It was a good movie, but with a theater full of Qualified Submariners, we had some fun with it. It wasn't as bad as Crimson Tide, but once you got past the opening scene, with the biologic's sound cuts, it got Hollywood. I'm sorry, but I was kind of laughing through it. I was a Missile Tech on the '611 and '619, from '79-'84. I took my wife to see it at the cinema in Waterford CT, as I was already out of the Navy by then. They made you guys go watch the Hunt for Red October? Wow!! They're all that is left of the '41 for Freedom Boats, and I hear they're going to be replaced as training ship, by the Michigan, or the Ohio. It would be nice of they would move either the '622, Daniel Webster, or '635 boat,Sam Rayburn, up to Groton. It's a very important history, in and of, itself. Only the NR-1 is shrouded in more myth, legend, and lore, than the Nautilus. The Nautilus did many classified op's, and the resulting information from those op's was used to change the face of the submarine Navy. The materials used for piping, layout and distribution of sub systems, the actual reactor systems, and the reactor itself, are not only legacy, but still being used to this day. Submarines, and submariners, are pretty tight lipped in general about their boats, and the submarine force is a very different Navy than the 'Tin Can' or,Surface Navy.

There will always be things classified about the Nautilus, and all submarines. I took my mom on a tour in the early 90's. There was a simple brow to get over to it, and other than opening it up for easier access, it was kind of 'as is'. There wasn't much there then, and the side of the boat that faced the pier had a lead shielding enclosure welded to it. When we first put it at the 'pier', it was just outside the sub base entrance, to the northwest of Fusconi's cleaners. The Nautlius has changed throughout the years. That's by far the best submarine movie I know. If you've not seen it, I strongly recommend finding the English dubbed DVD of Das Boot, concerning a WWII U-Boat crew. If you need spare parts, call General Dynamics / Electric Boat. If you're interested, the Nautilus is open to visitors and for questions, apply to the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Conn. What very little I know, the mechanical design in principal and concept of nuclear reactors and devices is not difficult to understand, but everything of the practical nature is in the subtleties, for examples, the design of the triggers of bombs. Even the release of the plans for Fat Man and Little Boy of 1945 could probably still give a boost to those who absolutely shouldn't have it. Probably almost all nuclear power technology is permanently classified to some degree, but the classification level will be much higher and of longer duration with regard to defense systems.

Nautilus submarine forum