| Year | Date | Historical Events |
| 1951 | Aug 2 | Contract awarded to th Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. |
| 1952 | Jun 14 | Keel laid down by the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT. |
| 1954 | Jan 21 | Launched. |
| | Sep 30 | Commissioned with CDR. Eugene P. Wilkinson, USN., in command. Following her commissioning, Nautilus remained dockside for further construction and testing.
|
| 1955 | Jan 17 | Nautilus put to sea for the first time and signalled her historic message: "Underway on nuclear power." |
| | May 10 | Nauitlus headed South for shakedown. Submerged throughout, she traveled 1,100 nautical miles from New London, CT. to San Juan, Puerto Rico and covered 1,200 nautical miles in less than ninety hours. |
| 1957 | Feb 4 | Nautilus logged her 60,000th nautical mile. |
| | May 15 | Nautilus departed for the Pacific Coast to participate in operation "Home Run" which acquainted units of the Pacific Fleet with the ccapabilites of nuclear submarines. |
| | Jul 21 | Nautilus returned to New London, CT. |
| | Aug 19 | Nautilus departed New London, CT for her first voyage of 1202 nautical miles under polar pack ice. |
| | Oct 28 | Nautilus arrived back at New London, CT., underwent upkeep, and then conducted coastal operations until the spring.
|
| 1958 | Apr 25 | Nautilus got underway for the West Coast to begin her history making Polar transit, operation "Sunshine". |
| | Jun 9 | Nautilus departed Seattle, WA., after stops in San Diego, CA. ands San Francisco, CA. |
| | Jun 19 | Nautilus entered the Chukchi Sea, but was turned back by deep draft ice in those shallow waters. |
| | Jun 28 | Nautilus arrived at Pearl Harbor, HI. to await better ice conditions. |
| | Jul 23 | Nautilus departed Pearl Harbor, HI. and set course Northward. |
| | Aug 1 | Nautilus submerged in the Barrow Sea Valley. |
| | Aug 3 | At 2315 (EDST) Nautilus became the first ship to reach the geographic North Pole. She continued on and after 96 hours and 1830 miles under the ice, she surfaced northeast of Greenland, having completed the first voyage across the North Pole. |
| | Oct 29 | Nautilus arrived at New London, CT. after a stop in Portland, England where she received the Presidential Unit Citation, the 1st ever issued in peace time, from American Ambassador J.H. Whitney. |
| 1960 | Aug 15 | Nautilus completed her first complete overhaul at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME., and was followed by reresher training. |
| | Oct 24 | Nautilus departed New London, CT. for her 1st deployment with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea. |
| | Dec 16 | Nautilus returned to New London, CT. She operated in the Atlantic, conducting evaluation tests for ASW improvements, participating in NATO exercises. |
| 1962 | Apr 1 | Nautilus participated in NATO exercises in the naval quarantine of Cuba. |
| 1963 | Aug 1 | Nautilus headed East again for a two month Mediterranean tour. |
| 1964 | Jan 17 | Nautilus entered the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME., for her 2nd overhaul. |
| 1966 | May 2 | Nautilus returned to her home port to resume operations with the Atlantic Fleet, and at some point that spring, logged her 300,000th underway. |
| | Aug 1 | Nautilus patrolled the North Alantic Ocean and crossed Artic Circle twice. |
| 1967 | Aug 1 | Nautilus returned to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, ME., for another year's stay, following which she conducted exercises off the Southeastern seaboard. |
| 1968 | Dec 1 | Nautilus to New London, CT. |
| 1979 | Apr 1 | Nautilus set out from Groton, CT. on her final voyage. |
| | May 29 | Nautilus reached the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA. Her last day underway. |
| 1980 | Mar 30 | Nautilus was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register. |
| 1985 | Aug 6 | Nautilus was towed back to Groton, CT. Nautilus now serves as a museum of submarine history, after undergoing a five month preservation in 2002, at the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics, at a cost of approximately $4.7 million. |