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Home Town Louisville, Kentucky
Last Address Annapolis, Maryland
Date of Passing Dec 30, 2013
Location of Interment U.S. Naval Academy Cemetery and Columbarium (VLM) - Annapolis, Maryland
Admiral Kinnaird R. McKee passed away on December 30, 2013 in Annapolis, MD at the age of eighty four following an extended illness Admiral McKee, a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, was known for his extraordinary submarine career, his leadership as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy and as the man who took the helm of the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Power program after the retirement of Admiral H.G. Rickover.
Admiral McKee was born on August 14, 1929 in Louisville, Kentucky. After being raised in Memphis, Chicago and Dallas. His family moved to Gulfport Mississippi where he attended the Gulf Coast Military Academy and first learned to sail. From GCMA, he was accepted to and entered the Naval Academy in 1947 with the class of 1951. Still an avid and competitive sailor, he was on the varsity sailing team.
After his graduation and Navy commissioning in 1951, he was assigned to the destroyer USS Marshal (DD-676) where he served during the Korean War. Following his duty on the Marshall he met and married Betty Ann Harris from Montgomery Alabama, and began his submarine career.
After serving on diesel-powered submarines Picuda (SS 382), Sea Cat (SS 399) and Marlin (SS T2), then-Lieutenant McKee took command of the experimental hydrogen peroxide-powered submarine SS X-1 as officer in charge. He subsequently was accepted into the 2nd nuclear power school class and later assigned to the commissioning crew of USS Skipjack (SSN 585), the first of a class of high-speed, highly maneuverable attack submarines. As Skipjack's engineer, he worked closely with the Royal Navy in the nuclear training of the Royal Navy's first nuclear submarine, HMS Dreadnought. Lieutenant Commander McKee followed this tour with assignments as Executive Officer of USS Nautilus (SSN-571) and USS Sam Houston (SSBN-609).
Commander McKee was later assigned to the Office of Naval Reactors working for Admiral Rickover. Upon completion of this assignment Commander McKee took command of the nuclear submarine USS Dace (SSN 607), earning for Dace a fleet-wide reputation for exceptional performance over the next 3 years.
With orders to the Navy Staff in Washington, then-Captain McKee founded
the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Executive Panel and became its first Director, charged with providing the CNO with expert outside advice and a systematic method for setting future Navy policy and goals. While in this job, he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral.
RADM McKee was next assigned command of Submarine Group 8 and NATO's submarine forces in the Mediterranean, during a time when U.S. submarines maintained a critical role in monitoring Soviet Mediterranean Fleet operations in such crises as the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Cyprus Conflict of 1974.
RADM McKee then assumed command of the United States Naval Academy as the 48th Superintendent in 1975. As Superintendent, RADM McKee refined the diverse curriculum and provided leadership for successful entry and integration of the first women midshipmen at the Naval Academy. During his time in Annapolis, he was promoted to Vice Admiral.
VADM McKee assumed command of the Third Fleet in Hawaii followed by duty on the Navy Staff as the first Director of Naval Warfare, quickly followed by his reassignment as the Director of Naval Reactors following the retirement of Admiral Hyman Rickover. McKee was awarded his 4th star at this time and spent the next 7 years leading the Navy's program for development and maintenance of the nuclear power plants in all US Navy aircraft carriers and submarines. Design work for the SEAWOLF class of fast attack submarines was initiated and funded during his tour.
In 1988 ADM McKee completed his extraordinary 41 year naval career and retired to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where he pursued his love of sailing, and boat model building. His post Navy career included serving on the board of directors of PECO and ENTERGY corporations and providing engineering and management consulting services to several major engineering firms.
Following the death of his first wife Betty Ann in 1997, ADM McKee met and married Patti Bailey Kirkpatrick in 1999. ADM and Mrs. McKee continued to live in Oxford and Easton on the eastern shore of Maryland until the summer of 2013, when they moved to Annapolis, MD.
Admiral McKee was honored in 2006 as a Naval Academy Distinguished Graduate. The Navy Submarine League also honored him in 2011 with the Distinguished Submariner Award.
ADM McKee is survived by his beloved wife Patti Bailey McKee, his son James H. McKee of Easton, MD, daughter Anne A. McKee of Burke, VA and Mercer Trapp of Augusta, GA, as well as Patti's children Patti Kirkpatrick of Phoenix, AZ, Mac Kirkpatrick of Glenmore, PA, Lynn Demast of Santa Barbara, CA and Andrew J. Kirkpatrick of San Jose, CA and 14 grandchildren.
A Memorial Service will be held at 1pm on Tuesday, 28 January 2014 in the Main Chapel at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Admiral McKee's name may be made to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation at 410-295-4115.
NEC 112X-Unrestricted Line Officer - Submarine Warfare
Base, Station or City Not Specified
State/Country United States
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USS Nautilus (SSN-571) Details
Hull number SSN-571
USS Nautilus (SSN-571) is the world's first operational nuclear-poweredsubmarine. She was the first vessel to complete a submerged transit beneath the North Pole on August 3, 1958. Namesake of the submarine in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and named after another USS Nautilus(SS-168) that served with distinction in World War II, Nautilus was authorized in 1951 and launched in 1954. Because her nuclear propulsion allowed her to remain submerged for far longer than diesel-electric submarines, she broke many records in her first years of operation and was able to travel to locations previously beyond the limits of submarines. In operation, she revealed a number of limitations in her design and construction; this information was used to improve subsequent submarines.
The Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982. She has been preserved as a museum of submarine history in Groton, Connecticut, where she receives some 250,000 visitors a year.
Following her commissioning, Nautilus remained dockside for further construction and testing. At 11 a.m. on 17 January 1955 she put to sea for the first time and signaled her historic message: "Underway on nuclear power."[6] On 10 May, she headed south for shakedown. Submerged throughout, she traveled 2,100 km (1,100 nautical miles) from New London to San Juan, Puerto Rico and covered 2,223 km (1,200 nm) in less than ninety hours. At the time this was the longest submerged cruise by a submarine and at the highest sustained speed (for at least one hour) ever recorded.
From 1955 to 1957, Nautilus continued to be used to investigate the effects of increased submerged speeds and endurance. The improvements rendered the progress made in anti-submarine warfare during the Second World Warvirtually obsolete. Radar and anti-submarine aircraft, which had proved crucial in defeating submarines during the War, proved ineffective against a vessel able to move out of an area in record time, change depth quickly and stay submerged for very long periods.
On 4 February 1957, Nautilus logged her 60,000th nautical mile (111,120 km), matching the endurance of her namesake, the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.[citation needed] In May, she departed for the Pacific Coast to participate in coastal exercises and the fleet exercise, operation "Home Run," which acquainted units of the Pacific Fleet with the capabilities of nuclear submarines.
Nautilus returned to New London, Connecticut, on 21 July and departed again on 19 August for her first voyage of 2,226 km (1,202 nmi) under polar pack ice. Thereafter, she headed for the Eastern Atlantic to participate in NATOexercisesand conduct a tour of various British and French ports where she was inspected by defense personnel of those countries. She arrived back at New London on 28 October, underwent upkeep, and then conducted coastal operations until the spring.
Operation Sunshine - under the North Pole
In response to the nuclear ICBM threat posed by Sputnik, President Eisenhower ordered the US Navy to attempt a submarine transit of the North Pole to gain credibility for the soon-to-come SLBM weapons system.[7] On 25 April 1958,Nautilus was underway again for the West Coast, now commanded by CommanderWilliam R. Anderson, USN. Stopping at San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle, she began her history-making polar transit, operation "Sunshine", as she departed the latter port 9 June. On 19 June she entered the Chukchi Sea, but was turned back by deep draft ice in those shallow waters. On 28 June she arrived at Pearl Harborto await better ice conditions. By 23 July her wait was over and she set a course northward. She submerged in the Barrow Sea Valley on 1 August and on 3 August, at 2315 (EDST) she became the first watercraft to reach the geographic North Pole.[8] The ability to navigate at extreme latitudes and without surfacing was enabled by the technology of the North American Aviation N6A-1 Inertial Navigation System, a naval modification of the N6A used in the Navaho cruise missile. (The N6A-1 had been installed on the Nautilus and the Skate, after initial sea trials on the USS Compass Island in 1957.)[9] From the North Pole, she continued on and after 96 hours and 1,590 nmi (2,940 km) under the ice, she surfaced northeast ofGreenland, having completed the first successful submerged voyage around the North Pole. The technical details of this mission were planned by scientists from the Naval Electronics Laboratory including Dr. Waldo Lyon who accompaniedNautilus as chief scientist and ice pilot.
Navigation beneath the arctic ice sheet was difficult. Above 85°N both magnetic compasses and normal gyrocompassesbecome inaccurate. A special gyrocompass built by Sperry Rand was installed shortly before the journey. There was a risk that the submarine would become disoriented beneath the ice and that the crew would have to play "longitude roulette". Commander Anderson had considered using torpedoes to blow a hole in the ice if the submarine needed to surface.
As mentioned above, the most difficult part of the journey was in the Bering Strait. The ice extended as much as 60 feet (18 m) below sea level. During the initial attempt to go through the Bering Strait, there was insufficient room for the submarine to pass between the ice and the sea bottom. During the second, successful attempt to pass through the Bering passage, the submarine passed through a known channel close to Alaska (this was not the first choice way through the Bering Strait as the submarine wanted to avoid detection).
The trip beneath the ice cap was an important boost to America as the Soviets had recently launched Sputnik but had no nuclear submarine of their own. During the address announcing the journey the president mentioned that one day nuclear cargo submarines might use that route for trade.[
On 2 May 1966, Nautilus returned to her home-port to resume operations with the Atlantic Fleet, and at some point around that month, logged her 300,000th mile (560,000 km) underway. For the next year and a quarter she conducted special operations for ComSubLant and then in August 1967, returned to Portsmouth, for another year's stay, following which she conducted exercises off the southeastern seaboard. She returned to New London in December 1968.
Nautilus now serves as a museum of submarine history, after undergoing a five-month preservation in 2002, at the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics, at a cost of approximately $4.7 million. The historic ship Nautilusattracts some 250,000 visitors annually to her present berth near the Naval Submarine Base New London.
Nautilus celebrated the 50th anniversary of her commissioning on 30 September 2004 with a ceremony that included a speech from Vice Admiral Eugene P Wilkinson, the first Commanding Officer of Nautilus, and a designation of the ship as an American Nuclear Society National Nuclear Landmark.
Visitors may tour the forward two compartments, with guidance from an automated system. Despite similar alterations to exhibit the engineering spaces, tours aft of the control room are not permitted due to safety and security concerns.
