Groton shipyard to commemorate 1st nuclear sub

GROTON, Conn. (AP) — A Groton shipyard on Thursday commemorated the 60th anniversary of the keel-laying for USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine.

It was on June 14, 1952, that President Harry Truman officiated at the construction milestone for the submarine.

A crowd of about 100 people that gathered Thursday at the same spot inside the shipyard, where speakers including Electric Boat president Kevin Poitras described the Nautilus as a vessel that revolutionized naval warfare. The project to install a nuclear reactor inside a sub was guided by Adm. Hyman Rickover, a man considered the father of the nuclear Navy.

In attendance were three men with direct connections to the Nautilus including Paul Tranchida, 96, who had worked in the shipyard's foundry since World War II and made valves and torpedo tube doors for the submarine.

"At that time we didn't know too much about nuclear power and all that stuff. It was something new," Tranchida said after the ceremony. "All we knew was Admiral Rickover was a real tough man. He wanted everything A-1."

Nuclear propulsion allowed the Nautilus to remain submerged far longer than diesel-electric submarines. Launched in 1954, it became the first vessel to cross the North Pole beneath the ice cap in 1958.

"It should be remembered," said John Kelley, who participated in repairs to the Nautilus and retired from Electric Boat as director of nuclear quality control. "It really allowed the country to do a lot of things ahead of the Russians and other navies."

The Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and is now part of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum in Groton.

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