SAVANNAH nuclear vessel

[aukepalmhof]

Built as a nuclear powered cargo-passenger ship under yard No 529 by the New York Shipbuilding Co. Camden, U.S.A. for United States Department of Commerce.
22 May 1958 keel laid down.
21 July 1959 launched as the SAVANNAH, christened by the First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, she was named after her 1819 predecessor which was the first steamship that crossed the Atlantic.
Tonnage 13, 890 grt, 8,489 net, 9,992 dwt. dim. 106 x 21 x 8.2m. (draught).
Powered by nuclear reactor manufactured by Babcock & Wilcox at Lynchburg, Virginia, powering two Laval geared turbines, 20,300hp, single shaft, service speed 20 knots.
Accommodation for 60 first class passengers, crew 124.
Cargo capacity 652.000 cubic feet.
Fitted out with stabilizers.
December 1961 completed, building cost $46,900,000.
01 May 1962 delivered to owners.

She was delivered to State Marine Lines, Savannah, and was the first commercial nuclear passenger-cargo vessel.
The SAVANNAH was designed by the George G.Sharp, Incorporated, of New York.
20 August 1962 left Yorktown for her maiden voyage to Savannah.
From September 1962 she made goodwill voyages to northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Thereafter she was used in the cross North Atlantic trade between the U.S.A. and Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.
08 June 1964 she left New York in this service with on board 13 passengers bound for Northern Europe.
30 July 1964 she left for her second voyage from New York bound for Scandinavia.
Thereafter used in the Mediterranean service, her passenger capacity never exceeds 25 persons on any of these trips. It was decided to shut down the passenger accommodation in 1965, and she was only used as a cargo vessel.
The same summer there were labour difficulties by the State Marine Lines and the SAVANNAH was on
20 August 1965 transferred to the First Atomic Ship Transport (FAST) of American Export Isbrandtsen Lines.
Her cross Atlantic voyage s was thereafter irregular until 1967.
22 May 1967 she made a voyage to the Orient.
1968 During the summer she was refuelled for the first time.
02 May 1970 she left for her last voyage from Baltimore to the Far East, and after her return she was laid up in Galveston in 1970.
During her career she steamed more as 450,000 mile, and made call at 70 ports. During that time she was visited by more than 1.5 million persons.

1971 Her nuclear core was removed and in January 1972 towed to Savannah, Georgia, the town Savannah hoped to obtain the SAVANNAH for use as the Eisenhower Peace Memorial, but the plan failed and she was towed to North Charleston S.C.

1981 She was bareboat chartered by the South Carolina State for five years, with an option for extension.
Late 1981 was she opened for the public at the Naval and Maritime Museum near Mount Pleasant, Patriots Point.

1994 When she got a leak in her hull the charter was ended, and she was towed to a dry-dock in Baltimore.
After repair towed to the James River, Virginia for lay up.

08 May 2008 arrived under tow at Baltimore for removal of her contaminated nuclear material which is still on board.
2010 Still there, not clear what will be happening with the vessel after her nuclear material is removed.

Central African Republic 1982 300f sg835, scott?
Guinea ? 750F sg?, scott?
Madagascar 1993 1000f sg1010, scott1131o.
Panama 1962 B0.01 sg?, scott460A
Sharjah 1965 5np sg116, scott86.
Togo 1968 90f sg593, scottC92. and MS the passenger ship in foreground is the ATHLONE CASTLE or the sistership STIRLING CASTLE.

Source: US Passenger Liners by Milton H. Watson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah
Various other web-sites.

[aukepalmhof]

We have just added an online tour of the Nuclear Ship Savannah to the Historic Naval Ships Association web site. She
is an extraordinary ship and the online tour includes panographic photography within the nuclear reactor containment vessel.
http://hnsa.org/savannah/

HNSA wishes to thank the Savannah Technical Staff and Bruce Ecker for
their hard work in creating this tour.

[Arturo]

Savannah NS (Nuclear Powered Merchant Ship) 1962

NS Savannah was the first nuclear-powered merchant ship. Built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million, including a $28.3 million nuclear reactor and fuel core, funded by United States government agencies, Savannah was a demonstration project for the potential use of nuclear energy.

Launched on 21 July 1959 and named for SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic ocean, she was in service between 1962 and 1972 as one of only four nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built. (Soviet ice-breaker Lenin launched on 5 December 1957, was the first nuclear-powered civil ship.)

See topic”Lenin icebreaker 1959”

Savannah has been moored at Pier 13 of the Canton Marine Terminal in Baltimore, Maryland since 2008.

Madagascar 1993, S.G.?, Scott: 1131o.

Source: Wikipedia.