“We had to send in firefighting teams to put out the fire...one of the teams was knocked down when a weapon cooked off...I was right in the middle where that rupture occurred, and we did our pipe patching duties just like we were trained.”
Lieutenant Commander David Hill, USN
The United States Navy Memorial Stories of Service Program is honored to announce the December 2019 story of the month has been selected to recognize the service of United States Navy Veteran, Lieutenant Commander David Hill. The United States Navy Memorial Stories of Service Program was privileged to interview Lieutenant Commander David Hill at the USS Nimitz CVN 68 reunion being held at Philadelphia Pennsylvania in the Fall of 2018.
Lieutenant Commander David Hill began his interview by sharing, as a young man, he had great interest in things that had nuclear propulsion. His fascination was kindled by his Fathers work at the Oak 
Ridge National Laboratory. After visiting the site and being contacted by a Navy Recruiter who shared information about the nuclear power field in the United States Navy, he decided to join. After reflecting on his future, Hill was compelled to learn more about nuclear power and the advantages of the GI Bill affording the opportunity for college. After joining, he was given the option to choose which boot camp training facility to attend and was one of the first classes to graduate from Recruit Training Center Orlando. Upon completion of basic training, he was also a member of one of the first classes to also graduate from nuclear power school in Orlando later that year.
His first assignment was to the USS Orion, a tender for fast attack submarines. He recalled, "they were a tender for fast attack submarines that were doing a lot of interesting missions. They were putting nuclear powered submarines underneath the Polar ice caps...they were doing things no one was really talking about and later you would find out what they were doing and it was some amazing stuff." After reflecting on the submarine service, he decided his future would be on the surface fleet and work on nuclear powered aircraft carriers.
His next assignment was to receive greater training in Orlando and in New York to learn from a land-based reactor prototype at the Kenneth A. Kesselring Site, Naval Nuclear Laboratory. After successfully completing the training process he was invited to be an instructor at the program in New York. After two years he was offered to participate in another school, but decided it was time to go to sea and was ordered to the USS Nimitz CVN 68.
He spoke with pride of his service on the USS Nimitz and embraced his assignment working on
the reactor on the newest carrier in the feet at the time. When the Nimitz went to sea, Hill shared vivid memories of a plane crash which led to the loss of 45 shipmates on May the 26th, 1981. After one of the firefighting systems ruptured, he recalled, "We had to send in firefighting teams to put out the fire...one of the teams was knocked down when a weapon cooked off...I was right in the middle where that rupture occurred, and we did our pipe patching duties just like we were trained.” Hill would be commended for his actions. After securing from the accident, Hill would sail on the USS Nimitz to the Mediterranean. Over the span of his 28 year naval career, Hill would also serve in significant roles aboard the USS Enterprise CVN 65 and the USS John C. Stennis CVN 74.
The United States Navy Memorial honors United States Navy Veteran, Lieutenant Commander David Hill, featured within this series titled, Tales from the Navy Log, Story of the Month. Each month, this series honors a Veteran’s story recorded by the Stories of Service Program at the Navy Memorial. To learn more about this story and to explore the Navy Memorial archive, visit the Navy Memorial Stories of Service site at http://navylog.navymemorial.org/stories-of-service.
To view this interview please visit the USS Nimitz CVN 68 Collection on the Navy Memorial Stories of Service page.
Interview of David Hill Part One Deciding to Join the Navy in 1976 and Training at Orlando
Interview of David Hill Part Two Service Memories of the USS Orion and Nuclear Power School Orlando
Interview of David Hill Part Three First Memories of the USS Nimitz in RM Division and the Flight Deck Crash on May 26th 1981
Interview of David Hill Part Four Memories of the Mediterranean Cruise from 1980 to 1982
Interview of David Hill Part Five Life on the USS Nimitz during the Mediterranean Cruise from 1980 to 1982
Interview of David Hill Part Six Becoming an Officer and Service on the USS Enterprise CVN 65
Interview of David Hill Part Seven Memories as Serving as an Administrator at Nuclear Field A School
Interview of David Hill Part Eight Service on the USS John C. Stennis CVN 74 and Final Assignments Before Retiring in 2004