NS Savannah was the first nuclear-powered merchant ship. She was built in the late 1950s at a cost of $46.9 million and launched on July 21, 1959. She was funded by United States government agencies. Savannah was a demonstration project for the potential use of nuclear energy. The ship was named after SS Savannah, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic ocean. She was in service between 1962 and 1972 as one of only four nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built.

George G. Sharp, Inc. is a marine design and naval architecture firm established in 1920 in New York City by George Gillies Sharp, former Chief Surveyor of the American Bureau of Shipping. The firm started with the design of excursion steamboats on the Delaware and Hudson rivers, then moved into oceangoing passenger and cargo shipping. From 1934 Sharp designed a standardized series of merchant ships for the U.S. Department of Commerce. During World War II Sharp designed the standardized Victory ship, of which 534 were built, and 50 escort carriers.