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Spanning more than 190 years of service, six U.S. Navy ships have shared the name Nautilus. The first, a 185- ton schooner, entered service in 1803 and sailed off Tripoli during the Barbary Wars. She continued in service until being captured by the British during the War of 1812. The second, a 76-foot schooner, was the first ship designed for the Coast and Geodetic Survey Agency. She was commissioned by the U.S. Navy during the Mexican War, after
which she returned to the Coast and Geodetic Survey Agency where she served until 1859. The third, SS-29, was the first U.S. submarine to bear the name. Soon after her keel laying, however, the submarine was renamed H-2. The fourth was a motor patrol boat commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1917. During World War I, she was assigned to patrol and escort duty, until she was stricken in 1919 and returned to her owner. The fifth, a submarine built at the Mare Island Naval shipyard and commissioned in 1930, completed 14 war patrols in the Pacific during World War II. She sank seven ships and participated in the battles of Midway, Makin, Guadalcanal, Attu, Gilbert Islands, and Leyte.
Hyman G. Rickover, the father of the atomic submarine, oversaw the development of the sixth Nautilus (SSN-571), the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine (pictured here). Commissioned on 30 September 1954, she remained at dockside for further construction and testing until 17 January 1955. The Nautilus made her most celebrated voyage—and received the first Presidential citation to be presented to a ship during peacetime—when she became the first vessel to reach the North Pole. After 2,507 dives, she was decommissioned on 3 March 1980 and now serves as a memorial and museum at Groton, Connecticut.
Lest We Forget . . .