The Klaxon Online

Winter 2010

Feature Article

Submarine NR-1

CDR Slade Cutter, USN

NR-1 Underway on the surface.


Operating at the stately speed of about one foot per second or less than one knot, a tiny nuclear powered craft “flies” twenty-five feet above the ocean bottom at a depth of about 1850 feet. Strong underwater lights turn the area, visible from the submarine’s viewports, a sort of shimmering blue/green shade. The tiny ship, known only as Submarine NR-1, has been submerged operating near or on the bottom for nine days and for most of the past three days has been conducting a methodical search for a lost Phoenix missile. Time was running out and the search was about to be called off due to worsening surface weather conditions when the viewports watch shouted that he had spotted the missile. The armed missile was plucked from the ocean bottom by NR-1 and raised to the ocean surface where it could be safely transferred to a waiting support vessel…a successful completion of another mission, but one that would bring public recognition to a ship that had heretofore operated in a cloak of secrecy.

The whole event actually had begun several weeks earlier on 14 September 1976 when an F-14 Tomcat carrying a Phoenix missile had experienced an uncontrolled sudden acceleration and flopped off the deck of carrier USS JOHN F. KENNEDY into the frigid waters of the North Atlantic 100 miles Northwest of Scotland. The Navy was understandably anxious to recover, if possible, both the $14Million aircraft with its AWG 9 missile guidance radar and its Phoenix missile; the plane, radar and missile comprising extremely valuable technology that the Soviets would have loved to obtain.

Submarine NR-1 happened to be in the right place at the right time, having been operating in the eastern Atlantic in the vicinity of the UK since August conducting classified operations. After the Navy had searched for over one month using surface towed sonar devices and obtaining location of a “potential” aircraft target, NR-1 was b ought into the mission to find the F- 14 and its Phoenix missile. On 21 October, NR-1 settled to the bottom in the vicinity of the target location, began searching and in relative short order located the aircraft. The F-14 was lying upside down and severely fouled by heavy fishing nets. Apparently the plane had been snagged by fishing gear and dragged a considerable distance before the nets broke or were cut free by the trawler. Good news they had found the plane; bad news, the Phoenix missile was nowhere to be seen.

NR -1 was able to lasso one of the main landing gear with a rope pendant and hook the other end of the pendant to a lift line sent down from the surface. On 26 October, Oil Harrier, a British vessel with winches capable of lifting the aircraft began lifting the plane towards the surface. Heavy seas and the F-14 acting as a large sea anchor caused the lift line to part after the plane had been moved only about three miles; NR-1 once again located the plane and hooked it up to another lift line. Results were the same; after a short while the lift line parted and the F-14 sank once more to the bottom. Ultimately, the Navy resorted to dragging and lifting the plane with heavy cables and what was finally pulled from the water bore almost no resemblance to an aircraft. Following the second hookup, NR-1 concentrated all efforts in searching for the Phoenix missile. Finally on 30 October after 17 hours of uninterrupted visual search of the best known potential location of the missile, the Phoenix was located. “I see it, I see the son-of-a b****” shouted the viewports watch.

USS L-11

Artist depection of F-14 recovery by NR-1.

The foregoing is a brief snippet of but one of the myriad of unusual missions Submarine NR-1 was involved in during the nearly 40 years of service to the U.S. Submarine Force.

The trip home from that mission in December of 1976 was also anything but boring. At one time, the ship’s nuclear reactor was shutdown for over six hours (NR-1 has no diesel) while repairs we e made to a piece of equipment that operates the reactor control rods. Later, the surging stormy seas that were battering tow ship USS SUNBIRD caused the tow line to part. The parted tow line fouled NR-1’s rudder and both propellers so she drifted submerged in the Gulf Stream for three days until the weather abated sufficiently so that the ship could surface to make up a new tow line.

Highlights of many missions are provided in an exhibit chronicling NR-1’s history at the Submarine Force Library & Museum.

The original idea for NR-1 was conceived by Naval Reactors, perhaps by Admiral H.G. Rickover himself in 1964. The idea was to combine the benefits of nuclear power with the tremendous demand for oceanographic research; this grew from the original stated purpose to demonstrate feasibility of nuclear power for a deep submergence rescue vessel. The ship was designed and built by Electric Boat Division of Gene al Dynamics Corp. The reactor plant was designed by Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. The ship would have no weapons but would be equipped with a multitude of tools to explore the undersea environment for scientific purposes.

Initial cost estimate for the tiny ship was $30Million in March 1965. In July 1967 congress approved $58.3Million for NR-1 and the final cost was around $68Million, a considerable overrun from the original $30Million estimate.

The keel was laid June 10, 1966 and NR-1 was christened and launched January 25, 1969. Originally, Rickover’s intent was that the launch would be done in secret but this proved to be impossible; after all how does one hide the fact of a Submarine sliding down the ways into the Thames River? So, there was a more or less standard public christening and launch ceremony with a sponsor, Mrs. Alice Cooper Morse, and a speaker, Dr. Robert A. F Rosch who was assistant secretary of the Navy for R&D. Many thought Rickover’s original reticence to have a public launch was due to the tremendous cost overruns, but that was probably not the case; everything about NR-1 throughout the first several yea s of its existence was cloaked in secrecy. .

Throughout much of its operational life, the ship was referred to as the “Super Secret Mini-Sub” and affectionately as Rickover’s Rubber Duck”. Rumors abounded concerning the capabilities of the ship including operating depth estimates (wild guesses) of 600 feet to 20,000 feet. The actual test depth of 3,000 feet was not revealed until NR-1’s deactivation.

NR -1 departed the Electric Boat Shipyard for initial sea trials on August 16 1969; as in all others, the trials we e supervised directly by Admiral Rickover. Following the trials, Rickover expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the trials and went on to say he envisioned a “fleet” of small nuclear powered research Submarines. Budget realities would ultimately prevent this vision from coming to fruition. A $57Million cont act was awarded to EB in 1976 to begin development of a follow-on ship originally dubbed “N -2”, but officially designated as Nuclear Hull Test Vehicle or NHTV. Rickover requested $130Million in fiscal 1978 for construction of NHTV; a request that was met with much opposition. NHTV was never fully funded and the project ultimately died. So NR-1 remained, throughout its service life, a unique one of a kind vessel.

NR-1 was delivered to the Navy on October 27, 1969; yea s late all the file cabinet combination locks in the engineering office were still set to 10-27-69.

A ship bottoming evolution early in NR-1’s service went awry, packing the box keel with mud which prevented the manipulator arm from retracting and also bending some plating. NR-1 was dry-docked in December 1969 for repairs. On April 13 1974 the ship suffered a battery fire while alongside the pier, destroying the battery and risking the entire ship. The fire was ultimately extinguished and the ship was saved. Repairs including replacing the entire battery and much of the ship’s electronic equipment would take months to complete.

The successful recovery of the F-14 Tomcat and Phoenix missile in 1976 did much to remove some of the cloak of secrecy surrounding NR-1. Throughout its remaining existence, NR-1 was involved in many noteworthy missions, all unique, including recovery of wreckage from the Challenge disaster in 1986, scouring the floor of the Mediterranean Sea for roman E a shipwrecks with Dr. Robert Ballard, and on the final deployment in 2008 a search for John Paul Jones’ Bon Homme Richard.

NR-1 completed numerous oceanographic/ geologic missions, “doing science” as it was called, several of these exploring the area of the mid-Atlantic ridge off the coast of Iceland known as Reykjanes Ridge where a great amount of pillow lava formation is available for exploration. On one such mission, Dr. Robert Ballard, then of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution was onboard for a period of twenty days in 1984; an article by Ballard highlighting this trip was published in National Geographic in April 1985.

Submarine NR-1 was inactivated in a ceremony held at the Naval Submarine Base New London on 21 November 2008, the longest serving nuclear submarine in the U.S. Submarine Force. She was towed to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for defueling shortly thereafter and subsequently transported to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for dismantlement. The Submarine Force Lib a y & Museum Association has officially requested the Navy to preserve and donate the ship as an exhibit at the Submarine Force Lib a y & Museum in Groton. A sense of the congress that NR-1 should be preserved as a museum piece was also included in the FY2009 Defense Authorization. The Navy has yet to respond formally to the request for donation of the ship to the museum.

The Submarine Museum has received some pieces of NR-1; the sail, planes, upper rudder, propellers, wheels and manipulator arm have been donated to the museum along with several items of interior equipment arrived at the museum in May 2009. An exterior exhibit displaying the sail, fairwater planes and propellers is being planned for installation hopefully in 2010.

 

Meet the Education Specialist

USS L-11

Elizabeth Murphy.

Elizabeth Murphy, education specialist here at the Museum, grew up in a small town just outside New Haven. After graduating high school in 1999, she headed off to Harvard to major in American history. As part of that course of study, Liz came back to Connecticut to study for a semester at the Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport. She liked this area so much that she returned here after her 2003 college graduation; she spent the next five-and-a-half years teaching kindergarten at a private school in New Haven. During this time Liz also went back to school to earn an elementary-level teaching certificate. She is excited to be here trying out a new path in the education field; she particularly enjoys school visits to the Museum because she misses working with children on a daily basis!

Since arriving in the middle of March, 2009, Liz began piloting a few small programs— Sailor talks with visiting groups and craft activities such as making periscopes and spelling children’s names with signal flags— and planning summer family days, the first of which was held on June 24 of last year. Additional offerings of more formal classroom programs were set up in the fall for visiting school groups, with plans for additional offerings as time and staffing permit. On Halloween Nautilus became a haunted ship, much to the delight of about a thousand youngsters who visited that day. Liz has been working with LEARN, an organization that is part of the public school system but which deals with multiple districts, to raise awareness of the museum and brainstorm programming ideas and collaborations. She eventually hopes to be able to reach out to schools across the state to introduce them to the fascinating history of submarines, as well as to the knowledge and expertise of the submariners who work here.

Educational outreach activities are being offered when major school breaks occur during the academic year. For 2010 these have included “Become a Bubblehead” during the February winter break; kids could sign up to become plank owners in one of four submarines being “built” at the museum. “9,000 Leagues Under the Sea” will occur during spring break; this program will follow the path of USS Triton as it circumnavigated the globe submerged for the first time 50 years ago.. Additionally, there will be weekend activities throughout the summer. A future issue of the Klaxon will be devoted to educational outreach activities.

Notice of Annual Meeting

The 37th Annual Meeting of the Submarine Force Library and Museum Association will take place on Friday, May 21, 2010 at the Museum. The museum doors will open at 5:00 p.m. and the meeting will commence at 5:45 p.m. Nautilus will be open for tours until 7:00 p.m. A reception will follow the short business meeting from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. All members in good standing are invited to attend and to bring a spouse or one guest.

Election of Association Officers for 2010 will be held during the short business meeting. Any member in good standing may submit nominations for the offices of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Each nomination must identify the office for which the individual is being nominated and must include a written statement from the nominee indicating that he/she consents and will accept the nomination and serve if elected. Nominations will close 72 hours prior to the commencement of the Annual Meeting. Submit nominations to CAPT Arne C. Johnson USN (Ret), 186 Jerry Browne Rd, #1043, Mystic, CT 06355-3052.