I remember when.......
Back in the day, when i was was in Sub School at New London, she was (sometimes not so fondly) referred to as Building 571 - mainly because she rarely left the docks. That was in 1972.
Adm. Hyman Rickover promised the Navy she'd be in service for at least 20 years, but she spent most of her last 8 tied up at Groton as an "unofficial" museum. During my six weeks at Sub School, Nautilus got under way just once, got as far as the mouth of the Thames and snapped a shaft. When a hurricane came up the east coast later that month, everything that could get underway & out of harm's way did so - except for the Nautilus. They just added extra lines and tied her down real good till it blew over.
But when she was finally retired, her crew put in extra hours to make damn sure her last days at sea were as ship-shape and proud as her first. Adm. Rickover lived just long enough to see it all - and I'm absolutely certain he spent his first week in the hereafter grinning ear to ear and collecting on his bets.
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