The Navy retired a 40 year old, nuclear sub, used to reach depths of 3000 feet.
It still amazes me that that 40 years ago we built things like the Saturn rockets, this little sub, and the Blackbird. We’ve refined our technologies, but it is almost as if we have hit a wall in moving on to the next “big” thing.
NORFOLK, Va. — Its oven was actually a toaster taken out of a P-3 Orion. It had no shower, and there were four racks for 11 sailors. The officer in charge slept on the deck behind the conn. And since the Nixon administration, the elite crew of the NR-1 could live on the bottom of the ocean for up to a month at a time.
National Geographic magazine called it “The Navy’s Inner Space Shuttle,” and in many ways, the now retired nuclear-powered, deep-submergence boat capable of 3,000-foot dives was just that.
“I’ve been in it for a month, and it gets a little ripe,” said Robert Ballard, sea explorer and former Navy man who, among scores of other finds, discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985 and John F. Kennedy’s PT 109 in 2003.
Although he didn’t use the NR-1 for those missions, he was aboard for countless explorations, and with its deactivation Nov. 21, he said he hates to see this one-of-a-kind ship retire.
“We’ve lost an asset, and it’s too bad,” Ballard told Navy Times.
Launched in Groton, Conn., in January 1969, for years NR-1 was a secret submersible built to dive so deep it had wheels for moving along the ocean floor. Because of its nuclear reactor, its dwell time was not limited by batteries like other submersibles. But it was not fast, managing a little more than 3 knots submerged.
“That’s more than fast enough to operate near the ocean floor,” said Cmdr. John McGrath, NR-1’s final officer in charge. “I’m a big fan of the ship. I think it’s an incredible chapter in Navy history.”
In its time, NR-1 was manned by nuclear-qualified submariners who passed an interview with the director of naval nuclear propulsion, currently Adm. Kirkland Donald. McGrath is rarer still among this small fraternity of submariners, having previously served as NR-1 engineer from 1997 to 2000. He came back in 2007 and will oversee the yearlong process of de-fueling the sub’s nuclear reactor before its voyage to the Navy’s submarine graveyard in Puget Sound, Wash.
In its nearly 40-year career, the NR-1 was called for countless missions — from searching for wrecked and sunken naval aircraft to finding debris from the space shuttle Challenger after its loss in 1986.
On its final deployments, McGrath said, the NR-1 was still conducting “highly classified military missions.” Read more….
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Tags: NR-1
15 Comments to “Navy Retires 40 Year Old “Secret” Sub”
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thanks for the vis to WHT my friend and the inspirational post..Go Navyy!!:)
it is great and wonderful news knowing about this submarin
Remember, we didn’t know the full abilities of the Blackbird until more than 30 years after its creation (in the 90s). The military might have already hit the next big thing, but we wont know about it for a couple more decades…
Wow, that is way cool. tiny little thing though!
jess
http://www.anonymity.at.tc
Its probably been decommissioned so that another much better successor can be used. Obviously top-secret in its existence too.
Very cool story. Thanks for sharing. Do we build anything cool like that anymore?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=763vmCrRBDg
you say “we’ve hit a wall in moving on to the next big thing” but I think it’s more of an iron curtain. They’ll never tell us about their cool secret toys
I hope there is something “big” coming.
Think about the First Gulf War–we were exposed to Stealth technology and smart bombs.
In Afghanistan and Iraq what were the big “jumps” in technology?
The Predator? Ho hum.
To me, it seems like, as a nation, we hit a long period of where we have failed to jump ahead. We still use combustion engines, we still use oil and coal. Our speed in space is limited to 26,000 mph.
But one neat thing from this article, was that this little sub apparently was used to tap Russian deep sea cables.
As noted in the comments, hopefully this little bugger was replaced.
Saw the NR1 when I was in New London, Conn (I was on a boomer at the time). Asked the topside guard if I could sneak a peek at the inside. He said “can’t do that” too many secret thingies on board….
But he then asked me if he and a buddy could see our boat. So after their watch ended, I got a hold of the OOD and gave them a tour of our boat. I did learn a bit about the NR1 in talking with them, sounds like it was very, very, tiny inside. Only like eight people aboard it.
theCase,
Thanks for visiting and for your insight on the NR1.
We haven’t “hit a wall in moving on to the next ‘big’ thing.”
This sub is retired due to its glaring obsolescence in the shadow of such new assets as the USS Jimmy Carter.
I was a ships photographer on a boomer in Holy Lock when the NR1 pulled. I had beaten a EM2/SS on board my boat out of basic scuba school for ships diver designation and he instead went to 2nd class diver school (min req for assignment to NR1)and ended up on board the NR1. I was able to get a tour of the boat because of our relationship as shipmates. It was fascinating! and a real deep diving sucker with some great tools but a bit uncomfortable living quarters by comparison.
Thanks for sharing. I bet it was an interesting tour.
Thanks for sharing. I bet it was an interesting tour.