The Watch Is Set

When the band had finished and the speeches were over, square-jawed Commander James Osborn, 41, stepped forward on the deck, read the commissioning orders and said: "I am ready to hoist the colors." Up went the Stars and Stripes and the commissioning pennant on the first U.S. submarine of a new class to join the fleet--the history-making Polaris sub George Washington.* Skipper Osborn next turned smartly to his executive officer, snapped a gloved salute. "Mr. Hannifin," he ordered, "set the watch."

With this brief ceremony at Electric Boat's Wet Dock D in Groton, Conn., the U.S. last week took a giant step toward a new era of warfare and a revolutionary concept in the Navy's defense role. Hopefully by year's end, George Washington will be armed with 16 nuclear-tipped, 1,200-mile-range Polaris missiles, ready to prowl the globe as an undersea missile-launching platform. She is the first of a projected nine Polaris subs that will give the U.S. a new order of strategic capability against the Soviet Union. "Under this stout hull," said Dr. George Kistiakowsky, President Eisenhower's chief scientific adviser, "there are now hidden--or will soon be--the most advanced and diverse products of our technology; turbine and rocket propulsion, nuclear power and nuclear weapons, electronics ... It is a breathtaking microcosm of American technology." Blue & Gold. The 5,400-ton George Washington and her sister subs can roam the seas of the earth at speeds and depths far beyond enemy search capabilities.

Since her nuclear refueling cycle is measured in years and not miles, she can outlast a single crew, thus becomes the first ship of the line to be manned by alternate crews, the "Blue" and the "Gold." (Each will remain on station for three months while the other is on shore leave or in training.) An electrolytic generator will manufacture the ship's oxygen supply, and a diagnostic computer will check out every missile and every major subsystem to provide instant intelligence about malfunctioning equipment.

Deep in her lowest bay--three decks below--will be a big safe containing the tapes for the guidance computers.

A Ship's Inertial Navigation System (SINS) will provide the attack center with instantaneous pinpoint positioning, and the tapes can be quickly fed into computers to program missile shots to preset targets. Even while submerged, George Washington can receive messages, and if war should come, she would be able to fire her 16 Polaris missiles at 16 separate targets from below the surface depths within a few minutes (see map). "After that," says Skipper Osborn, "our war is over, and we go home." Three Years Ahead. The technological war to get the Polaris weapon systems built got started just three years ago with an encouraging kick from Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke. Said Burke to Rear Admiral William Raborn Jr., officer in charge: "Tell me what you have done, not what you are going to do." Raborn cut years off the schedule (original target date: 1963), partly by starting in on a hull that was already in construction (the first Skipjack). The parallel program for the development of the Polaris solid-fuel missile cranked up more speed. Raborn poured new money into every bottleneck-ing delay, kept his promise that he would have the first ship in commission by late 1959; he made his deadline by one day.

In all, the Polaris program is producing missile subs at the rate of one every four months; a total of $2.7 billion has been appropriated for it. The Navy has successfully fired dummy missiles from below the surface, and the development versions of Polaris missile have made good scores in surface firings (more than 900 miles). If Raborn can keep his promise to make Polaris operational late this year, George Washington will be three years ahead of schedule--and uncounted years ahead in the singular art of nuclear warfare.

*Which, with three other Polaris subs already launched but not yet commissioned (Robert E. Lee, Patrick Henry, Theodore Roosevelt), begins a new Navy custom of naming submarines for people, not fish.

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