As the Navy Submarine League Honors Vice Admiral Nils Thun- man, I thought that I might provide a perspective from a non-ad- miral.
My association with the good Admiral was when I was assigned my post-engineer tour as the Assistant for Training and Readiness at Subma- rine Squadron FIFTEEN in Guam. At the time Admiral Thunman was COMSUBPAC. This was a new billet for a post-engineer that Admiral Thunman wanted in Guam, the home of the oldest SSBNs and a frequent stopping point for the Skate class submarines. My Commodore, Stan Severance’s introduction laid out the guidelines that Admiral Thunman and he had established, but in words that only Commodore Severance could express: “So you’re Miller huh! You go tell Cheaure (That was then Commander Al Cheaure, the Deputy) I don’t want any deficiencies in my Engineering Departments. Now get out of here.” A real results focused goal.
As I rode the ships in our Squadron, Admiral Thunman visited of- ten. Knowing my bosses’ concerns, I watched him tactfully interact with the officers and crew, quickly understanding the issues these young men and their Commanding Officers were dealing with. He had a way of breaking down the obvious Admiral-to-sailor barriers and getting them to open up. They would tell him things that allowed him to confirm/ recognize underlying problems. That Thunman style and technique is something I took away with me and used the rest of my life.
In the Wardroom, he told great stories. The one I remember the best was when he was a student at Navy Nuclear Power School in 1956 at Submarine Base New London’s Cromwell Hall. He took a call from Ad- miral Rickover and was directed to covertly move Nuclear Power School over a weekend from Submarine Base New London’s Cromwell Hall to Naval Training Center Bainbridge Maryland.
His described what they did from the close of classes on a Friday to starting classes in Bainbridge the following Monday. The story was hilarious. I guess having taught Bainbridge, he put together many of the pieces that we had tried to figure out when we shutdown Bainbridge in 1976 (for us old farts think those lockers, desks, and the other primitive furniture to be lovely).
He was also insightful. I remember him talking about how the Navy needed to take the 598 George Washington Class boomers, soon to be decommissioned, and fill them full of Tomahawk missiles. SSGNs circa 1980.
But my greatest remembrance of Admiral Thunman, that personally affected me, was how he handled the very difficult transition of USS Proteus, Commanded by Captain Tom Fox, back to Guam in the Spring of 1980. Proteus had been delayed in overhaul at the Non-Nuclear Long Beach shipyard. It should have been an easy overhaul until some unex- pected issues arose in the Nuclear Repair Spaces. Handling these issues took its toll on the RADCON Department. As Proteus went through its certification to get back on line, the lack of RADCON staffing and time to train resulted in great concern.
I was directed to take a team of USS Hunley RADCON team mem- bers that would be cross-decking to Proteus and fly to Pearl Harbor to ride the ship back to Guam. On meeting Captain Fox early in the morn- ing, I gave him a letter from my Commodore, Stan Severance. On read- ing it, he was not happy. For those of you who remember Tom Fox, it was the evil eye. Here he needed real help and they sent a lowly LCDR, not even the Squadron Engineer and not certainly a Squadron Deputy.
In the Proteus wardroom mess six hours later, I figured out it was Admiral Thunman who had sent me. As I sleepily wandered in and got in the mess line for lunch, the voice of Niles Thunman boomed over the wardroom so all could hear. I turned and saw the Admiral with his arm around Captain Fox walking toward me. He shook my hand and gave me that Thunman- welcome and turned to Captain Fox. “Tom, this is Dave Miller from Squadron FIFTEEN. He is the best at what he does and he is going to help you.”
I immediately saw a change in Captain Fox’s eyes. The look of concern from that morning changed to a look of hope. Needless to say, it was a tough slow trip to Guam (Proteus could crank out 12 knots with a good tail wind.) 18 hours a day of drills, evolutions and Admin review. Writing new instructions and reports necessary to meet the new and ever tougher RADCON standards. Classroom training, examinations and qualifications necessary to pick up the heavy, never-ending demand of Squadron FIFTEEN’s 10 SSBNs and all SSNs deploying to the Western Pacific.
I left the Proteus as the RCPE boarded. She did very well. I knew in my heart that it was Admiral Thunman establishing a sense of “we’re here to do whatever it takes to help you do well” that helped her Com- manding Officer and crew do well on that exam and meet the difficult times ahead.
Throughout the rest of my Navy career and since, I never forgot that Thunman lesson in leadership.
