21st January 1954: Launch of USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine

Nuclear propulsion enabled Nautilus to smash numerous records including those for both submerged speed and distance, and became the first submarine to transit the North Pole in August 1958.

23rd September 1949: President Truman announces the USSR’s first nuclear test

‘The eventual development of this new force by other nations was to be expected. This probability has always been taken into account by us’.