Deep Submergence Vessel NR-1 was a unique United States Navy (USN) nuclear-powered ocean engineering and research submarine, built by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics at Groton, Connecticut. NR-1 was launched on 25 January 1969, completed initial sea trials 19 August 1969, and was home-ported at Naval Submarine Base New London. NR-1 was the smallest nuclear submarine ever put into operation. The vessel was casually known as "Nerwin" and was never officially named or commissioned. The U.S. Navy is allocated a specific number of warships by the U.S. Congress. Admiral Hyman Rickover avoided using one of those allocations, and he also wanted to avoid the oversight that a warship receives from various bureaus.
If memory serves, the NR-1 actually had wheels, and could roll along the seafloor. I think it was used on cloak and dagger type missions to tap into undersea communications cables. The nuclear power plant was described as being the size of an executive desk, and was the smallest ever designed.
ReplyDeleteImagine that - the size of a desk.
DeleteThere are a lot of these little budget niches where stuff was developed by USGOV. There was also an inflatable runway to launch an ultralight aircraft from a 688 Class boat. They recovered the ultralight (after the classified mission) when it deployed a parachute and floated down over the boat.
ReplyDelete