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 & 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
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)
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.