(WKYT) - In the lead-up to America turning 250 years old, we are looking back every day at ‘This Day In History.’

On this day in 1954, the world’s first nuclear-powered vessel was commissioned by the U.S. Navy.

The USS Nautilus was constructed under the direction of U.S. Navy Captain Hyman G. Rickover.

The vessel measured 319 feet in length and displaced nearly 3,100 tons.

It could remain submerged for almost unlimited periods of time because its atomic engine needed no air and only a very small quantity of nuclear fuel.

The Nautilus was decommissioned on March 3, 1980.

The ship is now on display at the Submarine Force Museum in Connecticut.

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