Heiman George Rikover American submariner, admiral Date of Birth: 27.01.1900 Country: USA

1. Biography of Hyman George Rickover
2. Early Life and Education
3. Naval Career
4. Contributions to Nuclear Technology

Biography of Hyman George Rickover

Hyman George Rickover, an American submariner, was a four-star admiral in the United States Navy. He was known as the "father of the nuclear fleet," which as of July 2007 consisted of 200 nuclear submarines, 23 nuclear aircraft carriers and cruisers. Rickover gained fame as the longest-serving active duty officer in American history, thanks to his unique personal characteristics, political connections, responsibility, and deep knowledge. He served for 63 years. Due to Rickover's significant contribution to nuclear technology, an unbeaten record of accident-free operation of reactors on US Navy ships was achieved.

Early Life and Education

Hyman Rickover was born into a Jewish family in the town of Maków Mazowiecki, which was part of the Russian Empire and is now in Poland. His surname derived from the name of the village and estate of Ryki, located an hour's drive from Warsaw, just like Maków Mazowiecki (the entire Jewish community of Ryki, like Maków Mazowiecki, perished during the Holocaust). Escaping the sad fate of his fellow countrymen, young Rickover emigrated to the United States with his parents, Abraham and Rachel, after the Jewish pogroms of 1905. The family first lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and after two years they moved to La Grange, a suburb of Chicago, where his father continued his work as a tailor. Rickover began working at the age of nine, helping to support his family. He later described his childhood as a time of "hard work, discipline, and undoubtedly, a lack of pleasant pastimes." While attending John Marshall High School in Chicago, which he graduated from with honors in 1918, Rickover worked full-time delivering telegrams for Western Union. Through his work, he met Congressman Adolph J. Sabath. With the help of Sabath, a Jewish Czech immigrant and a family friend, Rickover was recommended for admission to the United States Naval Academy. Thanks to self-discipline, self-education, and the favor of fortune, the future four-star admiral passed the entrance examination and was accepted. On June 2, 1922, after completing his studies as the 107th in his class of 540 students, Rickover received the rank of ensign. While awaiting transport to his first ship, the destroyer USS La Vallette (DD-315) on the West Coast via the Panama Canal, he obtained a scholarship from the University of Chicago to study history and psychology. He spent some time on the destroyer USS Percival (DD-298) while the La Vallette was at sea. Upon boarding the La Vallette, he impressed his commanding officer so much that on June 21, 1923, he was appointed chief engineer, despite his lack of experience. Less than a year after graduating from the academy, Rickover became the youngest engineer in the squadron.

Naval Career

He later served on the battleship USS Nevada (BB-36) and obtained a master's degree in electrical engineering (after a year at the Naval Postgraduate School). He continued his work at Columbia University, where he met his future wife, Christian Ruth Masters, an exchange student studying international relations. In 1931, after she returned from her doctorate at the Sorbonne, they married. Shortly after their marriage, Rickover wrote to his parents expressing his desire to join the Episcopal Church, and he remained in the church until the end of his life. Rickover went to Washington and voluntarily joined the submarine fleet. He preferred service on small ships and knew that young officers on submarines advanced quickly in their careers. His application was initially rejected due to his age (29 years old). But fate intervened. His former commander, who was serving on the Nevada, spoke up for Rickover. From 1929 to 1933, Rickover served on submarines (S-9 and S-48) and obtained the qualification to command a submarine. In 1933, while serving in the Fleet Supply Inspector's Office in Philadelphia, Rickover translated a book by Admiral German Bauer, who commanded German submarines during World War I. This translation became mandatory reading for American submariners. It was only in July 1937 that he took command of his first ship, the minesweeper USS Finch (AM-9). On July 1, 1937, he was promoted to lieutenant-commander. In October 1937, he was elected to the engineering duty and handed over the Finch to a new commanding officer. After a brief delay, on August 15, 1939, he joined the Fleet Engineering Administration in Washington. He later served in various positions related to his specialty.

Contributions to Nuclear Technology

As a result of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, five battleships were sunk. On April 10, 1942, Rickover flew to Pearl Harbor. He played a key role in the salvage of the USS California (BB-44) and became the "leading figure in bringing electrical generators and motors into working order," allowing the battleship to make its way from Pearl Harbor to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. In May 1944, after modernization, the California returned to participate in combat operations against Japan. In 1946, a new project was launched based on the Manhattan Project - the creation of nuclear energy. The Clinton Laboratory (now Oak Ridge National Laboratory), which focused on nuclear energy, developed nuclear power generators. The Navy decided to send eight people to participate in the project: four civilians, one senior officer, and three junior officers. Recognizing the potential of nuclear energy for the fleet, Rickover submitted a report on his desire to participate. Although initially not selected, with the intervention of Admiral Earl Mills, his former commander who became the head of the Bureau of Ships that year, Rickover was appointed as the deputy manager of the entire project at Oak Ridge. This gave him access to all the means, projects, and research materials. While observing the work of physicists such as Ross Gunn, Philip Abelson, and other participants in the Manhattan Project, Rickover quickly became a proponent of the idea of a nuclear power plant for naval ships, especially submarines. In collaboration with Alvin Weinberg, the director of science at Oak Ridge, he founded the Oak Ridge Institute of Reactor Technology and began work on a pressurized water reactor for submarines. In February 1949, he was assigned to the Reactor Development Division of the Atomic Energy Commission and served as the director of the Naval Reactors Branch of the Bureau of Ships, reporting to Admiral Mills. This dual role allowed him to lead the development of the world's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571), which was commissioned in 1954, as well as oversee the construction of a nuclear power plant in Shippingport, equipped with the first civilian nuclear reactor. Rickover's appointment as the head of the national program for the development of nuclear submarines was ultimately decided by Admiral Mills. According to Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, the leader of the Manhattan Project, Mills wanted to put a very determined person in charge, and although he knew that Rickover was "not very amiable" and "not very popular," he believed that Rickover was the person the fleet could rely on, "despite any resistance he might face, as long as he was convinced of the potential of nuclear submarines." Rickover did not disappoint him. Thanks to his imagination, determination, creativity, and engineering experience, as well as that of his team, a highly reliable nuclear reactor was developed that could fit within the narrow confines of a submarine's hull, not exceeding 28 feet (8.5 meters) in width. They achieved this despite facing the following obstacles: - In the early 1950s, nuclear reactors with a capacity of one megawatt occupied an area approximately equal to that of a city block. - The prototype power plant for the Nautilus became the world's first high-temperature nuclear reactor. - The essential physical data necessary for reactor design did not yet exist. - There were no reactor design methods. - There were no engineering data on the behavior of metals in water under high temperatures, pressures, and a wide spectrum of radiation. - There were no steam-producing nuclear installations. - No one was developing steam power plants for submarines with a wide range of temperatures and pressures in the condenser that occur during submarine operations. - It was necessary to create components from exotic materials such as hafnium and zirconium (and first obtain the materials themselves), for which there were no existing technologies. In 1958, Rickover was promoted to the rank of vice admiral and awarded the first of two Congressional Gold Medals. From then on, for nearly thirty years, he rigorously controlled the ships, technology, and personnel of the nuclear fleet, personally conducting interviews and approving or rejecting each officer candidate for nuclear ships. During his unprecedentedly long career, he conducted a tremendous number of these interviews, meeting with over 14,000 fresh graduates alone. These legendary interviews hold a special place in the memories of Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) candidates. Spanning from mysterious and confrontational to genial, from Academy midshipmen to high-ranking aviators vying for command of aircraft carriers (sometimes resulting in clashes of personalities), these interviews have largely been lost to history, except for a few documented cases and a personal interview conducted by Diana Sawyer in 1984. In addition, Rickover made a point of being present at the initial sea trials of almost every completed submarine. This served as a stamp of his personal approval and ensured thorough testing to confirm the submarine's readiness or identify any flaws requiring correction. As the head of the Reactor Division, he focused more on the reliability and safety of the technology than on tactical and strategic preparation. This may lead to the assumption that his preoccupation with the operation and maintenance of reactors could hinder their combat effectiveness. However, this assumption does not hold up in light of the classified achievements of American submariners during the Cold War era. Allegedly, these achievements are described in the book by Zontag and Drew. Moreover, the record of accident-free operation of reactors in the US Navy is in stark contrast to its main competitor - the Soviet Navy, which lost several submarines due to reactor accidents, a result of both haste and selected construction directions in competition with more advanced American technology. However, even during Rickover's time, it was known that excessive focus on operating and maintaining reactors could hinder operational tasks. As a counterbalance, after the admiral's retirement, a rule was introduced stating that the position of director of NAVSEA-08 could only be held by the strongest officers, with mandatory submarine command experience, for eight years and only once in their career. Starting with Kinnard MacKay, who succeeded him, and continuing with Kirkland Donald, who took office in November 2004, all have commanded submarines, flotillas, or fleets; none have held long-term engineering positions like Rickover. In the late 1970s, Rickover's position seemed stronger than ever. For over two decades, he had withstood attempts by senior naval officers to force him into retirement, including being relegated to work in a converted women's restroom and two promotion denials. The presence of his patron, Jimmy Carter, in the White House, and powerful friends in both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees ensured his stay in active duty long after most other admirals had embarked on their second careers. However, on January 31, 1982, at the age of over 80, having served the country for 63 years under 13 presidents (from Wilson to Reagan) as a full admiral, he was forced to retire by Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, with the knowledge and agreement of President Ronald Reagan. In the early 1980s, defects in hull welding - concealed through fabricated reports - resulted in significant delays and cost overruns for several submarines under construction at the Electric Boat shipyard of General Dynamics. In some cases, repairs amounted to almost rebuilding nearly completed submarines. The shipyard attempted to shift the cost overruns directly onto the Navy, but Rickover fought tooth and nail, demanding that the shipyard remedy the substandard work itself. Although the shipbuilder ultimately reached an agreement with the Navy in 1981 to pay $634 million of the claimed $843 million budget overrun, Rickover could not accept that the shipyard essentially blamed the Navy for its own incompetence and deceit. Ironically, the Navy was also the shipyard's insurer, and while the idea of compensating the shipyard on that basis was initially rejected as "unheard of" by Secretary Lehman, General Dynamics' lawsuit included a demand for insurance payment. Fuming, Rickover disdainfully spoke out against both the agreement and Lehman himself (partly driven by Lehman's desire to fulfill Reagan's 600-ship Navy program). This was far from his first clash with the defense industry. He had long been notorious for his tough, and at times harsh, demands on contractors. But this time, the conflict with Electric Boat took the form of open, unrestrained warfare. Veliotis was charged in 1983 by a grand jury with racketeering and fraud for attempting to solicit a $1.3 million bribe from a subcontractor. However, he managed to flee to his homeland, Greece, where he lives a luxurious life, evading American justice. Following Veliotis's allegations, a temporary Navy Gifts Commission found Rickover guilty of receiving gifts from General Dynamics for 16 years, including jewelry, furniture, and collectible knives worth $67,628. The investigation also examined allegations of gifts received from two other major Navy contractors: General Electric and Newport News. Veliotis also claimed, without providing evidence, that General Dynamics gave gifts to other senior Navy officers and systematically underestimated the cost of contracts with the intention of seeking overruns from the government. These allegations were not investigated by the Navy, in part due to Veliotis's flight. Secretary Lehman, a former naval aviator, issued Rickover a written reprimand for inappropriate behavior without entry into his personnel file, mentioning that his "fall from grace over trifles should be seen in the context of his immeasurable contributions to the Navy." Rickover issued a statement through his lawyer in response. In it, he defended his actions and criticized the shipyard and the Navy for their handling of the cost overruns and for the subsequent investigation. Rickover's retirement marked the end of an era in the US Navy. He left a lasting legacy as the "father of the nuclear fleet" and a driving force behind the development and implementation of nuclear technology in the Navy.