Nuclear submarine nuclear-powered submarine was first proposed in the United States Navy by the Naval Research Laboratory's Ross Gunn in 1939. Construction of the world's first nuclear powered submarine was made possible by the successful development of a nuclear propulsion plant by a group of scientists and engineers at the Naval Reactors Branch of the Bureau of Ships and the Atomic Energy Commission. In July 1951 the U.S. Congress authorized construction of the first nuclear-powered submarine, "Nautilus", under the leadership of Captain Hyman G. Rickover, USN (sharing names with Captain Nemo's fictional submarine in Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea",
HMS Nautilus (1914) her life with the 1st Submarine Flotilla at Portsmouth as a depot ship and later as a battery charging vessel. She was renamed N1 in June 1917. Following decommissioning she was sold for scrap to John Cashmore Ltd on 9 June 1922 and broken up at their yard at Newport, Wales. "The Royal Navy Submarine Service, A Centennial History", by Antony Preston. HMS Nautilus (1914) HMS "Nautilus" was a Royal Navy submarine. She was the largest submarine built for the Royal Navy at the time. She was also the first to be given a name. "Nautilus" was designed in response