And, finally, in what was easily the most emotional aspect of the trans-formation, Rickover made it clear that most of the officers who had previously served in diesel submarines (the same officers who had just popularly “won the war in the Pacific” were not welcome in nuclear submarines.
David Oliver, Against the Tide
Our this time is different series builds on the idea that system changes dictate when things are different.
Ask, Have the rules changed?
Nuclear submarines were different from their diesel counterparts, writes Oliver. In the Pacific theater, during WWII, the diesel submarines got “within rock throwing range”. That strategy and “the stress of war distinguished the ducks from the drakes in the submarine officer corps”.
Those captains were cowboys.
Which is what Hyman Rickover did not need.
Nuclear submarine captains needed to be smart and prudent. They had to be wise and calculating. They needed less gung-ho and more ho-hum.
This time was different because the system of war had changed.
The Waiter's Pad 