This is the first of a series of Ordnance Pamphlets and Documents kindly scanned and submitted by John Haggerty.
NAVORD OD 8044, the Ordnance Equipment List for Submarine — Nuclear Power — SSN, was issued by the Bureau of Ordnance, Department of the Navy, on 11 February 1952. An “Ordnance Data” (OD) publication prepared by the Research Division of the Bureau of Ordnance under the Bureau of Ordnance Manual, it is expressly noted as applicable to SSN-571 — USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, more than two years before her commissioning on 30 September 1954. The document was originally classified Confidential.
The list served as a guide for the shipbuilders, the design agents, and the Bureau of Ships in providing stowage arrangements and weight calculations; for the sections of the Bureau of Ordnance concerned with procurement and modernization planning; and for the forces afloat in indicating the authorized ultimate armament. It ceased to govern equipment and outfitting once the ship was commissioned.
The document tabulates the complete authorized ordnance outfit: fire control equipment; small arms and ammunition; miscellaneous equipment; pyrotechnics for the ship; several torpedo-and-equipment loadouts (an “ultimate” outfit plus a series of alternatives); a torpedoes-and-mines alternative; spare parts, tools, and accessories; and a distribution list. The total ordnance weight came to 102,128 pounds (45.59 long tons). The publication was signed by Rear Admiral M. F. Schoeffel, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, and Captain M. R. Kelley, Assistant Chief of Bureau for Research.
About this reader: this page holds all three issues of NAVORD OD 8044. Part 1 is the original (11 February 1952); Part 2 is the First Revision (August 1953), which adds a separate Demolition Equipment section; and Part 3 is the Second Revision (May 1955), expanded to cover both SSN-571 (USS Nautilus) and SSN-575 (USS Seawolf). Switch between them with the colored Part buttons at bottom-right.