CEE Alumni Granted VIP Tour of America’s First Nuclear-Powered Submarine

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Every year, more than a quarter of a million visitors stop by Groton, Connecticut to tour the USS Nautilus, America’s first nuclear-powered submarine. But a dozen recent VIP guests had a special connection to the museum. As alumni of the Research Science Institute and the USA Biology Olympiad, their careers were jumpstarted by the man known as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy” – Admiral H.G. Rickover.

In 1983, after 63 years of active duty service in the Navy (he was the longest serving naval officer in US history), Admiral Rickover launched the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE) with Joann DiGennaro. Their aim was to help nurture the nation’s best and brightest math and science scholars to ensure American global leadership and competitiveness.

 

Last month, as part of ongoing efforts to stay connected with alumni of its programs, CEE arranged a special tour of the USS Nautilus. Guided by Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Amdur of the US Navy, an engineer and submariner, the group walked the decks of the submarine that made US naval history and explored the spaces where the crew worked, slept, ate, and entertained themselves on the long voyages beneath the ocean’s waves. Lt. Commander Amdur spent several hours over lunch with the young STEM Scholars and answered technical questions about the Nautilus, he discussed Admiral Rickover’s brilliant contributions to nuclear technology.

In addition to blazing a trail as the first nuclear powered sub, the Nautilus (SSN-571) was also the world's first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole in 1958. Sharing names with Captain Nemo's fictional submarine in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and named after another USS Nautilus (SS-168) that served with distinction in World War II, Nautilus entered service in 1954.

In 1980, the submarine was decommissioned and, two years later, designated a National Historic Landmark.