NAUTILUS SSN 571

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

Nautilus Class Submarine Keel Laid 14 June 1952 - Launched & Christened 21 January 1954 USS NAUTILUS SSN-571 Commissioned 30 September 1954 - Decommissioned 3 March 1980 Struck from Naval Register 3 March 1980 Dedicated as museum ship located at the Historic Ship Nautilus & Submarine Force Museum NAVSUBASE, New London, Groton, CT. Declared a National Historical Landmark 20 May 1982 Opened as Museum Ship 11 April 1986

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. USS Nautilus SSN-571 Covers Page 1    (1954-2018)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each incarnation of the ship (ie, for each entry in the "Ship Name and Designation History" section). Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

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Ship Postmarks

 

Locy Type FDC F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. N-23a

1954-09-30

First Day of Commissioning. Ship had no post office.

 

Locy Type F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. N-23

1958-08-03

North Pole Transit. Ship had no post office.

 

Locy Type F USCS Postmark Catalog Illus. N-23b

1965-01-17

10th Anniversary under way on nuclear power. Ship had no post office.

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Special Ship Postmark

 

Locy Type F

1958-08-03

This design was the runner-up in a contest aboard for a postmark to use during NAUTILUS' historic first trip to the North Pole. About 40 covers were serviced with this marking, but they were never mailed. From the Richard F. Hoffner collection.

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USPS Pictorial Postmarks

 

USPS Pictorial "Naval Submarine Base Station" Groton, CT

1994-09-30

40th Anniversary of Commissioning, cachet by Jim Hanson

 

USPS Pictorial "Commissioning Station" Groton, CT

1999-09-30

45th Anniversary of Commissioning, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS

 

USPS Pictorial "50th Anniversary Station" Groton, CT

2002-06-14

50th Anniversary of Keel Laying, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS

 

USPS Pictorial "48th Anniversary Commissioning Station" Groton, CT

2002-09-30

48th Anniversary of Commissioning, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS

 

USPS Pictorial "Reunion Station" Groton, CT

2002-10-03

Crewmember's Reunion, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS

 

USPS Pictorial "50th Anniversary Launching Station" Groton, CT

2004-01-21

50th Anniversary of Launching, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS

 

USPS Pictorial "Commissioning Station" Groton, CT

2004-09-30

50th Anniversary of Commissioning, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS

 

USPS Pictorial "Reunion Station" Groton, CT

2004-10-04

50th Anniversary Crewmember Reunion, cachet by Stephen Decatur Chapter No. 4, USCS

 

USPS Pictorial "50th Anniversary Station" Groton, CT

2008-08-03

50th Anniversary Polar Transit, cachet by Wolfgang Hechler

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Foreign Pictorial Postmarks

 

Red Pictorial "25th Anniversary" Calarasi Romania

1983-08-03

25th Anniversary Polar Transit, postmark from ROMANIA.

 

Black Pictorial "30th Anniversary" Ploiesti Romania

1988-08-03

30th Anniversary Polar Transit, postmark from ROMANIA.

 

Other Information

USS NAUTILUS SSN-571 earned a Presidential Unit Citation and the National Defense Service Medal during her US Naval career.

NAMESAKE - A Greek derivative meaning sailor or ship; a tropical mollusk having a many chambered, spiral shell with a pearly interior.

There have been four ships of the US Navy named NAUTILUS - USS Nautilus (Schooner 1803), USS Nautilus (Schooner 1838), USS Nautilus SS-168 and USS Nautilus SSN-571.
The submarine "SS–29" was originally laid down as NAUTILUS March 23 1911, however, her name was changed to "H–2" on November 17 1911 before she was launched.

 

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If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

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