Rickover: Father of the Nuclear Navy

Hyman G. Rickover was not long removed from his Jewish roots in Poland when he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in After a respectable career.
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Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Rickover by Thomas B. Father of the Nuclear Navy 3. Rickover was not long removed from his Jewish roots in Poland when he graduated from the U. Naval Academy in After a respectable career spent mostly in unglamorous submarine and engineering billets, he took command of the U. Navy's nuclear propulsion program and revived his career. He retired - involuntarily - some thirty years later in early He wa Hyman G.

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He was not only the architect of the nuclear Navy but also its builder. In the process, he erected a network of power and influence that rivaled those who were elected to high office and that protected him from them when his controversial methods became objectionable or, as critics would suggest, undermined the nation's vital interests. Allen and Norman Polmar, whose full length biography of Rickover in manuscript in was consulted by the Reagan Administration during the decision to remove him from active duty, are eminently qualified to write an essential treatment of the controversial genius of Admiral Rickover.

Hardcover , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Rickover , please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Contains a few entertaining quotes and anecdotes as well as a brief, informative section about the beginning of the naval nuclear power program, but otherwise doesn't contain much anybody acquainted with the program is unlikely to know.

I'm interested to read the larger bio that this was distilled from. Dec 29, Jbaker rated it liked it. Knew most of it.

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Didn't have the details about Regan meeting. Jodi Manning rated it it was amazing May 16, Following the war, Rickover was one of a group of naval officers sent to the Clinton Laboratories, later known as Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, to study nuclear engineering in When the Clinton School closed down in , Rickover was reassigned to the Bureau of Ships, but also managed an assignment with the newly formed Atomic Energy Commission in its Division of Reactor Development.

In the years just after World War II then a captain, Rickover became convinced that the Navy had to have nuclear-powered ships and had to begin with submarines. He began formulating these ideas after he was assigned in to study atomic energy in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Navy was not enthusiastic about his ideas about atomic submarines. Rickover was called back to Washington and given an atomic energy advisory post.

Hyman G. Rickover - Wikipedia

Rickover bypassed channels and went directly to Adm. Nimitz, the Chief of Naval Operations, to enlist his support for the atomic submarine. The idea of a nuclear-powered submarine had been batted around within the navy since His immediate superior, Admiral Earle Mills, was in favor of it, as were others.

In Rickover was sent as one of a team of engineering officers to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to learn about nuclear technology. Rickover then received two choice assignments: These dual posts gave Rickover a great deal of autonomy in that he could initiate action from either his naval billet or from his post in the civilian-run AEC chain of authority. He gathered around him a group of bright and loyal officers who worked diligently to overcome the myriad problems in harnessing a nuclear reactor for shipboard power. By , Rickover was using his industry connections to advance research initiatives.

Two competing concepts for cooling nuclear submarine reactors were available, cooling by pressurized water and by liquid metal.


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Rickover wanted to try both of them, so he arranged with Westinghouse in to investigate the pressurized water approach, and with General Electric in to pursue a liquid sodium approach. The vessel was the first submarine to complete a submerged transit to the North Pole on 3 August Because her nuclear propulsion allowed her to remain submerged far longer than diesel-electric submarines, she broke many records in her first years of operation, and traveled to locations previously beyond the limits of submarines.

In operation, she revealed a number of limitations in her design and construction.

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This information was used to improve subsequent submarines. Nautilus was decommissioned in and designated a National Historic Landmark in The submarine has been preserved as a museum of submarine history in Groton, Connecticut , where the vessel receives some , visitors a year. The Nautilus employed the pressurized water method of reactor cooling.

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He wrote several books criticizing what he considered its shortcomings and calling for standards of excellence like those he had always imposed upon himself. He was also responsible for the establishment of the first large-scale all-civilian atomic power plant, at Shippingport, Pa. The plant supplies power for residents of Pittsburgh.

Rickover had an abrasive personality. He cared little for protocol, tradition or what other people thought of him, so long as he could do his job. He was detested by his enemies. Despite his achievement, despite the support of people in high civilian places, the Navy nearly succeeded in forcing his retirement as a captain by passing him over for promotion to rear admiral. His many plans for nuclear ships were put aside during the Congressional hearings.

As the navy added more nuclear submarines to the fleet, and then surface ships, Rickover was retained on active duty through a series of special two-year re-appointments that allowed him to serve long past the mandatory retirement age of He was promoted to vice admiral in and a decade later to admiral. By insisting that safety considerations required him to personally approve officers of all nuclear-powered ships Rickover exerted influence far beyond his official position.

Rickover: Father of the Nuclear Navy

In later years, however, Admiral Rickover came to be accepted by his fellow admirals, particularly since nuclear power gave a new global reach to aircraft carriers. Aside from the nuclear ships now sailing the seas, one of the lasting legacies will be a new generation of naval officers trained with the Rickover emphasis on details and quality control. In , he was forced into retirement at age Others questioned his methods — his arrogant, high-handed behavior and his creation of a technocratic elite, his own Navy within the Navy.

However, few contested that he had transformed the Navy and much of U. Rickover attack submarine was named in his honor and so was the Rickover Hall at the U. Upon his retirement, he established the Rickover Science Institute at MIT, which later became the Research Science institute, one of the most prestigious high school summer school programs in the world. Rickover died on July 8, , and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.