Explanation of My Thoughts...

Admiral Hyman G. Rickover…

I consider Admiral Hyman Rickover a Navy hero due to the way he administered the Navy programs that he was assigned to head. He was placed in charge of Nuclear Power Submarine Development, and the first nuclear powered submarine, USS Nautilus SSN 571, got underway on nuclear power in January 1955. Well ahead of the Navy's projected schedule. The program was very successful because the Admiral handpicked each officer in the engineering department on every nuclear powered vessel. No officer was accepted unless he met the demanding requirements set down by Admiral Rickover. It was my honor to see how he operated on a number of occasions. He personally inspected every nuclear powered submarine for operational capability and the quality of the individuals operating that particular nuclear reactor to proper specifications. He said a number of unkind things about some Navy individuals, which I personally witnessed. At one of his presentations to the "Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine Training Center", Charleston, South Carolina, where I was stationed around 1973 he said "The scourge of the Navy is an officer that has graduated from the Naval Academy". He was a very opinionated individual but he was so directly involved in the nuclear propulsion program that nearly all of the success of the program had to be contributed directly to him. Hyman Rickover's advancement in the Navy was stalled simply because he was so outspoken. He even criticized Congress and got away with it. He did not care about Navy advancement for himself but he did strive for maximum competence of individuals in the nuclear propulsion program. I feel he did achieve that goal; he is a true Navy hero for his dedication to the nuclear propulsion program. I am positive that this complex and demanding program would have never been successful under anyone else's control. Admiral Rickover is and will always be a true Navy hero in my mind.

Captain Edward L. Beach…

Captain Edward L. Beach was a Submarine officer and Commanding Officer of a number of Submarines and other ships in his Naval career, and received high honors for many of the things he accomplished. He wrote numerous books both fiction and fact about Submarines which were and are still considered some of the best written on the subject. His most famous book "Run Silent, Run Deep" was made into a movie. Captain Beach Commanded the USS Triton (SSNR 586) on the first circumnavigation of the earth completely submerged in 1960. He was an excellent Navyman and a hero to many Navymen.