William Anderson (naval Officer) - Early Life and Naval Career

Early Life and Naval Career

Anderson was born in Humphreys County, Tennessee in the rural community of Bakerville, south of Waverly. He attended primary school in Waynesboro, Tennessee where his father ran a sawmill. He graduated from the former Columbia Military Academy in Columbia, Tennessee in 1938, and from the United States Naval Academy as a member of the Class of 1943, which graduated early in 1942.

Anderson's service in World War II was distinguished. He was awarded the Bronze Star and several other combat decorations from participation in a total of eleven combat submarine patrols. He was selected by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover to be the second skipper of the first working nuclear submarine to be placed into service, the USS Nautilus, and was its commander from 1957 to 1959. Anderson and his crew received international notice when the Nautilus became the first submarine to sail successfully under the polar ice cap surrounding the North Pole.

That transit was completed under direct orders of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, under extreme secrecy, and was in direct response to the launch of the Sputnik satellite by the Russians. The president felt such a display of technological and military capability would offset the advantage won by the Soviets with Sputnik. The voyage by Anderson and his crew led the way for other submarine exploration beneath the ice cap and gave a decided military advantage to the U.S. Anderson received the Legion of Merit from President Eisenhower for leading his crew and ship on this historic mission.