Friday, October 21, 2011

NS Savannah Still Afloat

That's NS as in "Nuclear Ship."

From the August 11th Chicago Tribune "Idled nuclear cruise ship once a star" by Michael Dressler.

I'd heard about the ship, but thought it was no longer in existence. Well, it is, and in Baltimore. It still looks good as well.

For a few years back in the 1960s it was "a nautical superstar" for peaceful use of nuclear energy. In May 1864, 13,000 boarded the vessel to tour.

It is still owned and operated by the federal Maritime Administrated and regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The vessel was conceived by President Eisenhower in 1955 in a program called Atoms for Peace. It was taken out of service in 1971. The ship was 595.6 feet long, 78 feet wide and cosy $47 million. Completed in 1961 and in 1962 made maiden voyage from Savannah, Ga. to Norfolk, Va. with 60 passengers, all it could carry.

It carried a total of 842 passengers from 1962 to 1965, but at a capacity of 60, there were not enough to turn a profit.

It is not known what will become of it.

The first steamship to cross the Atlantic was the SS Savannah in 1819..

It's Nuclear for Me. --Cooter

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