Si NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 145 - NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1957 Per Copy—15*
Russia Launches
First Nuclear
Surface Ship
LONDON {#)—Russia scored an
other first yesterday, launching
the first atomic-powered surface
ship.
The 16,000-ton icebreaker Len
in slid down the ways in Lenin
grad, Moscow radio announced.
Shipyard workers had originally
hoped to launch it at the time of
celebrations Nov. 7 of the Bolshe-'
vik Revolution’s 40th anniversary.
The broadcast said the ship will
toe capable of breaking thru ice
over six feet thick, will use only
a “few grams of its atomic fuel”
every 24 hours and will be able
to remain at sea for “several
months.”
The first U.S. atomic-powered
surface ship, the 21,000-ton mer
chantman Savannah, is scheduled
to be completed in 1960. The U.S.
Navy has been operating atomic
powered suibs for several years.
Sunbathing in Ship’s
Smokestack Is Feature
Of New Ocean Liner
NEW YORK, UF)—A new liner
will feature a partitioned solar
ium in a smokestack where men
and women can sunbathe.
The dummy smokestack will be
atop the liner Brasil, which goes
into New York-South America
service next summer.
The vessel, being constructed
for the Moore-McCormack Steam
ship Line, needs no topside stacks.
The exhaust from her engines will
toe vented thru stern outlets.
The 57x24-foot solarium, cov
ered toy glass, also may be used as
an observation deck when the
ship nears port.
Strange Light
Seen Yesterday
Over Bering Sea
An unidentifed light, very
bright, was seen by several people
yesterday afternoon over Bering
Sea. i
Those who saw it claim it was
red and then changed color to
bluish shades and appeared to go
into Bering Sea.
Several students leaving school
at 4:00 p.m. were among those
who saw the light as well as peo
ple who were downtown at that
time.
The light could have been any
one of three things: an airplane
flare, the navigating lights of a
plane, or the evening star which
is quite red at times in the sky
over Bering Sea.
Mounties Shoot Two
GIs On Alaska Highway
GRAND PRAIRIE, Alta., Uft—
Two U.S. airmen were shot Sun
day as they were driving down
the Alaska Highway to the U.S.
RCMP arrested Walter John
son, 19, a student at the Univer
sity of Alberta, a few hours later, j
They also seized a .30-.30 rifle.
Sydney Grahn, 32, and Ray
Burkey, 41, both special USAF
investigators, were admitted to
a hospital suffering from shock
and loss of blood.
Johnson was remanded for
mental examination until Jan. 2.
Dismembered Body
Found At Sitka
SITKA UR—Police here reported
finding parts of a dismembered
body, with the fingers chopped off
and the face badly mutilated in
the bay here last vening.
No identification has yet been
made.
‘Complete Revolution of American Education’
Needed to Win Race With Russians, Says Rickover
GROTON, Conn, (if)—RearAdm.
H. G. Rickover said today that
“nothing short of a complete re
organization of American educa
tion . . . can equip us for winning
the educational race with the
Russians.”
“We are slowly thinking our
way thru a thicket of bitter dis
appointment and humiliating truth
to the realization that a 19th cen
tury educational philosophy is as
hopelessly outdated today as the
horii« and buggy,” Admiral Rick
over declared. #
Rickover, head of the Navy’s
scientific team which developed
the atomic submarine and is now
working on nuclear powered sur
face ships, prepared his remarks
for cornerstone laying ceremonies
for the Navy’s $1,000,000 nuclear
power training school.
The new building is scheduled
to open for classes next summer.
Nuclear propulsion courses have
been in operation, however, at the
new London submarine base
school here for nearly a year.
After interviewing more than a
thousand young college men and
officers interested in the project
during the past 19 years, Rickover
said he found only a small per
centage with the necessary quali
fications.
“I could not but come to the
conclusion that something was
radically wrong with the schools
and colleges to whom the educa
tion of these young men had been
entrusted,” he reported.
Rickover offered a remedy—
“Combine the European educa
tional system with adequate funds
and motivate the children by of
fering the highest material re
wards for hard mental study.”
U.S. FAILS IN FIRST ATTEMPT
TO LAUNCH SPACE SATELLITE
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.,
America’s first satellite launching
vehicle exploded in its stand to
day. The Pentagon said another
test probably could not be held
for about 30 days.
There were no casualties.
Extent of Women
Groups Aid to
Hospital Revealed
The recently formed advisory
board for the iJIMM Hospital met
with the administrator. Opal Cat
lin, and the medical director, Dr.
W. Woodcock, last evening and
adopted by-laws by which the
group will be governed.
Although the hospital has been
in the community about 40 years,
this is the first time the adminis
trator has presented some of the
facts and figures concerning the
operation of the hospital by the
Women’s Division of Christian
Service of the Methodist Church.
Although it was realized that
the hospital was not self-sustain
ing, it was surprising to learn that
this women’s organization last
year, for example, sent $96,000
for operation of the institution.
In addition to this, the board
was advised that all the costly re
pairs to the hospital are financed,
and all hospital supplies, linens,
etc., are furnished by the Wom
en’s Division, whose funds come
from women’s church organiza
tions all over the States.
With a staff of 25, the MMM
Hospital is a big and important
business in our community.
A spokesman at Vanguard head
quarters gave these details of the
misfire:
“There was a loss of chamber
1 pressure in the first stage after
two seconds.
“The rocket fell back on the
stand, toppled over toward the
water (to the east) and exploded.”
The American attempt to put a
little 314-pound test sphere into
a globe-circling course 300 miles
up came more than a month after
Russia had sent a 1,000-pound
satellite aloft, and more than two
months after the Soviets launched
their Sputnik I.
Today’s test was a dismal fail
ure.
At the Naval Research Labora
tory, Capt. Peter Horn said there
are two more rockets on the site
at Cape Canaveral, but he could
not tell when “we will launch
another.”
As details began to filter into
Japan and Russia
Sign $28,000,000
Trade Treaty
TOKYO, U?)—Japan and the So
viet Union today signed a com
merce treaty expected to more
than quadruple their trade to $28
mjllion a year each way.
In the first nine months of this
year Japanese exports to Russia
totaled $4,170,000, while the So
viets sent $8,190,000 worth of
goods to Japan.
The Soviet Union agreed to sell
Japan—among other things—tim
ber, manganese and chromium ore
and crude oil.
Japan will send the Soviets
ships, rolling stock, machinery
and electrical equipment, and ma
rine products.
One Killed, Two Injured j
In Kodiak Truck Crash
KODIAK, C5P)—One man was
killed and a companion was in
jured Tuesday when a truck and
trailer jackknifed on an icy road
and crashed into an embankment.
Joseph Peter Towne, 21, me
chanic 3rd class, was killed when
thrown from the cab of the truck.
A companion from the U.S. Na
val station here, Jerald Blando,
I received minor injuries. Blando
I was driving the truck.
Washington Capt. Horn said “lack
of thrust” was the cause of the
failure. He said the giant missile
started off but within two seconds
lost its propellant power. This was
when it fell back on the launch
ing stand and exploded.
Horn said it was presumed that
the first and second stage rockets,
together with their fuels, were a
total loss. But he said the smaller
third stage rocket, containing the
test earth satellite and using a
solid propellant, “was still out
there somewhere” on the flat land
surrounding the launching site.
Horn said it normally requires
“four to six weeks working
around the clock for a rocket crew
to ready a three-stage missile af
ter its delivery.
Horn said it might be possible
to “push human endurance to the
limit” and cut some time off the
interval. But he ruled out so short
a time as two weeks, which one
reporter suggested.
One Vanguard official took the
position that, while the failure
was a disappointment, it was one
of the things that can be expected
in developing a new rocket.
“You know, the percentages
were against us .because we had
three beauts. It’s like not having
an auto accident for three years,’*
the official said.
He referred to the first three
tests which have been officially
described as going off very well.
Congressman Forecasts
Brisk Tourist Trade
For Antarctica Soon
HONOLULU, l/F>—Rep. Robert
Hale (R-Me), thawing out in Hon
olulu after a tour of antarctic ex
ploration .bases, predicted today
that large numbers of tourists will
be flocking to the frigid continent
in a few years.
Hale described Antarctica as
“the most beautiful of continents.”
Its weather, he said, “is really
quite pleasant—in the summer.”
Anchorage Night Club
Damaged by $45,000 Fire
ANCHORAGE, OW—The Last
Chance Club here suffered an
estimated $45,000 damage yester
day in a fire that blazed between
the ceiling and the roof. Damage
was confined to the interior.
Cause of the fire has not yet
been determined. The night club
had only recently been remodeled.