Fifty
years ago the world's first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship sailed from
the US to Europe on a publicity tour to persuade the world to embrace the atomic
age. It didn't quite work out like that.
Sleek
in shape, painted red and white, its interior decorated in what was then
ultra-modern chrome, the NS Savannah wasn't quite like any other cargo ship.
It
had facilities for passengers. The 600ft, 12,000-ton ship boasted a cinema,
veranda bar and swimming pool. The cabins had no curtains. Instead,
"polarised" windows, designed to cut glare, lined the sides of
staterooms.
The
ship was one of the few to spring directly from the imagination of a US
president. In 1953, Dwight Eisenhower had made his famous Atoms for Peace
speech, attempting to balance the growing fear of nuclear apocalypse with
optimism about the possibility of civilian use of atomic energy.
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