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Crew members assigned to the Military Sealift Command rescue and salvage ship USNS Grasp hook a towing line to submarine NR-1 in 2008 as it made its way along the Thames River in Groton for the final time.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Photo Credit: Seaman John Narewski\/Navy<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The NR-1 was known primarily as a research vessel, but also carried out military missions that still remain a secret. Veterans who served aboard the tiny sub during the Cold War say it was one of the most fascinating assignments of their careers and their wives still don’t know all the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The submarine was designed to maneuver on or close to the ocean floor, to detect and identify targets on the bottom and lift objects from the depths. It could roll on wheels and illuminate the sea floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It performed geological surveys, oceanographic research, installation and maintenance of underwater equipment, and underwater search and recovery, including the recovery of parts of the Challenger shuttle destroyed in 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “This vessel expanded our range through national security missions, lot of oceanography, a lot of ocean engineering, a lot of national security missions that, well, we don’t talk about today, but they made a big difference,” Finnigan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut said the submarine museum contacted his office to “make sure that this treasure did not sort of end up in a scrap yard.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sail, upper rudder, two propellers and a manipulator arm are on display at the museum. The hull and machinery are set to be recycled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A once-secret submarine in U.S. military research and expeditions is being celebrated for its advanced technology, exploration of the ocean floor and role as a workhorse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":76425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":65,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[12,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[677],"class_list":["post-40963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FQVQ3OH5CRCA5KB22OOLN6RJHQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-navy\/2015\/06\/24\/navy-celebrates-once-secret-sub-now-on-display-in-museum\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n