Just outside the gate of the Groton Submarine Base in Groton Connecticut is the permanent berth of the USS Nautilus and the location of the Submarine Force Museum. The keel of the USS Nautilus was laid on June 14, 1952 at the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, Groton, Connecticut by President Harry S. Truman. On January 21, 1954 Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower broke the traditional bottle of champagne across Nautilus' bow. On the morning of January 17, 1955 the Nautilus was the first US submarine to set sail under nuclear power. The Nautilus departed Pearl Harbor Hawaii on July 23, 1958 under Top Secret orders to conduct the first crossing of the north pole by a ship. With 116 men aboard, the USS Nautilus reached the geographic North Pole on August 3, 1958. In the
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