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HYMAN GEORGE RICKOVER
1900-1986
BY JOHN W. SIMPSON
ADMIRAL HYMAN GEORGE RICKOVER the man responsible
for the creation of the nuclear navy of the United States, died
July 8, 1986, at the age of eighty-six. Rickover retired from
the U.S. Navy in 1982, after sixty-three years of active duty.
Hyman Rickover was born January 27, 1900, in the village
of Makow, about fifty miles north of Warsaw, in what was then
a part of Czarist Russia. When he was six, he came with his
mother and sister to the United States to join his father.
When Rickover started grammar school, he knew only a
few words of English, but avid reading of magazines brought
to him by his mother soon improved his knowledge of the
language. While attending high school in Chicago, where his
family settled, he helc! a full-time job delivering Western
Union telegrams. During the perioc! he delivered telegrams,
he became acquainted with Congressman Adolph Sabath.
Through the intervention of a family friend, Sabath, himself
an immigrant, appointed Rickover to the U.S. Naval Acact-
emy.
Rickover entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in
1918 and in 1922 graduated 107th in a class that started with
896 students. Upon graduation, he began his career as an
officer in the navy and after routine assignments to various
ships, he was sent to the Navy Postgraduate School in Annap-
olis in 1929. He went on to Columbia University, where he
291
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292
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
earned an M.S. in electrical engineering. It was at Columbia
that he met Ruth D. Masters, who was there pursuing a grad-
uate degree in international law. They were married in 1931
ant! hac! one son, Robert.
In 1937 he was selected for "Engineering Duty Only"
(EDO). In 1939 the navy assigned Rickover to the Electrical
Section of the Bureau of Ships, with responsibility for the
design and procurement of all of the major electrical equip-
ment needed for U.S. Navy ships during World War Il.
Although Hyman Rickover is better known for his nu-
clear-relatec! activities, he also made a major contribution to
the navy's success during World War Il. It became apparent
from the experiences of the British that a ship's electrical
equipment often did not operate properly during or after
being subjected to the explosions that were encountered
in the course of battle. Our later experience in the Pa-
cific showed that a lack of fireproofing was another major
problem.
Rickover drove industry and the navy to develop a com-
plete new line of electrical equipment that was not only
markedly superior in performance to all previous equipment
but that was also essentially fireproof and continued to per-
form under the severe shock of explosions during combat.
The tiara obtained by the navy technical mission to Japan
after the war cteterminect that the lack of these improve-
ments was a major factor in the outcomes of many of the
naval battles that occurred in the Pacific.
As the war was ending, Rickover had a short tour of duty
on Okinawa; after the war, he served as inspector general of
the ~ 9th Mothball Fleet. Although he made a success of over-
seeing the mothballing of ships that was occurring now that
the war had ended, Rickover saw what he believecl was a
much more important challenge.
In 1946 a project was begun at the Clinton Laboratory
(now the Oak Ridge National Laboratory) to develop a nu-
clear electric generating plant. The navy decided to send
eight men to this project, including three civilians and one
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HYMAN GEORGE RICKOVER
293
senior and four junior naval officers. Realizing the potential
that nuclear energy held for the navy, Rickover applied. Al-
though he was not initially selected, through the intercession
of his wartime boss Acimiral EarIe Mills, Rickover was finally
sent to Oak Ridge.
Before going to Oak Ri(lge, Rickover spent time in Wash-
ington studying all of the available information on the pos-
sible use of atomic energy for naval propulsion. He also
talked to everyone who had anything to offer. At Oak Ridge,
he and the other naval officers hack offices in the same small
building with the Daniels Pile group, but they did not take
part in the actual development and design effort.
The Pile group's objective was the construction of a high-
temperature, gas-cooled, beryIlium-moderated reactor for
generating central station electricity. Rickover and his offi-
cers were busy not only monitoring what the Daniels Pile
group was doing but also assisting that group with much out-
side organization and studying every aspect of the work at
Oak Riclge to determine its applicability to naval propulsion.
In addition, they later visited the other facilities under the
Manhattan District.
In ~ 947 the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was
formed, and all responsibility for nuclear energy was trans-
ferred to that organization. Toward the end of 1947, it be-
came apparent that there was insufficient information avail-
able for the construction of the reactor. Nevertheless, while
the Daniels group was working on a final report, Rickover
unofficially persuader! them to do a conceptual design of a
water-cooled reactor for a submarine. Almost single-hand-
edly, Rickover then persuaded Admiral Nimitz and the sec-
retary of the navy that a nuclear submarine should be built.
After enlisting the help of the Military Liaison Committee,
he persuaded AEC to formalize the naval reactor study and
succeeded in being appointed head of both the navy and
AEC naval reactor groups. The naval group was transferred
bodily into AEC in 1949.
Getting the authorization to develop a nuclear submarine
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
was, in itself, a major accomplishment. The reputation Rick-
over had gainer! in the industry cluring World War Il for
getting things done was of great help in persuading contrac-
tors to become involved in his nuclear work, even though he
had lukewarm or no support in most areas of the govern-
ment. By late 1948 the research on a pressurized water re-
actor was centered in the Argonne National Laboratory, and
Westinghouse had been given a contract to do the engineer-
ing anc! construction of a nuclear submarine prototype and
the necessary research, development, and design for the
Nautilus. At the same time, General Electric was given a con-
tract of the same scope for a liquid metal-cooled submarine
power plant. With these objectives reached, the nuclear sub-
· ~
marine program was unc .er way in earnest.
Because the prototype for the Nautilus propulsion plant
was the world's first high-temperature nuclear reactor, a host
of reactor physics problems had to be solved. Not only were
the basic data that were needed for the reactor design un-
available, the reactor design methods also had to be devel-
oped. In addition, there were no available engineering data
on the performance of metals in high-te~r~perature and high-
pressure water; neither had a steam propulsion plant ever
been (resigned for operation in a modern submarine. The
necessity for deep submergence compounder! the problems.
New design methods had to be created, and new materials
such as zirconium and hafnium had to be developed.
During this same period, the parallel development of a liq-
uid metal reactor propulsion plant was being undertaken by
General Electric under Rickover's guidance. This program
led to the construction of the Sea Wolf.
During the summer of ~ 953, just as the Nautilus prototype
was being successfully tested, the navy cancelled the require-
ment for a nuclear carrier. But Rickover was undeterred. He
was able to persuade the Atomic Energy Commission to be-
gin a program for the development and construction of a
central station electric generating plant. He saw this not only
as an opportunity to transfer technology to industry but also
as a way of continuing the development of larger reactors
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HYMAN GEORGE RICKOVER
295
that might solve some of the problems of reactors of the size
that wouIc! later be required for carriers.
On January 17, 1955, the signal "Underway on nuclear
power" was flashes! from the Nautilus, marking a dramatic
moment in naval history. The invention of the steamboat hac!
led only after many years to commercial steamships and even
later to a steam-driven navy.
Prior to that time the Nautilus submarines had really only
been ctiese} surface ships that couIct submerge for brief peri-
ocis and travel at slow speeds. The new Nautilus revolution-
ized naval warfare immediately. From the clay she was put to
sea, she was the most important naval vessel in the woricl,
with the capability of inflicting great damage on an entire
enemy fleet. This capacity was demonstrate in maneuvers
many times.
Yet many new technical problems remained to be solved.
Shippingport was the first large reactor with a containment.
Uranium oxide was developed as the fuel for the slightly en-
richecI reactor, and a new zirconium alloy, Zircalloy Il. was
clevelopect for the fuel cladding. A new control system had
to be developed. The long life required of the nuclear core
brought out many problems in the reactor physics area.
Compatibility with a utility system had to be ensured.
Despite these problems, Shippingport, the first U.S. nu-
clear electricity generating plant, was synchronized with the
Duquesne Light Company system in December 1957, just
four and a half years after the start of the project. The build-
ing of Shippingport was the step that made central station
nuclear power possible.
Until his retirement in 1982, Rickover was responsible for
the propulsion plants of all ships in the nuclear navy. His
contribution was not confined to design, however; it also in-
cludecl the selection and training of personnel. The people
who were involved in the nuclear submarine program, both
in industry and in the navy, today are spread throughout
most of the important places in the nuclear industry as well
as in the government.
In addition, there is little doubt that his attention to detail
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
and his insistence on quality, rigorous maintenance, safety,
and the reduction of radiation exposure all worked together
to make our nuclear ships superior. In addition, the transfer
of technology that was begun with Nautilus and Shippingport
was a major factor in the preeminence of the United States
in the nuclear power fielct. This transfer must be regarded as
another of Rickover's important contributions.
Rickover was strongly backed by many influential mem-
bers of Congress. He was skilled at keeping these men knowI-
edgeable about what he was cloing by taking them on visits to
the various project areas ant! by providing demonstrations.
Yet probably the major reason he received such strong back-
ing was that he was succeeding at a time when major suc-
cesses were rare in this country. The confidence that the Joint
Committee on Atomic Energy had in Rickover was a key fac-
tor in the passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, a most
important piece of legislation that has been little changed
even now.
Rickover took great interest in high school and college
education cluring most of his professional life. He empha-
sizec! the need for rigorous preparation in mathematics anct
the sciences. When the Naval Academy undertook a pro-
found overhaul of its program, it sought his counsel, among
others, and followoct his advice in offering a wide (liversity of
fields of concentration in place of the former stanciarcI cur-
riculum for all.
The actual research, development, and design of the nu-
clear plants Rickover had caused to be built were performed
largely by contractors. These activities, however, were con-
ducte(1 under the careful eye of Rickover's staff, who ap-
proved almost every design detail. All of the major technical
decisions were approved personally by the admiral. The es-
sential element of this aspect of nuclear clevelopment was
Rickover himself. The people doing the actual work could
have been replacect by others, but there was only one Rick-
over. Without him, there might have been a nuclear navy and
industry in time, but they wouicl have been delayecl many
years, perhaps clecades.
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HYMAN GEORGE RICKOVER
297
Rickover received many honors anct awards cluring his ca-
reer. Most notable were the Distinguished Service Mecial with
Gold Star (1946) and the Legion of Merit with Gold Star
(19521; the Most Excellent Orcler of the British Empire
(1946~; the Egleston Mecial Award of Columbia Engineering
School's Alumni Association (1955~; the American Society of
Mechanical Engineers' George Westinghouse Gold Medal
(1955~; the Cristoforo Columbo Gold Medal (1957~; the Mi-
chae! I. Pupin lOOth Anniversary Medal (1958~; the
Congressional Gold Medal (19591; the Institute of Electrical
ant! Electronics Engineers' Golden Omega Award (19594;
the Atomic Energy Commission's Enrico Fermi Award
(19651; the National Electrical Manufacturers Association's
Prometheus Awarc! (19651; the Presidential Medal of Free-
clom ~ ~ 9801; and numerous honorary degrees. He was
elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1967. He
was also the author of several books. In 1974 he married
Eleanor Ann Bednowicz, a navy nurse.
It cannot be stressed too strongly that Rickover was the
sine qua non of all the developments with which he was as-
sociated.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
george rickover
