American submarine NR-1

NR-1
Deep submergence vessel NR-1
History
United States
NameNR-1
BuilderGeneral Dynamics Electric Boat
Laid down10 June 1967
Launched25 January 1969
In service27 October 1969
Out of service21 November 2008
MottoThe World's Finest Deep Submersible
Nickname(s)Nerwin
FateScrapped
General characteristics
Class and typeUnique submarine
Displacement400 tons
Length
  • 45 m (147 ft 8 in) overall
  • 29.3 m (96 ft 2 in) pressure hull
Beam
  • 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
  • 4.8 m (15 ft 9 in) at stern stabilizers.
Draft
  • 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)
  • Box keel depth (below base-line): 1.2 m (3.9 ft)
Installed powerSingle nuclear reactor, one turbine generator
Propulsion
  • 2 × external motors
  • 2 × propellers
  • 4 × ducted thrusters (mounted diagonally in two "x-configured" pairs)
Speed
  • 4.5 knots (8.3 km/h; 5.2 mph) surfaced
  • 3.5 knots (6.5 km/h; 4.0 mph) submerged[1]
Endurance
  • 210-man-days nominal
  • 16 days for a 13 person crew
  • 330-man-days maximum
  • 25 days for a 13 person crew
Test depth3,000 feet (910 m)[2][3]
Complement3 officers, 8 crewmen, 2 scientists

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, but Admiral Hyman Rickover avoided using one of those allocations for the construction of NR-1 in order to circumvent the oversight that a warship receives from various bureaus.

  1. ^ United States Naval Sea Systems Command. NR-1 Submarine: Nuclear Powered Research and Ocean Engineering Vehicle. Washington, D.C.: Dept. of the Navy, Sea Systems Command. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  2. ^ Perry, Doug. "NR-1 – within Visual Sight of the Bottom". Global Security. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  3. ^ Lacroix, Frank W.; Button, Robert W.; Johnson, Stuart; Wise, John R. (2002). A Concept of Operations for a New Deep-Diving Submarine (PDF). ISBN 0-8330-3045-0. Retrieved 12 November 2018.