ADMIRAL HYMAN G. RICKOVER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 02/28/1967 - HFSID 178891

HYMAN G. RICKOVER
Rickover signed this typed letter on USS Ray letterhead while at sea to Kentucky Congressman William H. Natcher after the sub's first sea trials in 1967. Accompanied by original mailing envelope.
Typed letter signed "H. G. Rickover". 1 page,8x10½, single-sided sheets, on letterhead of the USS Ray, c/o Fleet Post Office, New York City. Written "At Sea/North Atlantic", Feb. 28, 1967. Addressed to the Honorable William H. Natcher, U. S. House of Representatives. Lightly toned and creased. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition. Accompanied by: Original mailing envelope on Rickover's personalized envelope from the USS Ray. Postmarked Newport News, Virginia, Feb. 28, 1967. Addressed to the Honorable William H. Natcher, Washington, DC. With one 5¢ American flag stamp affixed. Lightly toned and soiled. Tape remnants along bottom and right edge and lower left corner. Envelope is opened neatly at top edge. Otherwise in fine condition. Rickover wrote this letter after the successful conclusion of the USS Ray's first sea trials. This was the United States' 28th nuclear attack submarine. With the 41 American Polaris ballistic missile submarines, that made a total of 69 submarines in the United States Navy. The USS Ray, also designated SSN 653, was a nuclear attack submarine and the second sub in the United States Navy to bear that name. Her namesake was commissioned in 1943 and decommissioned in 1958 and sank 12 Japanese ships during World War II. The nuclear submarine's keel was laid on Jan. 4, 1965. She was commissioned on April 12, 1965 and decommissioned on March 16, 1993. WILLIAM H. NATCHER (1909-1994, BORN IN Bowling Green, Kentucky) was Democratic U. S. Congressman from Kentucky's 2nd district from 1953 to 1994 and chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations from 1993 to 1994. Head of the United States Navy's electrical division in World War II, HYMAN G. RICKOVER (1900-1986, born in Makov, Russia) moved to the Atomic Energy Commission in 1947 and developed the first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, in 1954. He presided over the build-up of the U.S. nuclear-powered Navy. He also presided over the construction of the one-of a kind, super-secret NR-1 nuclear submarine. Despite cost overruns during its development, which earned the wrath of the General Accounting Office, the NR-1 fulfilled Rickover's fondest hopes. The story of the craft has now been told in Dark Waters: An Insider's Account of the NR-1, the Cold War's Undercover Nuclear Submarine by Don Davis and original crewmember Lee Vyborny (2002). Rickover was promoted to rear admiral in 1953, vice-admiral in 1959 and admiral in 1973.