{"nrhp_refnum":"82001518","name":"SAVANNAH (nuclear ship)","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"James River reserve fleet","address_restricted":false,"city":"Newport News","county":"York County","state":"VA","lat":39.25846752600006,"lon":-76.55542261399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-11-14","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1991-07-17","areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Maritime History","Politics/Government","Engineering","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"N/S Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered merchant ship, a 595-foot vessel designed by George W. Sharp, Inc. and built 1958-1961 in Camden, New Jersey. It is moored at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the ship was a revolutionary, one-of-a-kind experiment showing how nuclear power could serve commercial shipping, growing out of President Eisenhower's 1955 proposal for peaceful use of atomic energy. It is called a symbol of the highest technology reached by the American merchant marine. Because it is less than fifty years old, an exception is justified by its exceptional importance in transportation and technology.","narrative":"Nuclear Ship Savannah was the world's first nuclear-powered merchant vessel. Designed by George W. Sharp, Inc. of New York and built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation in Camden, New Jersey, she measures 595 feet long and was powered by a 74-megawatt pressurized-water reactor. The project followed President Eisenhower's 1955 proposal to show the peaceful use of nuclear power. After launch in 1959 and sea trials off Yorktown, Virginia, she made demonstration voyages and then carried cargo and passengers from 1965 to 1970, visiting ninety-six ports and cruising more than 454,000 miles. She was built as a technological experiment rather than an economic success. Taken out of service in 1970, she was loaned in 1981 to South Carolina and now sits at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in Charleston Harbor. She was listed for her importance in transportation and engineering, despite her recent age, as a unique symbol of American merchant marine technology.","period_of_significance":"1958-1961","architect_builder":"George W. Sharp, Inc./New York Shipbuilding Corporation","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Moored as a museum ship at Patriots Point since 1981; unaltered except for removal of the nuclear fuel, in good condition and occupied.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.162794-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_LATE/82001518.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001518/6f6d1eaad8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001518/6f6d1eaad8-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Elton Lord/Atomic Energy Commission","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NS_Savannah_En_Route_to_1962_World%27s_Fair_(14698777183)_(cropped).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Elton Lord/Atomic Energy Commission</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NS_Savannah_En_Route_to_1962_World%27s_Fair_(14698777183)_(cropped).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":null,"wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1364576"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/york-county/savannah-nuclear-ship-82001518/"}