Of bullfighters, Ernest Hemingway once wrote: “Those that have known the former great ones rarely recognize the new ones when they come.” So too, it seems, for modern naval leaders.
Frontline naval commanders of epic battles stand out in our collective consciousness. Their faces jump off the covers of many biographies, and they headline documentaries. On film, the veterans of Midway, Pearl Harbor and the Coral Sea have been portrayed by the likes of Henry Fonda (Adm. Chester Nimitz), Woody Harrelson (also Nimitz), James Cagney (Adm. William Halsey) and Glenn Ford (Adm. Raymond Spruance).
Admirals whose contributions lie not in iron broadsides or air strikes but in technical and managerial innovation aren’t played by Hollywood’s A-listers. But they are slowly carving their niches in the modern naval pantheon. In “Sailing True North” (2019), Adm. James Stavridis recognized, among others, Adm. Grace Hopper, who led the Navy into the computer age, and Adm. William McRaven, who directed special operations from Baghdad to Abbottabad. Now, in “Admiral Hyman Rickover: Engineer of Power,” Marc Wortman delivers a 17-gun salute to this short, profane spitfire who pulled a reluctant Navy into the atomic era.
