Honor for ADM Rickover
(Intel source: Martini's BBS) A naval academy that will be started up at a high school on the North Side of Chicago will be named after famed curmudgeon Hyman Rickover, the Father of the Nuclear Navy. The brief description of Rickover in the article is nicely understated:
"Rickover, born in Russian Poland and whose family was part of the wave of Jews emigrating to the U.S. at the turn of the 20th century, was a man with opinions that generated controversy, a New York Times obituary said. He died in 1986."
I was amused also by this quote from a social studies teacher who opposed the naming:
"One naval academy opponent, Senn social studies teacher, Jesse Sharkey, called the choice "sobering" because "this guy is the father of some of the scariest, potentially most threatening weapons that exist in humanity."
It's nice to be recognized for what you are... Anyway, I'm of the opinion that Rickover probably did more harm than good during his last ten years or so at Naval Reactors, but he was probably the only person who could have gotten Navy Nuclear Power off the ground as successfully as he did.
posted by Bubblehead at 12:12 AM
3 Comments:
Many submariners think that the culture in which they work and live comes mainly from ADM Rickover. He is responsible for some but far from all.
When I was XO on a boat in NLON the word went around that Dick O'Kane was coming to Subase. He was signing books, but he was asked to address the submarine officer community at the auditorium up the hill (SSEP?) The auditorium was packed. It was Dick O'Kane, a direct link back to WWII, Medal of Honor recipient for actions in command of Tang, and of course Mush Morton's XO in Wahoo. "Attention on Deck" was sounded, and the old man walked slowly from the the back of the auditorium to the front. He was wearing the MOH and his clothes were all too big.
We all thought we were going to hear about the running battles, torpedos fired in panic down the throat - all of that. He spoke for 30 minutes and never mentioned combat. It all boiled down to, "If you expect to be ready to fight your boat, get your ass down in the bilge and trace out every system, every circuit, dive every tank, know every single thing on the boat." Rickover didn't give us that - submariners have always been that way.
5/03/2005 10:04 AM
Ahh, Paul Schratz. Would have liked to meet the man. His book "Submarine Commander" is good stuff, different from the normal "I was there" memoir.
Did not like Rick, he didn't.
5/03/2005 11:25 AM
Quotes by Hyman Rickover
"At any moment during a twenty-four-hour day, only one-third of the people in the world are asleep. The other two-thirds are awake and creating problems."
"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience."
"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people."
"It is necessary for us to learn from others' mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself."
"Half-truths are like half a brick — they can be thrown farther."
"The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war."
~ Hyman Rickover (1900-1986)
Back in 1982, I read a book about Rickover, he stated "you could send a ship of enlisted and a ship of Officers out for thirty days, after 30 days the enlisted ship will come back. You would have to send them back out to find the Officers.
When he was a Captain, the Officers did not want him to become an Admiral. He was passed over two times, Congress went to bat for him and he became an Admiral. As he stated about Half-truths, you can take any thing an Officer said with a grain of salt.
MMC/SS Retired
5/03/2005 5:30 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home