ADMIRAL HYMAN G. RICKOVER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/03/1979 - HFSID 251820

HYMAN G. RICKOVER
Rickover signed this typed letter while at sea on USS Indianapolis letterhead to Congressman James H. Quillen after the cruiser's sea trials in 1978. With original mailing envelope.
Typed letter signed "H G Rickover". 1 page, 8x10½, on letterhead of USS Indianapolis c/o Fleet Post Office, New York City. Written "At Sea/North Atlantic", April 3, 1979. Addressed to the Honorable James H. Quillen, U. S. House of Representatives. Lightly toned and creased. Staple hole in upper left corner. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition. Accompanied by: Original mailing envelope from Rickover's personalized USS Indianapolis stationery. Postmarked Groton, Connecticut, April 3, 1979. Addressed to the Honorable James H. Quillen, U. S. House of Representatives. With one 15¢ American flag stamp affixed. Lightly toned and creased. Staple hole in lower right corner. Envelope was opened neatly on verso. Otherwise in fine condition. This letter was written after the first sea trials of the USS Indianapolis, the U. S. Navy's 74th nuclear attack submarine cruiser in a total sub fleet (at that time) of 115. Rickover discusses the USS Indianapolis's mission and goes into detail about its two predecessors: a World War I supply transport and a heavy cruiser, which was sunk near the end of World War II after delivering Little Boy, the first atomic bomb to be used in wartime, to Tinian. The USS Indianapolis, also designated SSN-697, was a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine. Her keel was laid on Oct. 19, 1974, and she was commissioned on Jan. 5, 1980. She was decommissioned on Dec. 22, 1998. 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. Republican JAMES H. QUILLEN (1916-2003, born in Scott County, Virginia) represented Tennessee's 1st Congressional District in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1963 to 1997.