Nuclear Ship Savannah

Q-6-51

The NS Savannah was the world's first nuclear-powered merchant ship. Authorized in 1956 during Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace initiative, its purpose was to demonstrate to the world the safe and peaceful use of atomic power. The Babcock & Wilcox Company designed Savannah’s nuclear propulsion system at its Kemper Street office nearby and built the system at its Mount Athos facility four miles east of here. The ship’s first crew trained at Lynchburg College. From 1962 to 1970, Savannah traveled more than 450,000 miles, stopped at 45 foreign and 32 domestic ports, and received more than 1.5 million visitors. The ship was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991.

Department of Historic Resources, 2018

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Nuclear Ship Savannah National Historic Landmark nomination (1991). “Welcome Aboard The World’s First Nuclear-Powered Merchant Ship” (U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration). “Nuclear Ship Savannah,” https://www.marad.dot.gov/ships-and-shipping/n-s-savannah-program-home/ Lynchburg News, 17 Feb. 1962. Charleston News and Courier, 27 Sept. 1958. San Diego Union, 21 Dec. 1958, 24 July 1959. Richmond Times-Dispatch, 26 June 1959, 17 July 1961, 18 Jan. 1962. Dallas Morning News, 21 July 1959. Science, 26 June 1964. Boston Herald, 24 Sept. 1972. Baltimore Sun, 31 July 2011. Tammy Thueringer and Justin Parkinson, “The Ship that Totally Failed to Change the World,” BBC News Magazine, 25 July 2014. O.H. “Doc” Jones and Diane Popek-Jones, Atoms for Peace: Honoring the Pioneers of the Nuclear Industry at Mount Athos (Roanoke, 2001). John W. Landis, “Why the Babcock & Wilcox Company Chose Lynchburg,” Lynch’s Ferry (Spring/Summer 2007): 20-30. Matt Gottlieb, “Atomic Wonder,” Virginia Living (16 March 2015). http://www.ns-savannah.org/nssa.pl?page=virtualtour Erhard W. Loehler, “Nuclear Ship Savannah: Public Information Meeting, Canton (Baltimore), Maryland, July 9, 2008” (U.S. Maritime Administration, 2008).