Newest Sub, Oldest Sailor

For some of the old salts gathered last week in Groton, Conn., to witness the commissioning of the U.S.S. Ohio, the U.S.'s first Trident nuclear-powered submarine, the occasion was tinged with sadness. Standing before them was the frail but still forceful Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, the man most responsible for the Navy's nuclear fleet. Only days before, Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, 39, had recommended that Rickover, 81, now Deputy Commander of the Navy's Sea Systems Command, retire after 59 years of active duty.

It was not the first time the Pentagon brass...