World’s first nuclear submarine launched

The defining problem of submarines since their inception had been air circulation. The submarines in service in WWII were all diesel-powered, which meant they needed to resurface fairly often to run the diesel engines (which powered electrical batteries in use underwater). That problem was solved by the switch to nuclear power, which enabled the submarines to stay underwater indefinitely.

On this day, January 21, 1954, the world’s first nuclear submarine, built by the United States, was christened and launched into the Thames River in Connecticut. The ship was named the Nautilus in honor of the fantastical submarine in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

The Soviet navy was not far behind on their own submarine development, suffering some fatal accidents along the way. In 1968, their K-27, laid down just after the launch of the first Soviet nuclear submarine, developed a problem with its steam generators while out at sea, and a resulting radiation leak killed nine members of the crew.