nuclear-powered passenger ship — built in 1959
Deep inside the Port of Baltimore, past stacks of shipping containers and a plant that makes wallboard, sits the world's first, and only, nuclear-powered cruise ship – the NS Savannah.
The Savannah is the only nuclear-powered merchant ship the U.S. ever built, and the only nuclear vessel in the world designed with passengers in mind. As NPR's chief correspondent for all things atomic, I've wanted to see her for years.
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Interesting!
In reply to Noddaz :
I know it spent years at Patriot's Point across the Cooper river from Charleston SC. I remember visiting Patriot's Point but I think you couldn't actually go on the Savannah.
In reply to Noddaz :
Thanks for posting. I was not aware of this effort and it was very interesting to learn about the upside and downside of the story.
I love the interior of that thing.
Engine swap? Two weekends, tops.
stuart in mn said:I love the interior of that thing.
Apparently, the ship is not generally open to the public, but there is a virtual tour on the website:
http://ns-savannah.org/nssa.pl?page=virtualtour
It appears to be in remarkably good condition.
Fun fact: It was the inspiration for Mazda naming the RX-3 and RX-7 "Savanna."
I'd like to have a chair like this, to survey my backyard for rabbits and such.
Very interesting! I'd love to get a look at that in person sometime.
Worth a look just for the interior design and dinnerware. The bar is inspirational.
The interior design is just fantastic. Hopefully they can do something to preserve it.
paddygarcia said:Worth a look just for the interior design and dinnerware. The bar is inspirational.
That bar... my goodness. Big fan of mid-century Atomic-Era decor, and the interior shots of this ship are incredible. Hope it gets preserved!
I've been on it. When I was younger you could walk the decks and some passageways. You could look through a port into the reactor room and there were a few staterooms open for display.
This would have been the early 80s so I was probably 13 or 14.
It would be really nice if it could be restored enough so that you could pend a night there. Like the Queen Mary in California.
It looks like all the insulation was removed in the pictures of the engine room. Abatement of the asbestos containing materials used when Savannah was built is a huge expense and often what keeps them from being open to view. Then again abatement of insulation is a drop in the bucket compared to removing the reactor plant.
Fascinating 
BIL and I did the USS Nautilus and associated museum last time I was in the US.
As a former nuclear power operator in the Navy I'd love to tour this thing. Now the nerd in me is wondering if it's a GE or Westinghouse design, did they use a skewed divergent pattern for the control rods? What generation the reactor is...
EDIT: it's a Babcock and Wilcox design, and appears to be straight control rods. Wikipedia has more detailed info.
Toyman! said:I've been on it. When I was younger you could walk the decks and some passageways. You could look through a port into the reactor room and there were a few staterooms open for display.
This would have been the early 80s so I was probably 13 or 14.
Yup, I remember touring it as a kid on a school field trip. We spent the night on the Yorktown nearby.
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