  In
1953, President Eisenhower decided that nuclear technology was useful
for more than wiping cities off the map and in an effort to sell the
world on the more benign aspects of advanced physics, he launched his
Atoms for Peace
programme. In addition to selling reactors to Iran and Pakistan
(and didn't that work out well!), Mr Eisenhower went in for
some flashy bits of marketing, such as the launching of the
NS Savannah,
which was the world's first (and only) nuclear-powered freighter.
It was actually a rather nice little vessel,
designed with aesthetics very much in mind, but the editors of Mechanix Illustrated
magazine felt that a cargo ship was lacking in ambition and in their March 1956
they proposed something a bit more flashy–an atomic Zeppelin.
This nuclear gasbag would have been a showcase for American technology
with a promenade deck, retractable helipad, pontoons, nightclub, and
equatorial staterooms all bundled together in a giant package that
would sail the world like a floating city. That would get them
to sit up and take notice in Ulan Bator.
it's a pity that the detachable exhibition hall
was situated directly below the reactor. Cherenkov radiation
pulsing off the display cases is so off-putting. |
