By Rob Gates
The current film Oppenheimer focuses, as anticipated, on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the eponymous hero of the story and Director of Venture Y in Los Alamos. Nevertheless, it overlooks one other essential determine – Navy Captain William “Deak” Parsons, an Affiliate Director of Oppenheimer’s and chief of the Ordnance Division of the Manhattan Venture. Parson’s substantial contributions warrant a better examination, particularly his evolution in changing into the “Atomic Admiral.”
Beginnings
William Sterling Parsons was born in Chicago in November 1901 however grew up in Fort Sumner, New Mexico after his father moved the household there in 1909. He was largely homeschooled though he attended the native elementary faculty for six years beginning at age 8. He skipped grades and caught as much as and handed his contemporaries. He completed grade faculty at dwelling after being pulled out of the native faculty, and began at Santa Rosa Excessive College. He moved from freshman to junior in a single yr. He was inspired to take the Naval Academy examination earlier than his senior yr, handed it, and have become the second alternate. He obtained the appointment when neither the principal nor first alternate handed the examination.
He reported to the Naval Academy at age 16 for the bodily examination. He was seen as too brief and underweight and was rejected. He argued earlier than the inspecting board that he was youthful than the opposite candidates and, after all smaller, and that he could be the required measurement when he reached their age. The board purchased his argument and gave him a waiver. He grew to become a member of the category of 1922, overlapping with Hyman Rickover’s time on the academy. His household known as him Invoice however, as was customized on the Naval Academy, he was given a nickname – Deacon, as a play on his final title, which was shortened to Deac or Deak.
Early Profession
His first task after commencement was as a gunnery officer on the USS Idaho (BB-42). After a profitable tour, he was despatched to the Naval Postgraduate College (NPS) in Annapolis in 1927, the place he was a pupil within the ordnance course and studied beneath Dr. Charles C. Bramble.1 On the conclusion of the NPS course, college students had been required to take a subject posting, and Parsons got here to Dahlgren in early 1930. Whereas there, Dr. L.T.E. Thompson noticed promise in him and suggested Parsons to turn into an Engineering Obligation Officer so his shore assignments wouldn’t be interrupted by durations of sea obligation. Parsons noticed himself as a line officer and declined the recommendation. In June 1930, he was assigned to the USS Texas (BB-35).
On the finish of that tour, in 1933, he was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) as liaison to the Naval Analysis Laboratory. This proved to be an essential task, the place he was launched to radar. He grew to become one thing of an professional in radar and one in every of its strongest advocates within the Navy, particularly for fireplace management. His advocacy, nevertheless, resulted in little as his superiors within the Bureau of Ordnance didn’t share his enthusiasm.
His subsequent assignments had been at sea. He served because the Govt Officer on the USS Aylwin (DD-355) from June 1936 till March 1938. He was then assigned as gunnery officer to enhance the gunnery scores of USS Detroit, the flagship of Rear Admiral William R. Sexton, who was serving as Commander of destroyers within the Pacific’s battle fleet. In mid-1939, Parsons was assigned to the Naval Proving Floor in Dahlgren as Experimental Officer.
Early Struggle Years and the VT Fuze
As Experimental Officer he was liable for planning and scheduling all testing at Dahlgren. Merle Tuve (of the Nationwide Protection Analysis Committee, NDRC) visited Dahlgren in 1940 to debate ideas for improved anti-aircraft protection. Parsons knew of Tuve from his radar work and commenced collaborating with him. He provided Dahlgren’s amenities for testing the early variations of the VT fuze. There was promise however little success in testing at first with 90 % of the fuzes failing. Lastly in January 1942, there have been 26 profitable checks of a batch of fifty fuzes – exceeding BuOrd’s 50 % threshold – and Parsons really useful that the fuze go into manufacturing. The Navy took over program route and scheduling however needed the Workplace of Scientific Analysis and Improvement (OSRD), particularly Vannevar Bush and Merle Tuve, to retain technical route. Parsons was detailed from Dahlgren to function Bush’s deputy overseeing the work of Tuve’s Part T.
Testing of the fuze continued with a profitable take a look at within the Chesapeake Bay close to Tangier Island in June 1942. The USS Cleveland (CL-55) engaged and destroyed three goal drones, reportedly with solely three photographs. The Cleveland was instantly despatched to North Africa after which the Pacific. When a list of 5,000 fuzes was accessible at Mare Island,2 plans had been made to ship them to the fleet for testing in fight. Parson went onboard the USS Helena (CL-50) and, on January 5, 1943, the ship efficiently engaged two Aichi dive bombers and shot down each. He and others spent the subsequent three months coaching crews within the Pacific on using the brand new weapon.
He returned to Dahlgren on the finish of March, hoping to wrap up his fuze work and be assigned sea obligation within the conflict zone. It was to not be.
Venture Y – The Manhattan Venture at Los Alamos
Vannevar Bush was involved about Brigadier Normal Leslie R. Groves’ route and Military dominance of the Manhattan Venture, in addition to Groves’ insensitivity to scientists. The Navy Coverage Committee met and really useful some modifications. Groves additionally needed an ordnance and fuze professional assigned to the mission. No certified Military officers had been accessible and the chance to assign a navy officer, and one who understood military-scientist relationships, offered itself. Bush knew Parsons from his VT fuze work and really useful him to Groves.
Parson subsequently obtained orders to report back to Admiral Ernest King, Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, at once. In a ten-minute assembly, King stuffed him in on Venture Y after which had him meet with Normal Groves. Groves accredited of his appointment and had him meet with J. Robert Oppenheimer, Venture Y Director, the subsequent day. Parsons was assigned to King’s employees with the rank of Captain on June 1, 1943 and named Affiliate Director of Venture Y and Head of the Ordnance Division.3
Inside a number of days the Parsons and Oppenheimer had been on the prepare sure for Los Alamos.4 They spent the time speaking earlier than they reached their vacation spot, the place they laid out their philosophies and the brand new organizational construction. Oppenheimer was completely satisfied to show over the obligations for ordnance issues to Parsons and to concentrate on physics. Likewise, Parsons’s energy was in “weaponizing” the bomb and addressing the operational issues related to its fight supply.
Parsons needed to deliver on further employees and approached folks he knew from the VT fuze and radar work. He additionally went again to the Naval Proving Floor and recruited a number of folks, together with Thomas Olmstead, a technician, Norris Bradbury, an professional in exterior ballistics, and Frederick Ashworth, the senior naval aviator on the Proving Floor. Parsons was later criticized for his propensity to rent Navy folks.
Parsons additionally went to Dahlgren for ballistic testing of the gun-type bomb form. The testing was carried out utilizing Parsons’ “sewer pipe” bombs. The take a look at bombs had been made by reducing a normal bomb in half and increasing the bomb by inserting a size of sewer pipe. The NPG staff and aviators speculated on what they had been testing however apparently, nobody guessed the precise reply.
Parsons’s division was primarily liable for creating the gun-type/Uranium-235 bomb that was initially known as “Skinny Man” (after Franklin D. Roosevelt) and, later, “Little Boy.” The division additionally studied the implosion-type/Plutonium bomb often called “Fats Man” (after Winston Churchill). Plutonium had benefits over Uranium-235, and when it was found that it was not appropriate for a gun-type bomb, the implosion-type bomb took on higher significance. There was one other reorganization in July 1944 and Parsons’s group took on the duty of constructing each bombs combat-deliverable.
From the start, Parsons had deliberate on being the weaponeer for the primary fight use of the bomb and expressed that to Groves. When the push to completion began – known as Venture Alberta – in March 1945, Parsons knowledgeable Groves that in accordance together with his (Groves) needs, he was going to be the weaponeer when Little Boy was used. He was formally named the Officer in Cost of the Los Alamos Abroad Technical Group and weaponeer on the primary mission.
Frederick Ashworth had been introduced in to work with the Military Air Power on the B-29. Parsons deliberate to fly in a B-29, piloted by Ashworth, over the take a look at at Trinity as a gown rehearsal for the primary mission. It didn’t transpire as he hoped for as a result of he was required to remain 25 miles away from the take a look at website. Nonetheless, he had an amazing view of the Trinity detonation.
Ashworth led the group that chosen Tinian Island as the placement of the B-29 base. As soon as it was constructed, the weather of the bomb, Los Alamos employees, and the 509th Composite Group (beneath the command of Col. Paul Tibbets) had been moved to Tinian. Parsons additionally went to make ultimate preparations.
After climate delays, the mission was scheduled for August 6. Groves’ route was that the bomb was to be assembled on the bottom earlier than the flight. However Parsons had seen 4 overloaded B-29s crash on takeoff and was involved about taking off with a totally armed atomic bomb. Early on August 5, he expressed his considerations to Brigadier Normal Thomas Farrell, deputy director of the Manhattan Venture, reportedly saying, “If that occurs tomorrow morning, we may get a nuclear explosion and blow up half the island.” He determined to ignore Groves’ directions and arm the bomb in flight. He spent the remainder of the day (and night) creating and training the method to do exactly that.
The B-29 took off at 0245 on August 6 and, after it reached cruising altitude, Parsons and Electronics Check Officer, Lieutenant Morris Jeppson entered the bomb bay. Jeppson held the flashlight whereas Parsons adopted the 11-point guidelines that he had developed yesterday, and positioned the gunpowder-armed fuze behind the Uranium-235 “bullet.” At 0630, Parsons directed Jeppson to return to the bomb bay and change the inexperienced security plug with a pink plug. The bomb was now totally armed, and was efficiently dropped at 0915.
That basically ended Parsons’s position within the Manhattan Venture. Ashworth was the weaponeer on the second mission when the Fats Man bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. The conflict ended 5 days later.
Postwar Years
Parsons knew that when he accepted the Manhattan Venture task that he had given up the chance for wartime command at sea. After the conflict, he concluded that with out that command expertise, his probabilities for promotion and his future within the Navy weren’t good. Because it occurred, he was promoted to Commodore and Rear Admiral whereas on Tinian. It additionally turned out that he was in demand due to his atomic expertise and was named technical deputy to the Commander, Operation Crossroads.5 He went on to different positions, together with Director of Atomic Protection beneath the Deputy CNO (Air), and Deputy Director of the Armed Forces Particular Weapons Venture beneath Normal Groves. He additionally reprised his position as technical deputy to Commander, Operation Sandstone, a collection of atomic bomb checks performed in April 1948. These and different assignments led to his being often called the “Atomic Admiral.”
Detonation of Shot Baker throughout Operation Crossroads on July 25, 1946.
In 1951, he lastly acquired his command at sea when he was named Commander, Cruiser Division Six within the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. In March 1952, he grew to become Deputy Chief, Bureau of Ordnance and his future regarded vivid, He used his affect to advertise analysis and set up Navy laboratories and, due to his experience, was concerned in lots of technical initiatives. He was busy to the purpose of exhaustion.
When he went to Los Alamos in 1943, he labored carefully with Oppenheimer. They lived in adjoining homes on “Bathtub Row” (so known as as a result of they had been the biggest homes in Los Alamos and the one ones on the mesa with bathtubs) and their households grew to become shut. They stayed in contact after the conflict and infrequently vacationed collectively.
When Parsons discovered that President Eisenhower had determined {that a} “clean wall be positioned between Dr. Oppenheimer and secret information,” successfully negating Oppenheimer’s Q-level safety clearance, in accordance with Parson’s spouse, he grew to become “visibly upset” and commenced to endure chest pains. He concluded that it was not a coronary heart assault however, when he was no higher the subsequent morning, his spouse insisted that he go to the Bethesda Naval Hospital. Whereas being ready for an electrocardiogram, the Atomic Admiral died on the age of 52 on December 5, 1953.
Though Deak Parsons died younger, his contributions to the Navy had been important and his legacy is unbroken. His early Navy profession was very similar to many different junior officers of the time, however even then, his experience in ordnance and gunnery had been obvious. His legacy got here later in his profession and is usually seen in his technical contributions, starting on the Naval Proving Floor. His partnership with Dr. L.T.E. Thompson had an amazing affect on the Proving Floor and the Navy. Their imaginative and prescient was of a naval laboratory the place scientists and officers would work carefully collectively on inventive analysis that was key to the Navy’s future. This imaginative and prescient would take root and set the sample for Navy laboratories that has persevered to the current. His contributions to the Variable Time fuze and Venture Y present the profitable software of that precept to a number of the most essential initiatives of World Struggle II. After the conflict, Parsons grew to become the Navy’s main authority on nuclear points and an early advocate of nuclear energy for ships and nuclear strike functionality for plane carriers. In brief, he helped lead the Navy into the nuclear age. He was on observe to turn into the Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance when he died. Undoubtedly, many extra accomplishments would have adopted.
Robert V. (Rob) Gates, a retired Navy Senior Govt, served because the Technical Director on the Naval Floor Warfare Heart (NSWC), Indian Head Division, and in lots of technical and government positions at NSWC, Dahlgren Division, together with head of the Strategic and Strike Programs Division. He holds a B.S. in Physics from the Virginia Navy Institute, a Masters in Engineering Science from Penn State, and a Masters and PhD in Public Administration from Virginia Tech. He’s a graduate of the U.S. Naval Struggle Faculty. Dr. Gates is the Vice President of the board of the Dahlgren Heritage Basis.
Bibliography
Baldwin, Ralph B. The Lethal Fuze: Secret Weapon of World Struggle II, Presidio Press, 1980.
Hen, Kai and Martin J. Sherwin, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J, Robert Oppenheimer, Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.
Christman, Albert B. Goal Hiroshima: Deke Parsons and the Creation of the Atomic Bomb. Annapolis, Naval Institute Press, 1998.
Christman, Al, “Deak Parsons: Officer-Scientist.” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, 56-61, January 1992.
Christman, Al, “A New Type of Officer.” U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings, 79-80, Could 1998.
Furer, Julius Augustus, Administration of the Navy Division in World Struggle II, Division of the Navy, 1959.
Gates, Robert V, “Dahlgren’s Secret: It’s Folks,” Northern Neck of Virginia Historic Journal, 9458-9470, December 2022.
McCollum, Kenneth G., Ed, Dahlgren, NSWC, 1977.
Rife, James P. and Rodney P. Carlisle, The Sound of Freedom: Naval Weapons Know-how at Dahlgren, Virginia 1918-2006, NSWCDD, 2007.
Rowland, Buford and William B. Boyd, U.S. Navy Bureau of Ordnance in World Struggle II, Bureau of Ordnance, Division of the Navy, 1953.
Stern, Philip M. and Harold P. Inexperienced, The Oppenheimer Case: Safety on Trial, Harper & Row, 1969.
References
1. Apparently, Bramble additionally has a connection to Dahlgren. He often visited Dahlgren, whereas educating on the NPS, to remain present in ordnance developments (beginning in 1924). He got here to Dahlgren in 1942 when ordnance work was moved out of Washington and stayed till 1946, when he went again to the NPS. He returned to Dahlgren in 1947 and stayed till the top of 1954. He was Dahlgren’s first Director of Analysis starting in 1951. He was succeeded by Dr. Russell Lyddane, the primary to be known as Technical Director.
2. Ten per cent of every batch was despatched to Dahlgren for testing.
3. He continued to be listed as a member of King’s employees because it offered “cowl” and saved his precise task secret.
4. Groves prohibited senior mission leaders and scientists from flying. He modified his coverage within the spring of 1945.
5. Operation Crossroads was a pair of atomic bomb checks at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946.
Featured Picture: The “Baker Day” atomic bomb take a look at, Bikini Atoll, July 25, 1946.
