Germany's nuclear ship

The OTTO HAHN was launched 60 years ago. The much-noticed ship was powered by a nuclear reactor.

Germany has phased out nuclear power. The issue seems to be a thing of the past. A different mood prevailed in the 1950s, when the Federal Republic of Germany was still young. The USA and the Soviet Union were confronting each other as nuclear powers, while US President Dwight D. Eisenhower had also invoked the peaceful use of nuclear power in a famous speech. This zeitgeist also reached Germany, according to cultural scientist Katharina Bothe: "Nuclear energy was to be the technology of the future." CSU politician Franz Josef Strauß headed the newly founded Federal Ministry for Nuclear Affairs, money was channelled into research and the aim was to power a wide variety of vehicles using nuclear energy.

At the same time, Germany was experiencing its economic miracle. There was a boom in shipbuilding and shipping, explains Bothe, who conducts research at the German Maritime Museum (DSM) in Bremerhaven.