Medford mail tribune., November 17, 1963, Image 38

Family Weekly I November 17, 196S
Admiral Rickover: OUR MOST
In a Navy popularity contest, the terrible-tempered "father of the atomic submarine"
CANTANKEROUS PATRIOT
might finish last but his vigor and vision are helping America maintain its military supremacy
THE MEN WHO DECIDE OUR DESTINIES
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By MARYA SAUNDERS
Vice adm. Hyman George Rickover,
"father of the atomic submarine,"
had good reason to feel proud on June
22, 1963: four nuclear-powered U. S.
submarines were launched that day.
But instead of celebrating, the silver
haired scientist strode glumly past re
porters, his mouth clamped shut, his
face expressionless.
Once again he was the center of a contro
versy! This one was similar to the famed Rick
over case of 1952 when a Navy promotion board
"passed over" his elevation to admiral for the
second time (a decision that would have forced
him to retire had Congress not intervened),
Now, 11 years later, Rickover's job was again
in jeopardy. Navy regulations demanded his
retirement, after his 64th birthday, on Jan. 27,
1964. While powerful admirals whispered, "Good
riddance," furious members of Congress threat
ened to pass special legislation to keep him on.
Finally, Fred Korth, then Secretary of the Navy,
made an important announcement: Admiral
Rickover must retire next February but he im
mediately will be recalled to active duty.
Thanks to this kind of civilian intervention,
the Navy has a nuclear fleet including destroyers,
cruisers, and an aircraft carrier and is launch
ing Polaris missile-firing subs at the rate of almost
one a month. Barring delays, Rickover's goal of 41
will be reached by 1965. This is more than three
times the number of missile-firing nuclear subs
now being deployed by Russia.
Who is this controversial engineering genius
who has reshaped modern naval warfare? Why
should the Navy want to jettison a man who has
done so much to keep America strong? From
these questions emerge the fascinating story of
one of America's greatest but most cantankerous
patriots, a dedicated 110-pound bundle of driving
energy whose outspoken criticism of American
industry, education, and armed forces has stirred
a hundred bitter controversies.
As head of nuclear divisions of the Navy and
of the Atomic Energy Commission, Rickover uses
his sharp, critical tongue to cut through pretense
and confusion. Thousands of young Navy officers
grimace when they recall the Admiral's famous
Saturday interviews (called in some Navy cir
cles, "the Big Death"), in which he probes vol
unteers for the nuclear program.
The way a man thinks interests Rickover more .
than his answers, and he uses amusing theatrical
effects to shake interviewees into action. He has
a special chair for them with one leg shorter
than the rest, and he sets it so the sunlight hits
the man in the eyes. "He wants to see if you're
resourceful enough to move the chair and put a
matchbook under the leg," a recruit explained.
One young applicant reported this exchange
with the Admiral. "How would you improve the
Navy?" snapped Rickover.
"By getting rid of all the paper work," the
officer replied. He explained that he filed month
ly reports that he felt no one ever read.
"Why don't you just stop submitting them?"
"Can't do it," the young man said. "The com
manding officer's secretary keeps a 'tickler' file
and reminds me to get the report in."
"Well," said the Admiral, "why don't you take
your 'tickler' card out of the 'tickler' file?"
Three days later Rickover received a telegram
which read, "Tickle completed." The officer was
accepted instantly.
Rickover, who believes people produce more in
Spartan surroundings, has ripped the carpets out
of his soundproofed Washington office. On the
wall is a framed quotation from Proverbs:
"Where there is no vision, the people perish."
The Admiral Sets the Pace
"The Admiral's a small man," one of his staff
said, "but when you go into his office he' seems
10 feet tall." There everything moves at top
speed telephones ring, subordinates come and
go in streams. Rickover may be dictating to two
secretaries simultaneously while reading carbons
of earlier letters and scrawling last-minute com
ments. At 4 p.m. he may dash to the airport, fly
to the Groton, Conn., Navy base, hold night con
ferences with government contractors, then take
a sleeper to Washington and show up for work
by 8 a.m. On weekends he sometimes travels as
far as California. Somehow he also manages to
turn up for evenings at home with his wife.
"Once a man survives the rugged training," a
Nuclear Power School graduate said, "he dis
covers the old man is an extremely intelligent
guy, informed on many subjects, as well as a
generous man capable of great compassion."
A number of years ago, the young son of a sub
marine commander fell into a neighbor's pool and
drowned. When Rickover heard of the tragedy,
he opened his Bible to an appropriate passage
and telephoned the commander.
When the father answered the phone, Rickover
started to read from the Bible. On the last word
of the verse, he hung up without identifying him
self. But the commander had recognized Rick
over's gentle voice immediately.
Later, explaining the Admiral's unorthodox
behavior to a friend, he said, "Rickover's mission
was to try to ease my grief. He'd chosen the
Bible passage for that purpose. It would have
wasted time to introduce himself first Then,
when he'd finished reading, he could think of
nothing to say that was better than the Bible
so he hung up."
Rickover's tremendous sense of responsibility
for his men takes many forms. When the nuclear
submarine Thresher sank, the Admiral knew that
psychologically it was a crucial moment for the
crews in the sub program. Calmly he announced
to the press, "We are going on with sea trials
in the normal way," and boarded the Andrew
Jackson, the first nuclear sub to be tested follow
ing the loss of the Thresher. The sub submerged
beneath the waters off Mare Island, Calif. Thirty
six hours later, Rickover issued the terse verdict,
"Successfully completed initial trials."
Rickover knows every inch of his ships and
demands that his men do, too. Early in the pro
gram, the Admiral was in a sub when a pipe fit
ting failed. Only his lightning-quick actions
brought the ship safely to shore. After an in
tensive investigation, he discovered certain met
als failed under salt-water pressure because man
ufacturers were not following his precise de
mands. To stop future failures, Rickover gave
each commander a magnet and told him to crawl
through his ship and check every hut and bolt
for its metal content. These men now attribute
much of the nuclear program's remarkable safe
ty record to their visionary Admiral's stringent
testing of people and equipment.
Born in 1900 in Makowa, a small, predomi
nantly Jewish village in Russian Poland, young
Hyman was six when his family escaped across
Germany. During the long trip, they slept in
bleak dormitories and were often hungry. When
the future admiral saw his first ships at An
twerp, he burst into tears. "The boats were so
big," his sister recalled, "they frightened him!"
Family Rule: Hard Work, No Waste
By 1910 his parents had settled in Chicago
with their two daughters and son. His father,
a tailor, ran a strict and frugal household where
waste was severely punished. Hyman was a stub
born boy, and his father once had to chip away
at his son's front teeth in order to force medi
cine down his throat.
All through high school, the boy had an eight-hour-a-day
job as a Western Union messenger.
Like his father (who died at his workbench three
years ago at the age of 85, despite being com
fortably well off), Hyman Rickover can say
proudly that he has worked hard all his life..
After the Admiral's heart attack in 1961, one
of his men said, "It has slowed him down con
siderably now he only works 15 hours a day."
Rick, as he was called at Annapolis, received
his appointment to the Naval Academy in 1918.
The Annapolis experience was traumatic. He
wasn't a good athlete, had a limit of $2 a month
spending money, and found it hard to be ac
cepted socially by Academy cliques. So he with
drew to his room and read constantly.
By the time he was graduated, Rick had declared
war against what he called the "stupidity" of the
Navy, its "red tape," and its "slipshod ways."
He announced that the shortest distance between
two points was a straight line (even if it bi
sected six admirals) and proceeded to rack up
one of the stormiest and most undiplomatic ca
reers in naval history.
His distaste for naval social functions was
renowned. Once, when he was an electrical officer
on the battleship V.S.S. Nevada, her captain
strode into Rick's office and ordered him to at
tend a party being given by an admiral on a
nearby flagship. "And get into a dress uniform
with the proper rank on it!" the captain barked.
Boarding the ship that evening, Rickover went
through the receiving line, firmly shook the Ad
miral's hand, and kept walking straight to the
other side of the ship. He clambered down the
ladder and stepped into a launch. Within half
an hour, he was back at work in his office.
Rickover's family weren't outwardly affection
ate, but they were loyal and this is how he
treated the Navy. He castigated it so often that
his superiors would have been amazed to hear his
speech praising the Navy before a group of stu
dents at Columbia University in 1929.
Admiral Rickover shows Frol Kozlov, Soviet Dep
uty Premier, America's first atomic power plant.
One impressed listener was Ruth D. Masters,
a scholarship student of international law from
Washington, D.C. Ruth and Rick, who was get
ting his master's degree in electrical engineer
ing, soon were studying together in the libraries.
Voracious readers, they only stopped long
enough to. go to the opera, then to all the shows
in town. Ruth left for a year at the University
of Paris and by that time Rickover was in love.
The Admiral, who is earnestly religious in a
nonsectarian sense, knew his parents resented his
drifting away from their close-knit environment.
He wrote them a letter explaining that he no
longer felt he could consider himself exclusively
Jewish in faith and that he was going to
marry a Christian. A later generation might
not have taken this so hard, but Rickover's par
ents did not forgive him for many years.
When Ruth returnad, they were married and
honeymooned on the beaches of the submarine
(Continued on page 14)
Pomlli Weekly, November II. im 7