Skipper of First US Nuclear Submarine: Obiturary

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Paul Vitello, Eugene Wilkinson, 94, Dies; Steered First Nuclear Sub. New York Times, July 17, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/1 ... lear-submarine.html

Quote:

"he steered the Nautilus, propelled by its onboard reactor, out of a shipyard in Groton, Conn., into Long Island Sound on Jan 17, 1955

"Faster and more agile than any submarine before, it was able to cruise almost indefinitely without refueling.

Wilkinson "graduated from San Diego State College with a degree in physics and chemistry and was teaching chemistry there as a graduate student when World War II broke out. After he enlisted, the Navy sent him to an officer training program and assigned him to diesel-driven submarines. * * * [after the war, for his postgraduate studies] he was sent to study atomic physics and nuclear reactors at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. * * * [Admiral Hyman G Rickover] chose Admiral [which was a rank he was promoted later] Wilkinson, a [diesel-powered submarine] commander at the time, to skipper the Nautilus because he was 'intelligent, imaginative, and free from the deadly embrace of tradition' — a reference to his not having graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Note:
(a) Del Mar, California
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Mar,_California
(in San Diego County; Del Mar is Spanish for "of the sea" or "by the sea", because it is located on the Pacific Ocean)
(b) "dirigible-shaped submarine"

dirigible (n): "AIRSHIP"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dirigible
(c) USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nautilus_(SSN-571)
(world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine

(d) "Jules Verne (whose novels '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' and 'The Mysterious Island' featured a submarine called the Nautilus)"
(i) Jules Verne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne
(182801905; French; also had a novel published in 1864: Journey to the Center of the Earth)
(ii) Jules
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules
(the French form of the Latin "Julius" (eg Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar))
(iii) league (unit)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_(unit)
("no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person could walk in an hour. Since the Middle Ages, many values have been specified in several countries")

(e) "I had to countermand all the admiral’s orders immediately"

countermand (vt)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/countermand
(f) There is no need to read the rest of the obituary.