BALTIMORE ― What was once perhaps the most celebrated ship in the world today floats at the Port of Baltimore, guarded only by a pothole-pocked road and GPS-mapping confusion.

The NS Savannah is the first of only three nuclear-powered merchant vessels ever built. Like its namesake SS Savannah , the first steam-powered vessel to cross the Atlantic Ocean, the NS Savannah was a global phenomenon. Between 1962 and 1970 it traveled 458,000 nautical miles, entertained 848 passengers (including two kings) in stylish comfort, hosted nearly 1.4 million visitors while in port and carried cargo between the U.S. and Europe.

The ship, commissioned by President Dwight Eisenhower to demonstrate atomic energy’s future stretched beyond bombs, is now lashed to Pier 13 — not far from Baltimore’s tr

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