Ship Modelers Database
USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
Museum Ship
USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, commissioned in 1954, and the first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole in 1958. She is not a sailing-era vessel or traditional hull type, so "Other" best captures her as a purpose-built nuclear attack submarine, a category not otherwise represented in the standard type list.
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Plans
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Build logs
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- NavSource: Nautilus (SSN-571) Photo IndexWebsite
Photo archive and commanding officer roster, including museum ship conversion details.
- NHHC News: USS Nautilus Returns to NHHC FleetArticle
Covers the museum ship's 2021-2022 dry-dock refurbishment and reopening, relevant for current condition/status.
- Wikipedia: USS Nautilus (SSN-571)Website
Comprehensive overview including construction specifications, design details, and service history useful for modeling reference.
Museums & archives
- DANFS: Nautilus IV (SSN-571)Museum
Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships entry with precise specifications (displacement, dimensions, armament) valuable for scale accuracy.
- NHHC: USS Nautilus (SSN-571) Ship HistoryMuseum
Official Naval History and Heritage Command history page with detailed career timeline and imagery, a primary reference for dates and events.
History
Specifications
As built she displaced roughly 3,533 tons surfaced and 4,092 tons submerged, measured about 323 feet 9 inches in length with a 27 foot 8 inch beam, and could make 20+ knots submerged. She carried a complement of about 105 and was armed with six 21-inch torpedo tubes forward; propulsion was a single nuclear reactor (S2W) driving twin propellers.
Service history
Built by Electric Boat/General Dynamics in Groton, Connecticut and commissioned 30 September 1954 under Commander Eugene P. Wilkinson, Nautilus spent most of her 26-year career homeported in New London as part of Submarine Squadron Ten, conducting ASW evaluation, NATO exercises, and acting as an opposing-force unit. Her most famous voyage, Operation Sunshine, saw her pass beneath the geographic North Pole submerged on 3 August 1958, earning the crew a Presidential Unit Citation. She also took part in the naval quarantine of Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis and collided with the carrier USS Essex in 1966 before being decommissioned on 3 March 1980.
Notable facts
Nautilus was named for Captain Nemo's fictional submarine in Jules Verne's novel and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. After an extensive conversion at Mare Island, she was towed to Groton and opened in 1986 as a museum ship at the Submarine Force Museum, where she remains the only nuclear submarine open to public touring; she underwent a multi-year refurbishment before reopening to visitors in the 2020s.