Shipping: Troubled Seas

Since Mamie Eisenhower christened the Savannah in 1959, the streamlined, white-hulled ship has plied an ever-deepening sea of red ink. The world's first nuclear-powered merchantman cost the Government $82 million to build and up to $2,700,000 a year in subsidies to keep afloat. She sailed in May on a transpacific voyage that may well be her last, if the Senate—which scheduled hearings on her fate this week—decides that the ship, handsome as she is, is not worth her keep.

Savannah was built by the U.S. as a floating symbol of the peaceful application of atomic energy. She was also designed to show that nuclear-powered ships are safe, and to promote their acceptance in ports around the world. Now the Administration says that she has accomplished both her good will and scientific missions. Neither has come cheap. Indeed, experience with Savannah made it painfully clear that income from cargo can pay but a fraction of operating costs of nuclear vessels, which are boosted by extraordinary safety requirements and specialized crew training.

Nonetheless, awaiting action in Congress is a bill by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Warren Magnuson to authorize construction of as many as six successors to Savannah. Meanwhile, he believes, she should be kept in commission. Her backers argue that scrapping Savannah could set back development of a nuclear merchant fleet by five to ten years. "It was a long time between Robert Fulton's steam boat and operating steamships," says a U.S. maritime official. "Then the British used steam for years while we stuck to sails—and we never did catch up with their head start."