Lee Coleman photo
By LEE COLEMAN
The new exhibit “From New York to the Nuclear Navy” at the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs has proven popular with museum patrons.
Courtney Burns, military history director at the museum, said since the exhibit opened in late June an increase in museum attendance has been seen.
“We’ve seen a rise in attendance, people coming specifically to see the exhibit,” Burns said.
The temporary exhibit runs through June 2025 at the museum at 61 Lake Avenue.
The exhibit highlights the history of the U.S. Nuclear Propulsion Program and the contributions and advancements of the program in New York state.
Burns said the idea for the exhibit originated when a retired Navy officer who was once stationed at the Navy’s Kenneth A. Kesselring nuclear propulsion site in West Milton, not far from Saratoga Springs, asked why the nuclear Navy program was not mentioned in museum exhibits.
Museum officials and others from the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, which operates the museum, contacted the Naval Nuclear Laboratory, which represents several nuclear Navy sites in New York state and beyond.
A spokesperson from the Naval Nuclear Laboratory said two retired representatives of the Naval Reactors Field Office contacted museum officials in November of 2023 about the lack of an exhibit about the nuclear Navy. They were put in touch with Burns and the request was sent to the Naval Nuclear Laboratory’s public affairs organization “which then took the lead to plan and develop the exhibit,” said Denise Gladding, public affairs officer for the laboratory.
The planning and design phases were executed between January and May of 2024.
The local Kesselring site was originally developed for testing early nuclear reactor designs. In 1950 the site changed focus to testing of propulsion plants in the Naval nuclear propulsion program and subsequently for training Navy operators on these propulsion plants.
The Kesselring site’s mission today is to train officers and enlisted personnel to operate the Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines. More than 50,000 sailors have trained at the Kesselring site since the beginning the operations in 1955.
The exhibit features over 60 artifacts and many informative narratives including the roles that General Electric, the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Niskayuna and the Kesselring site in West Milton played and continue to play in the Navy’s nuclear submarine program.
The artifacts include a model of a submarine’s nuclear propulsion system and the “keel plate” from the Hortonsphere, the giant dome constructed to house a nuclear submarine reactor built at the Kesselring site to train sailors in its operation.
Burns said one of his favorite parts of the exhibit is a life sized rendering of the “sail” on the USS Buffalo submarine. “It’s such a defining feature and sets the tone for the space,” Burns said. The USS Buffalo, a Los Angeles Class submarine, was commissioned in 1983 and decommissioned from service in 2019.
The display was developed in collaboration with the Naval Nuclear Laboratory, Naval Reactors, and the USS Submarine Forces Museum in Groton, Connecticut. The story about the USS Nautilus, the Navy’s first nuclear submarine, and its historic 1957 voyage under the Arctic polar ice pack is told and illustrated on one of the exhibit’s display panels.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter’s involvement with the nuclear propulsion program is also detailed in the exhibit. Carter was a submarine commander during his naval career.
The exhibit also includes activities for children including a Naval Nuclear Laboratory trivia display in which portals can be opened displaying the answer.
New York’s role in the Navy’s nuclear power program began in 1946 when General Electric in Schenectady signed a contract with the Navy to design and develop prototype nuclear propulsion systems, according to a statement from the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs.
Today, Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory continues to play a vital role in the nuclear submarine program. The propulsion systems used in the Virginia class fast attack submarines and the Columbia class ballistic missile submarine were designed there, the statement says.
Founded in 1948 by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has total responsibility for all aspects of the Navy’s nuclear propulsion, including research, design, construction, testing, operation, maintenance and ultimate disposition of naval nuclear propulsion plants, according to the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs.
The Navy exhibit held a grand opening of the exhibit on June 29 complete with a brass band, free ice cream, activities for children and representatives from the U.S. Navy and Naval Nuclear Laboratory personnel on hand. Museum officials said more than 350 people attending the free event.
Since then interest in the exhibit has continued.
At a by-invitation-only event held the evening before the public opening, Bill Johnson, executive director of the Kesselring site, presented Burns a plaque in appreciation of his and the museum’s involvement with the Navy exhibit.
Paul McCarthy said in the 14 years as a docent at the military museum he has never seen such enthusiasm for an exhibit. Docents are volunteers who staff the museum and help visitors navigate the many exhibits detailing New York state’s role in the nation’s military history.
“It definitely brought in a lot of people who wouldn’t have been here otherwise,” McCarthy said.
The museum is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.