ADMIRAL HYMAN G. RICKOVER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 10/14/1963 - HFSID 154759

HYMAN G. RICKOVER
Rickover signed this typed document on USS Nathan Hale letterhead while at sea to Senator Wallace Foster Bennett regarding the ship's sea trials in 1963.
Typed letter signed "H.G. Rickover." as Vice Admiral. With red pencil notation in lower left corner in unknown hand. 1 page, 8x10½, on letterhead of the USS Nathan Hale, Groton, Connecticut. Written "At Sea/North Atlantic", Oct. 14, 1963. Addressed to the Honorable Senator Wallace F. Bennett, United States Senate, Washington, D.C. In full: "We have just successfully completed the first sea trials of the USS NATHAN HALE. The NATHAN HALE is our fourteenth Polaris type nuclear submarine; with this submarine we will have the capability of launching 224 missiles from hidden, mobile platforms. The NATHAN HALE was built by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut. We also have in operation eighteen attack type nuclear submarines, making a total of thirty-two. When all nuclear submarines in programs authorized by Congress are approved, the United States will have forty-one Polaris and forty-seven attack submarines. Respectfully, H. G. Rickover". The USS Nathan Hale, which had been launched on January 12, 1963, was commissioned on November 23, 1963, a month after this letter. The submarine was decommissioned on November 3, 1986, four months after Rickover's death on July 8, 1986. 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. In 1984, the USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-709) was launched, one of the few Navy vessels named for a living person. WALLACE FOSTER BENNETT (1898-1993, born in Salt Lake City, Utah), an Army veteran of WWI, served as a Republican U.S. Senator from Utah from 1951-1973 and 1974-1975. He is the father of Robert Bennett (born in 1933), who has served as Utah's Republican U.S. Senator since 1992 (Bennett was reelected in 2004). Lightly creased. Staple holes at upper left blank corner. Receipt stamp in red ink at upper right margin. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise in fine condition.