AP: Nautilus captain, former Tenn. congressman dies

[Eugene]

Nautilus captain, former Tenn. congressman dies

March 4, 2007, 5:09 PM EST

LEESBURG, Va. -- William Robert Anderson, captain of the Nautilus on its historic
under-the-ice trips to the North Pole and a former U.S. congressman, has died.
He was 85.

Anderson died Feb. 25 in Leesburg, Va., following a brief illness, his family said.

The Bakerville, Tenn., native graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1942
and took command of the Nautilus in 1957, when the submarine cruised to within
180 miles of the North Pole.

The next year Anderson and his crew of 115 made the first voyage from the
Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean by passing under the ice of the North Pole.

After retiring from the Navy, Anderson served as a consultant to Presidents
John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, helping to create the Peace Corps.
In 1964, he was elected to his first of four terms representing the sixth
district of Tennessee in Congress.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--obit-anderson0304mar04,0,4113946.story

[Lurking Dem]

1. My husband just showed me

his commemorative coin from the 1954 launching of the Nautilus.

[Forkboy]

2. As a submarine buff I got a real thrill reading about the voyages they made.

And he sounds like he was a decent man to boot.

[KansDem]

8. When I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade (circa 1960/61)

I put together a model of the USS Nautilus. I was really proud of that model because of the thought of such an undertaking (going under the polar icecaps--I thought that was the ultimate feat at the time) and also because it was one of the first models I put together by myself. I even took it to class for show-and-tell! Actually my mom brought it because it was so fragile. I still have a memory of her, some 47 years later, walking down the school hallway carrying my USS Nautilus model for me to show-and-tell!

[Forkboy]

9. That's a cool story

It's good to have memories like that.

[Octafish]

3. Fare Thee Well, Captain Anderson.

Thank you for your service and all you did to make ours a better nation and our world one of peace.

[nealmhughes]

4. Here is the Captain in the late 1950s.

Proud he was a Navy nuclear submariner as well as a Tennesseean, and a liberal Democrat!



{Former ET2(SS), Reactor Operator and Shutdown Reactor Operator, No. 2 Scope, etc., etc. product of the Tennessee public school system and currently living 3 miles south of the state line in Alabama!}

[anotherdrew]

5. possibly the man the US sub captain in On the Beach was modeled after

a real hero

[Vidar]

6. RIP Caprain Anderson.

[DemoTex]

7. Calm seas, following winds, and prosperous voyages, sir!

Thank you for leaving things better than you found them.

RIP Captain Anderson

Eternal Father, Strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to thee,
for those in peril on the sea.

From The Navy Hymn (Original poem by William Whiting, 1860)

[Forkboy]

10. I think he'd really appreciate that poem

Probably had it memorized himself.

[Big_Mike]

11. RIP, Silent Warrior.

Fair winds and following seas.

[DemoTex]

12. That's it: Fair winds and following seas.

You can tell I was an Airdale.

[Ezlivin]

13. On Eternal Patrol - "Sailor Rest Your Oar..."

When your final dive is made, and your battery's running low,
You’ll know there lies a boat for you many fathoms here below,
With your annunciators jammed on full and your depth gauge needles bent,
Your accumulator's dry of oil and your air banks all are spent,

It's then you get to wonderin', "is my life's boat rigged for dive?"
Your guessing drill commences, "am i dead or still alive?"
You pace the flooded decks with scorn and curse the flaws of man.
Into realms of Rex you've stepped, and here you'll make your stand.

To live your life, as sailors must, at the bottom of the sea,
There's one you'll have to reckon-that one, my friend, is thee.
Will your conscience do you justice when the final muster's in?
Did you lead the kind of life you should in every port you've been?

The answers to these questions and many, many more,
are locked in the hearts of sailormen from Cannes to Singapore.
So, when your day for mast rolls 'round. The choice is up to you,
sailor chart your course of life right now. Chart it straight and true.

Now's the time to flood your tanks and trim up 'fore and aft.
It's a trifle late when the klaxon sounds to square away your craft.
Your final billet lies below, on "Old Ocean’s" floor.
So, be ready when that last word's passed. Sailor, rest your oar!