I was very sad to hear about President Carter’s passing. When he was president, I was 6 to 10 years old, so he was the first serving president that I learned about firsthand. I remember watching him on television, and he always struck me as a very honest and kind person. As I grew older, I learned more about Carter and his strong efforts to drive peace around the world, which rightly earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.
A Connection with Carter
Carter and I share a connection to a small, relatively unknown but special organization called Naval Reactors. The easiest way I’ve found to succinctly describe Naval Reactors is “NASA for submarines.” After graduating from Northwestern, I spent five wonderful years at Naval Reactors working on nuclear submarine design.
Why Not The Best?
In 1975 when Carter was running for president, he wrote a campaign autobiography book entitled Why Not the Best? This title came directly from a haunting question that Admiral Hyman Rickover, the head of Naval Reactors, asked Carter in a job interview in 1952.
The Admiral’s Interview
After graduating from the US Naval Academy and serving as an officer aboard diesel submarines, Carter wanted to apply for Rickover’s new nuclear-powered submarine program. In the interview, Rickover asked Carter about his class standing at the Naval Academy. Carter proudly answered, “Sir, I stood fifty-ninth in a class of 820”.
Unimpressed, Rickover then asked, “Did you do your best?” Carter started to answer “Yes, sir,” but then recalled times he could have done better. Carter finally gulped and said, “No, sir, I didn’t always do my best.” Rickover looked at Carter for a long time and then asked him a question he would never forget: “Why not?” Then Rickover turned his chair around to end the interview and began working on some papers on a table behind his desk. Carter sat there several minutes as Rickover ignored him, and then Carter slowly left the room.
Every officer who wants to work in the Navy’s nuclear program has to interview with the four-star admiral in charge of Naval Reactors. After I learned that Carter had served in the nuclear Navy, I bought a copy of his book and read it, excited to learn the details of his interactions with Rickover. Carter was a very thoughtful person, as he demonstrated in the 30 plus books that he wrote, which include a novel and a book of poetry.
Admiral Rickover and President Carter
Many people aren’t familiar with Admiral Rickover, but his accomplishments are on par with tech luminaries like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. Very early on, Rickover saw the significant potential of harnessing nuclear energy to power submarines and ships. Through his sharp intellect, technical excellence, strong leadership, hard work, and tremendous grit, he turned his vision into reality. Rickover, known as the “Father of the Nuclear Navy” created Naval Reactors and led it for over 35 years.
Rickover retired several years before I arrived at Naval Reactors, but the organization and culture he created carried on in his image. My interview with one of Rickover’s successors, Admiral DeMars, was as memorable and stressful as Carter’s interview with Rickover was, and I too left it shaken and unsure (but that is a story for another day).
Returning to Carter’s story: After his interview, despite how poorly he felt it had gone, he was selected to join Rickover’s nuclear program. Carter was on track to assume a critical position: the engineering officer for the USS Seawolf (SSN-575), one of the first two submarines that was going to operate on nuclear power, when his father died in 1953. After his father’s death, Carter’s Navy career came to an abrupt end: He chose to leave the service to take over his family’s business.
Fast forward 23 years later to 1976, and Carter was elected president of the United States. President Carter became Commander in Chief, with Admiral Rickover now ostensibly reporting up to him. The two men had a wonderful relationship of mutual respect. In fact Carter said, “Second to my own father, Rickover had more effect on my life than any other man.”
The Navy has a hard rule that no one can serve more than 30 years. Because of his great work and unique talents, the Congress routinely passed special laws to allow Rickover’s time in the Navy to be extended so he could continue serving in his post. Rickover was in the Navy for an astounding 63 years, serving under 13 different presidents. Rickover would have liked to stay in his role even longer, but he was finally forced to retire at the age of 82 by President Reagan’s administration. Jimmy Carter was the last president that supported the continued extension of Rickover’s naval career, as you can see in the tongue-in-cheek note he wrote to Rickover when he signed this photo.
The Rickover Effect
While I never had the opportunity to meet Rickover, I feel like I know him – or at least know how his mind worked – through the strong imprint he left at Naval Reactors, which was a very special place to work. Many people involved with the Nuclear Navy have commented how Rickover impacted their lives.
Several books have been written about the amazing Rickover. I’ve made it a point to read them all and the best is probably The Rickover Effect, written by Theodore Rockwell, who worked closely with Rickover since the early days of Naval Reactors. If you want to learn more about Rickover without reading a book, you should check out this 2014 documentary about him. The main actor’s portrayal of Rickover is a bit campy, but it’s an informative and entertaining video.
The division I worked in at Naval Reactors (called 08E) was responsible for the design of the propulsion plants for the latest fast attack submarines. One group in our division was responsible for the Los Angeles Class submarines.
Each submarine class is named after the first sub of that class. The USS Los Angeles (SSN-688), the first of its class, was commissioned in November 1976, shortly after Carter won his election. In 1977, President Carter and his wife Rosalynn joined Rickover to visit the USS Los Angeles.
By the time I joined Naval Reactors, many Los Angeles class submarines had been built and they accounted for a large portion of our fast attack submarine fleet. The US sub featured in Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October – the USS Dallas (SSN-700) – is a Los Angeles class sub.
Another group in our division, where my friends Ken Fine and Rich Shank worked, was responsible for designing the Seawolf class submarine, meant to replace the Los Angeles class submarines, whose design from the early 1970s had grown outdated.
Design of the Seawolf class started during the Cold War, and these submarines were going to be the fastest, quietest, and most capable subs the world had ever seen. When the Cold War ended, however, funding for the Seawolf Class dried up. The Navy had originally planned to build 29 Seawolf Class submarines. But due to their high cost, after the Cold War ended, only 3 Seawolf Class submarines were funded and built. The Navy’s plans were suddenly upended and it needed a new capable but lower-cost replacement for the Los Angeles Class subs. That is the submarine that I helped design, which would become the Virginia Class, starting with the USS Virginia (SSN-774). The Navy has commissioned 25 Virginia Class submarines to date, with plans to build over 60.
The five years I spent working at Naval Reactors were very formative for my career. There, I learned the art and science of how to design a technically complex product with cross functional teams. Although, I wouldn’t officially have the job title “Product Manager” until two years after I left Naval Reactors when I joined Intuit after business school, my job at Naval Reactors was basically highly technical product management.
Last summer, Naval Reactors held its 75-year reunion, which I attended. I had also attended the previous 50-year reunion a few years after I left. Yes, the organization is so long-lived that they only celebrate reunions every 25 years 😃. Turnout for the reunion was amazing, a testament to how strongly connected most people who worked at Naval Reactors feel to the organization even many years later.
At the 75-year reunion, it was an honor for me to meet the recently appointed head of Naval Reactors, Admiral Bill Houston. Admiral Houston’s distinguished Navy career started at Notre Dame’s Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC). I have several friends from Notre Dame NROTC who knew Bill during college, so it was a special treat to attend the reunion with some of them.
The USS Jimmy Carter
Back to the Seawolf Class: Those three Seawolf subs are a rare breed of special submarine with unique capabilities. The first submarine of the class, USS Seawolf (SSN-21) bears the same name as the second nuclear powered submarine (SSN-575) – the one that Jimmy Carter was slated to be the engineering officer of before his father died.
The second submarine of the Seawolf Class is the USS Connecticut (SSN-22). Many submarines have been named after states, and Connecticut has a special place in US submarine history because it is the home of Electric Boat Division, which is one of the two remaining nuclear submarine shipyards and has a long tradition of constructing submarines for the Navy.
The third Seawolf Class submarine is the USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23). I think it is very fitting that President Carter was honored by having one of the world’s most powerful submarines named after him. While other US presidents also served in the Navy, Carter was the only president to have qualified on submarines.
The USS Jimmy Carter was commissioned in 2005 with President Carter and his wife Rosalynn speaking at the ceremony. Carter began his speech by asking the large audience, “How many of you have had your personal life affected by Admiral Hyman Rickover? Raise your hand”. He then said, “Let me correct those who did not raise their hand.”
The USS Jimmy Carter is unique among the Seawolf subs: it is 100 feet longer than the other two due to the inclusion of an additional section – the Multi-Mission Platform. It also has special thrusters that allow it to quietly hover in place. While additional details of its unique capabilities are classified, the USS Jimmy Carter is known to be our country’s best submarine for undersea spy missions.
Here is a photo of the USS Jimmy Carter (fyi, it’s often be hard to find a good photo of a submarine since they are so long and most of the sub is usually under water).
The motto of the USS Jimmy Carter is “Semper Optima” (“Always the Best”), which I think is a wonderful homage to President Carter and his life.
President Carter: Thank you for giving us your best. Thank you for all your service to the Navy, to the United States, and to the world. Fair winds and following seas. We will miss you.