Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Mile 1596 - Groton, CT

As of July 8, 2008 at 7:00 AM
Steps: 3,845,864
Miles: 1611.58
- The Virtual Walker is actually in Rhode Island now

The town of Groton, CT is located directly across the Thames River from New London. The town's nickname is "The Submarine Capital of the World."

Groton is the home of the Electric Boat Corporation, a division of General Dynamics Corporation, which has been the primary builder of submarines for the United States Navy for well over 100 years. It is also the home of the Navy's SUBASE New London.

A painting showing a surface boat bringing men and supplies out to the submarine at sea
Electric Boat built the first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN 571**) which was launched in January of 1954, and the first ballistic-missile submarine, George Washington, in 1959, amongst others. Submarines of the Ohio-, Los Angeles-, Seawolf- and Virginia-class were also constructed by Electric Boat in Groton.

The USS Nautilus is famed for participating in Operation Sunshine - The Voyage Under the North Pole, on August 3d, 1958.

The nautalis being towed to the electric boat company to be restored for the museum
In 2002, Electric Boat conducted preservation work on the world's first nuclear powered craft, USS Nautilus, which prepared her for her berth at the U.S. Navy Submarine Force Museum and Library, where she now resides as a floating museum.

Some Statistics:
Length: 319 feet
Width: 27 feet
Displacement: 4092 tons surface
Speed: 20+ knots
Complement: 11 officers, 100 enlisted
Armament: 6 torpedo tubes, all forward.

**SSN - Submersible Ship Nuclear

5 comments:

AliceKay said...

Awesome vessels when you think about it, but I think I'd get claustrophobic in one.

LadyStyx said...

*nods* @ Alice. Extremely true.

Karla said...

education education...edumacation...Lordy Iggy I've been outta school 40 years almost LOL too old to learn now ain't I?

ChicagoLady said...

You're never too old to learn new things Karla!

I love how Iggy finds all sorts of different things to talk about in his blog!

MarmiteToasty said...

WE also have a submarine musuem at Gosport..... Im sure if you google it something will come up....... gotta love looking around these wonderful places.....

I did have to take deep breathes when going inside the main sub, even though its not even underwater LMFAO

x