High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! NS Savannah, named for SS Savannah, was the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million, including a $28.3 million nuclear reactor and fuel core, funded by United States government agencies as a demonstration project for the potential usage of nuclear energy. Launched on 21 July 1959, she was in service between 1962?1972.NS Savannah is one of only four nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built.