A Silent Warrior Retires

The U.S.S. Hyman Rickover made port in Kittery, Maine on Friday after completing its last tour of duty in a history that spanned twenty-two years. The story is significant news for the Portsmouth/Kittery area, which is home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, a major manufacturing site for U.S. submarines. The ship, the only submarine of the Los Angeles class not to be named for a U.S. city, was named for a man veiwed by many as "The Father of the Nuclear Navy".

Hyman G. Rickover had a distinguished career in th U.S. Navy, starting in 1922 when he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis Maryland. He was commissioned as an ensign, the beginning rank of naval officers. He served primarily on surface ships until 1929, when he assumed command of his first submarine. After World War Two, Rickover was trained in the ins and outs of nuclear power and began to explore the possibility of nuclear ship power. His efforts culminated in the first nuclear submarine, U.S.S. Nautilus, which was commissioned in 1954.

Rickover's efforts would lead to othe breakthroughs in nuclear ship development. Among later nuclear warships are the carriers of the Nimitz class and the U.S.S. Long Beach and other nuclear cruisers of the U.S. Navy, as well as the ballistic missile submarines of the Ohio class and the fast-attack submarines of the Los-Angeles class.

The U.S.S. Hyman G. Rickover will have her reactor de-fueled at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and will be towed to Puget Sound, Washington for decommissioning. Farewell to a proud ship of the Nuclear Navy, named for that navy's father.