Under the sea 51 years ago today...
 

Had this one pop up on Wiki earlier today in the "on this day" section and I thought this was worth making note of :up:

I always found those science-fiction-to-reality things very cool!

Where are you Bill, tell us more about that great old sub of yours :p

[edit, oops, 51, not 61 years...]

Atomic power was once the epitome of all things futuristic. Makes it even harder to think it was 61 years ago.

51 years. I made a typo :dead:

Got to thinking about the world's first atomic-powered merchant ship, the USS Savannah. After rusting at dockside for years she is being turned into a musuem ship. Too bad the atoms for peace idea was never economically viable.

Wow, good thing she's being preserved. I looked it up and she's a very stylish (in a 50's retro-futuristic kind of way!) ship.

This fact amused me about the ship though...

Maybe that's why the idea never took off. It sure looks pretty scary on paper :lol:

Yeah...that was part of it. The other factor was that the crew was more expensive to train and pay. Atomic reactors being more high-maintenance than standard oil-fired boilers. :lol: She had a swimming pool and some other nice amenities tho. Although there have been about three other civilian atomic-powered ships since, the idea never really took off.
http://content.answers.com/main/cont...NS_Savannh.jpg

Today is also the 49th anniversary of the day the music died. 49 years ago, Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens were killed in a plane crash.