More than six months after his nomination, and just shy of a month after his Senate confirmation, Adm. Bill Houston on Thursday took over as director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program that develops reactors for Navy warships and submarines.
Houston took over for Adm. Frank Caldwell, who became director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program in August 2015. The change of command took place during a ceremony at Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. In his new capacity as head of naval nuclear reactors, Houston also serves as a deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
During Caldwell’s tenure, the program achieved more than 15 million miles steamed on nuclear power and over 800 reactor-years of safe operations while training and qualifying over 3,800 officers, 14,600 Sailors and 260 civilians to operate and maintain nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers, the
The program also completed design and began construction of the USS District of Columbia ballistic missile submarine and 10 new Virginia-class submarines, the Navy said. The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier also was delivered and conducted its maiden deployment to the eastern Mediterranean.
Caldwell also “orchestrated the President’s initiative to assist Australia in acquiring a conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarine capability, ushering in the generational AUKUS framework,” agreement between Australia, the U.S. and the U.K.
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm presided over the ceremony and spoke of the unique partnership between Naval Reactors, Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration.
“I have seen firsthand how the Naval Reactors team cooperates day in and day out with our National Labs, with other teammates at DoE, with the Navy, and with our allies and partners around the world,” Granholm said. “And for the past eight years, Admiral Caldwell has modeled the team spirit, the skill, and the strategic vision that has made Naval Reactors so successful.”
Houston, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., and a graduate of the University of Notre Dame is the eighth director of naval reactors. He most recently served as commander of Naval Submarine Forces, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, and commander of Allied Submarine Forces.
“This organization enables the most survivable leg of the nuclear triad providing 70% of the nation’s strategic deterrent via nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines,” Houston said. “This is the same organization that gives national leadership the ability to respond to any security crisis throughout the world with the most visible and powerful sign of American power and determination, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. It is also the same organization that provides the Navy with its Apex Predator in its nuclear-powered fast attack submarine.”