USS Nautilus First Nuclear Powered Submarine Sub SSN-571, Invite 1954 Navy Medal

Condition: UN-circulated, and is mint--still in original packaging prepared for ceremony in 1954.

This medal/coin is 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

The one shown is an example--you will receive one of the original medals leftover from the actual ceremony similar to the one in the pictures. It will have a personally addressed name on the green background from the actual 1954 launching ceremony. Again, the medals themselves are in mint condition.

These authentic time period medals were procured directly from a family member related to a person who worked at the Electric Boat Division of the General Dynamics Corporation. This person was in a position which allowed her to keep the remaining medals leftover from the actual 1954 Launching Ceremony. The holders are unique as they were personally addressed, and the green cardboard holder's "wording" is also addressed to people who actually worked on the USS Nautilus program. The medal is part of a unique lot which were addressed to workers and dignitaries who were to attend the launching ceremony of the USS Nautilus Submarine SSN-571. Again, it is an original, and in the original cardboard holder addressed to folks who worked on the program.

These medals/medallions without the cardboard card holders have been known to sell for hundreds of dollars--based on their condition. We have a very limited number remaining of this medal which is already more than a half a century old. This is your chance to own a piece of history at a very fair price.

NOTE 1: Support documents are NOT part of sale: invitation, addressed envelope, and event program.

NOTE 2: Also, not for sale is a USS Nautilus Keel laying Ceremony napkin from 1952.

USS Nautilus (SSN-571) is the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine.  She was the first vessel to complete a submerged transit to the North Pole on 3 August 1958. Namesake of the submarine in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and named after another USS Nautilus (SS-168) that served with distinction in WWII, Nautilus was authorized in 1951 and launched in 1954. Because her nuclear propulsion allowed her to remain submerged far longer than diesel-electric submarines, she broke many records in her first years of operation, and traveled to locations previously beyond the limits of submarines. In operation, she revealed a number of limitations in her design and construction. This information was used to improve subsequent submarines.

Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. She has been preserved as a museum of submarine history in Groton, Connecticut, where she receives some 250,000 visitors a year.

(REF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nautilus_%28SSN-571%29)