Groton ― About 2,500 sailors served aboard the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) during its service life, from its commissioning and historic journey to the North Pole, to its Cold War missions and last trip before decommissioning, said Lonnie Barham, president of the Nautilus Alumni Association.

Speakers thanked those crew members during a ceremony Monday afternoon on the pier alongside Nautilus at the Submarine Force Library and Museum held to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the ship’s commissioning.

“Today, we celebrate the long life of the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, ‘the first and finest,’ as Nautilus crew members have always called her, so let us remember that of all her accomplishments, all of her achievements, it was the intrepid men who sailed her who made her great,” Barham said.

Barham said men and women continue to serve as a crew to ensure Nautilus “remains in the hearts and minds of Americans as the wonderful historic ship that she is.”

More than 40 Nautilus crew members were among the crowd of over 100 people attending the ceremony overlooking the submarine and the Thames River on the sunny afternoon.

At one point, the Nautilus crew members stood and were applauded by the audience, followed by other Navy members and veterans also standing as the Groton Middle School Band performed “Anchors Aweigh,” the unofficial march song of the U.S. Navy.

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The decommissioned submarine has been displayed at the museum since 1986 as the “Historic Ship Nautilus.”

Lt. Cmdr. Bryan Chapman, officer in charge of the Nautilus, spoke about the “revolutionary achievement, the transformational impact and the continued relevance of this historic ship Nautilus with its bold and courageous crew.”

Retired Rear Adm. Sam Cox, director of the Naval History and Heritage Command, said that within eight months of being launched, the Nautilus was commissioned. A few months later, the Nautilus was underway and Cmdr. Eugene P. Wilkinson gave the famous message, “Underway on nuclear power.”

Cox said the submarine “revolutionized Naval warfare, and, in addition to that, the technology represented in that ship also changed the course of world history in bringing about the end of the Cold War.”

Nautilus through the years

William E. Engdall, a crew member aboard the Nautilus at its commissioning and among a group who shared their memories in a Zoom interview last week, recalled that he and his shipmates were so happy to stand on the deck during the commissioning ceremony in 1954. He said he felt he was part of a great vessel that drew the crew together from all different backgrounds.

“Everyone had a niche,” he said.

Engdall, who served aboard the Nautilus from ages 18 to 21 and was a senior chief torpedoman’s mate, said he enjoyed the camaraderie. He said as a result of the Nautilus, he served a long career in the Navy and then for the Department of Defense.

The Nautilus made a historic journey in 1958 under the North Pole. Joe Degnan, who served aboard the Nautilus from December 1956 to December 1958 as an electrician’s mate, was one of the “PANOPO” crew members, which stands for Pacific to Atlantic via the North Pole. The 1958 transpolar journey included 13 officers, 98 enlisted Navy crew members, a Navy captain psychiatrist, two civilian ice experts, and two civilian inertial navigation system experts.

Before then, in 1957, the Nautilus made three excursions covering 1,383 miles under ice from the Atlantic, and the crew developed an incredible amount of information on how to maneuver under ice that proved invaluable — and proved that a transpolar trip would be possible, Degnan said.

Barham, who was a supply petty officer aboard the Nautilus from 1966 to 1968, said fewer than half of the 2,500 sailors, who served aboard the Nautilus during her operational life, are still alive.

Barham said alumni and their families came together for activities over the past few days, as well as the commissioning, to celebrate 70 years of Nautilus service and every sailor.

“Every single one of us was extremely proud to have served aboard Nautilus, no matter when, and we had great shipmates, we had great officers, great captains, very highly qualified people all around us that we could depend on ― and no matter what we did, we were proud of it, and to this day I still am,” Barham said.

Robert W. Boyce, who served aboard the Nautilus from 1966 to 1969, reporting as a lieutenant junior grade and leaving as a lieutenant, said celebrating the commissioning anniversary “is telling the world that these ships, the submarine community, is essential for our national security, and Nautilus played an important part.”

He said the lessons learned from the Nautilus, including the importance of training, continue to be applied today.

He recalled the collision between the Nautilus and the aircraft carrier Essex in 1966. He said that the Nautilus crew responded the way they were trained, and “everybody did what they were supposed to do in an emergency.”

James J. Kronenwetter, who served aboard the Nautilus from 1965 to 1968 as a nuclear electrician, said a concrete owl served as a mascot aboard the Nautilus for a period of time, accompanying the crew on trips. Postcards were sent back to the owl’s original location in Groton.

Paul Doucette, a sonar technician who was part of the decommissioning crew, said he grew up hearing about the Nautilus on the news, but the significance of serving aboard didn’t fully sink in until he was visiting home and one of his parents’ friends started talking to him all about the submarine’s history.

Doucette, who served aboard the Nautilus from 1978 to 1980, said he was “proud to be a custodian of the first nuclear submarine.”

k.drelich@theday.com