Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power

I learned so much about this determined, intelligent, visionary man in this excellent documentary. The film combines dramatized scenes as well as historic footage.

We owe Rickover so much for his genius to use clean secure reliable nuclear energy in a peacetime way to protect our country. The way he created a secure demanding training program is a model that is replicated in civilian nuclear energy plants.

Rickover is an unsung hero in our history. Energy makes the world run. We need dependable clean sources of electricity to power our society.

Rickover overcame so many obstacles thru sheer willpower that makes this film inspirational and informative.

This movie should be seen by American sixth graders. Rickover did more to make us a military superpower than any other single person, and he demonstrated that good, smart people can make a difference in the world. The script was pretty good here, with a few minor terminology mistakes. For example, the narrator referred to the Nautilus as the first true submersible. Actually, it was the diesel electrics which were merely "submersibles." The Nautilus was the first true submarine (OK, the German Type XXI came close.)

I'm old enough to remember the Nautilus as news. For 25 cents and a cereal boxtop, you could get by mail order a baking powder "powered" toy Nautilus. A little later, a smaller version was actually included in the cereal box. Not long after that, I put together a (Revell, I think) a Nautilus SSN-571 model kit.

From my reading about Rickover, I think this docu-drama came close to portraying the contribution this man made to safe nuclear power, not to mention a weapons superiority that kept the Russians in a panic for forty years and then bankruptcy. It's a shame he didn't live to see the fall of the Soviet Union. Our Ohio class SSBNs are still in war-capable condition, while the Russian Typhoons are sitting, abandoned and rusting away.

I think the small point (small in the movie anyway) about the state of American education is even more valid today than when he said it. Elementary and secondary education is all about sports and dance and not science. College is Political "Science" and LGBT Studies. The local school district where I live cannot afford to update their computer labs, while just spending $70+ million on a football stadium, built right next to...their football stadium. The local elementary school has a sign on the front proudly proclaiming that it has been rated an "Exemplary school" by the state--for 1990 (30 years ago!).

If you have kids old enough to understand this movie, you will do them a favor by showing it to them. I've got it queued for next time the grandchildren are over.

I was a nuke aboard a fast attack submarine in the mid-seventies and this movie brought back a lot of memories; good and bad. The Navy's nuclear training program was (and I presume still is) incredibly difficult weeded out a lot of very intelligent men who weren't able to live up to Rickover's standards. As a result, the U. S. Navy nuclear fleet is second to none. As the movie shows, incompetence, finger pointing, whining, etc. Were not tolerated. If you couldn't perform your duties as a nuke then you didn't last long. Our current "leaders" should be required to watch this movie over and over until they understand the message it contains. Barring that, this movie should be required viewing in our schools.

Tim Nelson is awesome in this. When I first started watching I thought he was overacting and the character was unrealistic but after seeing a lot of real footage recorded of Rickover I realized that this actor really nailed the character. Rickover himself was over- the-top. Tim Nelson is fantastic. Also, the actor who played Ronald Reagan was uncanny. I really enjoyed this production.

The acting and dialog were both terrible. It's an interesting story. "I'll wait for the book to come out."