signal "Underway on nuclear power" came on 17 January 1955, almost a year after the champagne.

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