Navy honors Chicago's own Admiral Rickover with new nuclear submarine

CHICAGO - With military tensions rising around the world, the U.S. Navy is set to unveil a new nuclear submarine this weekend and it carries a name—and crew—with strong ties to the Chicago area.

When you think Chicago and submarines, the first thing that comes to mind is the captured German U-boat on display at the Museum of Science and Industry. But there's another famous Chicago-sub connection.

"We're proud of the role Admiral Rickover played and that he came from our city," said Chicago lawyer Bill Nissen, who is heading the committee in charge of the commissioning ceremony this Saturday in Connecticut for the USS Hyman G. Rickover, America's newest fast-attack nuclear-powered submarine.

"They are very important to our national defense," said Nissen, a former Naval Officer. "They can be places where no one knows where they are, but to be ready to act as a deterrent or take action."

Rickover was born in Poland in 1900 but fled to Chicago with his family as a child to escape Jewish persecution. He lived in North Lawndale, attended John Marshall High School, then went on to a long and storied Navy career, becoming the father of the nuclear submarine program.

"What made Admiral Rickover important is he had the idea of using nuclear power for submarines," said Nissen. "The previous diesel submarines had to surface very often."

Among those taking part in Saturday's commissioning ceremony will be 40 cadets from the Rickover Naval Academy, an ROTC high school in Chicago's Portage Park. Also, four of the crew assigned to the new sub are from Chicago, including 40-year-old Gino Rossi of St. Charles.

"He's quite a guy. The Navy's got—certainly has a good person in my son, and I'm very proud of him," said his father, Guy Rossi.

Their son will serve as Chief Petty Officer aboard the ship, which will no doubt be dispatched to one of the world's hot spots.

"(I do) worry about him," said mom, Maria Rossi. "But that's par for the course I guess. Do talk to him. He assures me. But yeah, it does."

This is the second nuclear sub named after Admiral Rickover, who died in 1986 after serving in the U.S. military for 63 years. And yes, that's a record.