Nuclear-powered aircraft carrier

About Nuclear Submarines and Aircraft Carriers

In 1954, the Navy launched the first submarine that used radioactive material as a power source. Its name was the USS Nautilus and it was the first submarine to travel to the North Pole in 1958. Before then, submarines used diesel engines and had to go into port for fuel. Nuclear power allowed submarines to run for about twenty years without needing to refuel. Food supplies became the only limit on a nuclear submarine’s time at sea. Since then, similar technologies have been developed to power aircraft carriers.