August 1 to August 15
A feature courtesy of The Grateful American Book Prize Showing our children that their past is prelude to their future.
According to History.com. “The USS Nautilus was constructed under the direction of U.S. Navy Captain Hyman G. Rickover, a brilliant Russian-born engineer who joined the U.S. atomic program in 1946. In 1947, he was put in charge of the navy’s nuclear-propulsion program and began work on an atomic submarine. Regarded as a fanatic by his detractors, Rickover succeeded in developing and delivering the world’s first nuclear submarine years ahead of schedule.
“In 1952, the Nautilus’ keel was laid by President Harry S. Truman, and on January 21, 1954, first lady Mamie Eisenhower broke a bottle of champagne across its bow as it was launched into the Thames River at Groton, Connecticut. Commissioned on September 30, 1954, it first ran under nuclear power on the morning of January 17, 1955,” The inaugural voyage—to the North Pole—however, did not take place until August 3, 1958.
For more information, the Grateful American Book Prize recommends Nautilus to Columbia: 70 years of the US Navy's Nuclear Submarines by James C. Goodall.