The Trip - USS Nautilus

After we left Mystic Seaport, we headed for Rhode Island, so my mom and I can put the Rhode Island sticker on our map of where we've gone. We didn't see much of it because of time constraints, but we did see some of it.

Then we went back to Groton, Connecticut, to see the USS Nautilus.


The Nautilus was the first nuclear-powered submarine, the first sub to travel under the North Pole, and the first sub to have a set of stairs instead of a metal ladder.

In front of the visitor center, they have two concentric circles that give the relative sizes of the first US Navy submarine and the recent Ohio class subs.


Inside the Nautilus, the technology looks dated. But it's pretty cool to see the the phone labeled, "FWD."


And this is the room where my dad would have worked. He was a Radioman on submarines.


We wandered around the visitor center, where we found the names and numbers of the three subs my dad served on. They had lots of submarine-related stuff on display, including the Polaris missile and a model of the first submarine used in combat (the Revolutionary War).

The sailboats came out while we were touring the sub. This was taken from inside the visitor center.


My brother said he saw a T-shirt the last time he was there that said, "There are two kinds of ships: Subs and Targets." But they didn't have it there this time. What a shame.