Charles Lipkin
Naperville, Illinois
Charles writes: “The merchant ship NS Savannah, launched in July of 1959, was built as a technology demonstrator to explore the use of nuclear power for commercial ships. Over its experimental and service life it proved to be a technological success but a commercial failure. It was defueled and its reactor made inoperable in 1976. Since 2008, Savannah has been moored at Baltimore, Md.
Using a vintage 1/380 scale Revell kit, I undertook to ‘convert’ Savannah to conventional power and try to correct some of its problems as a commercial vessel, as a hypothetical new owner might have done in 1976.”
Charles rearranged decks and cabins according to his theories of what the conversion would entail or make possible. He also added a bulb to the bow for fuel savings. Of course, he had to chisel off the raised, stylized atom emblem on the hull. “That just wouldn’t do for my diesel-powered conversion,” he said.