Vice Admiral Eugene P. “Dennis” Wilkinson (Photo: U.S. Navy)

August 10, 2024, marks the 106th birthday of Vice Admiral Eugene P. “Dennis” Wilkinson of the U.S. Navy (who died in his 95th year in July 2013). It is a fitting time to reflect on and honor the man who contributed so much to the navy and the worldwide nuclear power industry.

This video about the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944—the largest naval battle of World War II and a major contributing factor to the end of Japanese involvement—provides an exciting recount of the heroic U.S. submarines USS Darter (SS-227) and USS Dace (SS-247). A young Dennis Wilkinson was the torpedo data computer operator on the Darter, for which he was awarded the Silver Star. Wilkinson’s first-person recollections of this pivotal moment in U.S. naval history have been collected in Underway on Nuclear Power: The Man Behind the Words (2016, ANS).

The United States and Japan began rebuilding relations after the war. In 1966, Wilkinson, by then an admiral, was assigned chief of staff, U.S. Forces Japan, to continue those efforts.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) announced on February 10 that it is set to deactivate and demolish the prototype for the reactor used for the USS Nautilus, the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine and the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole.

In the early days of the development of nuclear power, a broad range of nuclear technologies and applications were explored. Among these developments were the use of nuclear propulsion for ships, both military and civilian, as well as a floating nuclear power plant. While the use of nuclear power for naval vessels, including submarines and surface ships, continued, most of the civilian uses of nuclear power on the water were ultimately terminated.

Recently, however, there has been a resurgence of interest in both floating nuclear power plants and the use of nuclear propulsion in the civilian sector. The renewed interest makes this a particularly timely moment to recount the initial developments in this area. Some of the early civilian nuclear vessels were discussed in two sessions during the June 2021 ANS Annual Meeting, “NS Savannah History” and “History of Non-­Naval Nuclear Ship Power.” This article draws on the presentations from those sessions, the second of which was cochaired by the authors, as well as on other studies of the history of nuclear power.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Dennis Wilkinson, born 102 years ago today. Dennis did so much for the nuclear power industry—both in the Navy and in the commercial sector. When people first met him, he invariably stuck out his hand, grinned, and said, “Hi, I’m Dennis.” No pretense, no pomposity, no self-importance. Supremely confident and brilliant, he was also compassionate and warm with an engaging sense of humor. Many people he met became life-long friends, as he often said that “friendship is forever.”

Winters

Dennis Wilkinson would have celebrated his 100th birthday on August 10, 2018. The life and career of the man who captained the first nuclear-powered submarine and the first nuclear-­powered surface ship and was the first president and chief executive officer of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) have been captured in Ann Winters’s book, Underway on Nuclear Power: The Man Behind the Words, Eugene P. “Dennis” Wilkinson, Vice Admiral USN.

Because of his inherent drive, Wilkinson was often called a cowboy, maverick, visionary, innovator, and superb leader. As the first commanding officer of USS Nautilus, he was a major player in revolutionizing underwater warfare. Nautilus and its crew were immensely popular, at home and abroad, and in the 1950s became what we now call “rock stars.” Nautilus gave nuclear power celebrity status at a time when the United States and the world were grappling with Cold War issues.