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Robert Halley Wertheim
Nickname(s)Bob[1]
Born(1922-11-09)November 9, 1922
Carlsbad, New Mexico
DiedApril 29, 2020(2020-04-29) (aged 97)
Buried
Miramar National Cemetery
AllegianceUnited States
Service / branchUnited States Navy
Years of service1942-1980
RankRear Admiral
CommandsUnited States Navy Strategic Systems Project Office[2]
Battles / warsWorld War II
*Occupation of Japan
Alma materNew Mexico Military Institute
United States Naval Academy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Spouse(s)Barbara (1946-2001)
Joan (?-2020)
ChildrenJoseph
David

Robert Wertheim (9 November 1922-29 April 2020) was an American naval officer involved in the development of strategic weapons.

Early life

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Robert was born to Joseph and Emma Vorenberg in Carlsbad, New Mexico in 1922.[3] Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he enrolled into the New Mexico Military Institute;[1] graduating there in 1942, he went on to be appointed to the United States Naval Academy.[4][5][a] At the Naval Academy, Wertheim played on the schools fencing team.[7] Wertheim graduated from the Naval Academy in 1945;[1] he graduated with honors.[8]

Military service

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Following his graduation from the Naval Academy, Wertheim's first assignment was to the USS Hyman (DD-732).[5] Transferred to the USS Bordelon (DD-881) at Okinawa, Wertheim served as the ships assistant engineering officer and the communications officer, before being sent to San Francisco to attend electronics school.[5] In April 1946, Wertheim became engaged to Barbara Louis Selig of West Los Angeles;[9] they married in December 1946.[3] Upon completion of electronics school, Wertheim was assigned to the USS Maloy (DE-791) where the ship spent the winter of 1947 providing electricity to Maine.[5] Following his assignment to the Maloy, Wertheim received orders for Sandia Base, where he was a member of the Navy's first nuclear bomb assembly team.[7]

Before being able to advance his education Wertheim completed a sea assignment to the USS Norton Sound (AVM-1), which was used to test guided missiles.[5] In 1954, Wertheim continued his education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning a masters in nuclear physics.[1] That same year, Wertheim was detailed to the USS Los Angeles (CA-135) while it had SSM-N-8 Regulus embarked.[5] In 1955 as a lieutenant, Wertheim headed the group that worked on the design of the atmospheric reentry body of the warheads mounted onto the UGM-27 Polaris.[10]: 53  In June 1956, Wertheim was assigned to the United States Navy Special Projects Office, where he stayed until June 1961.[3]

After assignment to the Special Projects Office, Wertheim was assigned to the Naval Ordnance Test Station in California.[3] While there Wertheim worked on the cancelled development of the AIM-9 Sidewinder for naval surface air defense, called Osprey; he was able to take that work and utilize it for usage for the Army and Marine Corps Air Defense Artillery, including having a hand in its naming, MIM-72 Chaparral.[11] Chaparral being the name for a roadrunner in Mexican Spanish, the state bird for Wertheim's home state.[5][11]

In late 1962, Wertheim was reassigned to the Pentagon, serving under the Director of Defense Research and Engineering Dr. Harold Brown, who he previously met while working on the Polaris missile.[5] That same year, Wertheim was tasked to write a report for the United States to sell the United Kingdom the Polaris missile, instead of the cancelled GAM-87 Skybolt.[12] Wertheim remained at the Pentagon as the Military Assistant for Strategic Weapons until August 1965, which earned him a Joint Service Commendation Medal.[3] During those years, Wertheim was instrumental in having the Strategic Projects Office increase the Poseidon's targeting accuracy by switching the missiles guidance system from only inertial, to stellar-inertial guidance.[10]: 53–54 

After his time in California, Wertheim returned to the Special Projects Office in Washington, D.C., in late 1965.[3]

In 1971, Wertheim is elevated to the rank of rear admiral.[5] That same year, he was awarded the Rear Admiral William S. Parsons Award by the Navy League of the United States.[5] In 1977, Wertheim was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering.[13] That same year, Wertheim became the Director of the Strategic Systems Projects.[3][b] In April 1979, Senator Robert Byrd said of Wertheim, that he "is the Navy's leading authority on strategic missiles".[15] In October 1979, Wertheim was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.[16]

Post-military life

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For seven years, beginning in 1981, Wertheim was the senior vice president of science and engineering of Lockheed Corporation.[1][5][17] In 1983, along with several other dozen retired flag officers, Wertheim took out a full page advertisement in the Washington Times condemning the act of retired Rear Admiral Gene La Rocque appearing on television of the Soviet Union and condemning the defense policy of the United States.[18] In 1987, the New Mexico Military Institute inducted Wertheim into their hall of fame.[4] Beginning in 1988, Wertheim became a private consultant to Science Applications International Corporation.[7] He would also do consultation work with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, United States Department of Defense, and the Draper Laboratory.[1] In 2000, on behalf of the University of California, Wertheim was the lead of a review of Los Alamos National Laboratory after hard drives were missing temporarily.[19] Wertheim was a member of Sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi.[17]

Retirement

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In 2001, Barbara, his wife of 54 years died.[1] In 2005, the alumni association of the Naval Academy awarded Wertheim their Distinguished Graduate Award Medal.[20][c] By at least 2005, Wertheim had re-married Joan, former Levin.[1][21] In 2005, Wertheim spoke to The New Mexico Jewish Historical Society.[22] The next year, he was given the Distinguished Submariner Award by the Naval Submarine League.[23] In 2008, Wertheim was a member of the Defense Science Board's Permanent Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Surety.[24] In 2012, one of his two sons died in Pittsburg.[25][d] On 29 April 2020, Wertheim died;[28] he was buried in Section 11 of Miramar National Cemetery.[29]

Notes

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  1. ^ Wertheim received his Naval Academy appointment by a senator from the state of New Mexico.[6]
  2. ^ Special Projects Office was renamed to Strategic Systems Projects Office in 1968.[14]
  3. ^ That same year, the Distinguished Graduate Award Medal was given to Slade Cutter, Ronald J. Hays, and Ross Perot.[20]
  4. ^ His son Joseph, was also an alumni of the New Mexico Military Institute.[26] Both his son, and he, supported Denis Theatre.[27]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Karagianis, Liz (22 August 2018). "Bob Wertheim, SM '54". Technology Review. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  2. ^ MacKenzie, Donald; Spinardi, Graham (August 1988). "The Shaping of Nuclear Weapon System Technology: US Fleet Ballistic Missile Guidance and Navigation: I: From Polaris to Poseidon". Social Studies of Science. 18 (3): 419–463. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Department of Defense appropriations for 1980. United States Congress. 1979. p. 361-362.
  4. ^ a b "RADM Robert Halley Wertheim, USN (Ret) 1942 JC". Hall of Fame. New Mexico Military Academy. 23 October 1987. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Index to Series of taped interviews with Rear Admiral Robert Halley Wertheim, USN (Ret.) (PDF) (Report). United States Naval Institute. Retrieved 17 August 2021. {{cite report}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |authors= (help)
  6. ^ Register of Alumni. Annapolis, Maryland: U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association. 1 July 1956. p. 414.
  7. ^ a b c "Class of 1946". United States Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation. 2005. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  8. ^ "Pancake Festival's 2015 Military Honoree Rear Admiral Robert H. Wertheim" (PDF). Newsletter. Rancho Bernardo Historical Society. Spring 2015. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Social and Personal". B'nai B'rith Messenger. Los Angeles. 5 April 1946. Retrieved 19 August 2021 – via The National Library of Israel.
  10. ^ a b Spinardi, Graham (6 January 1994). From Polaris to Trident: The Development of US Fleet Ballistic Missile Technology. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521413572.
  11. ^ a b Lawson, Cliff (2017). The Station Comes of Age: History of the Navy at China Lake, California (PDF). Government Printing Office. p. 355. ISBN 9780160939709. Archived from the original on 31 December 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  12. ^ Mackby, Jenifer; Cornish, Paul (2008). U.S.-UK Nuclear Cooperation After 50 Years. Chatham House. Washington, D.C.: Center for Strategic & International Studies. pp. 359–361. ISBN 9780892065301.
  13. ^ "Rear Admiral Robert H. Wertheim". Members. National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  14. ^ "Our History". Strategic Systems Programs. United States Navy. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  15. ^ Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate (1979). Department of Defense Authorization for Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1980 (Report). United States Government Printing Office. p. 2500. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Robert H. Wertheim". Hall of Valor. Sightline Media Group. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
    1979 Congressional Record, Vol. 125, Page S30788 (2 November 1979) Woolsey, James (2 November 1979). "Adm. Robert H. Wertheim" (PDF). Congressional Record - Senate. United States Congress.
    "Trident I Operational" (PDF). All Hands. Alexandria, Virginia: United States Navy. January 1980. p. 4. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  17. ^ a b "Distinguished Expert Robert H. Wertheim". California Council on Science and Technology. 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  18. ^ 1983 Congressional Record, Vol. 129, Page E20143 (20 July 1983) Hyde, Henry J (20 July 1983). "Retired Admirals and the Center for Defense Information" (PDF). Congressional Record. United States Government Publishing Office. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  19. ^ "Managers on paid leave for independent Los Alamos probe". UPI. 14 October 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  20. ^ a b "2005 Distinguished Graduate Award Program". U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association. 2005. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  21. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths LEVINE, JULES E." The New York Times. 1 February 2005. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
    Report of the Treasurer for the Year Ended December 31, 2014. National Academies Press. p. 27. ISBN 9780309376808.
  22. ^ Hordes, Stan (September 2005). "Eighteenth Annual Conference To Focus On New Mexico Jews In The Military And The Peace Movement" (PDF). 19 (3): 1, 4. Retrieved 15 October 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  23. ^ "Distinguished Submariner Award". Naval Submarine League. 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  24. ^ Report on the Unauthorized Movement of Nuclear Weapons (PDF) (Report). United States Department of Defense. April 2008. p. 23. Officer of the Under Secretary of Defense For Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. Retrieved 14 October 2021. {{cite report}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |authors= (help)
  25. ^ Pitz, Marylynne (15 August 2012). "Obituary: Joe Wertheim / Multitalented volunteer devoted to family, service". Pittsburg Post-Gazette. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
    "Deceased Alumni". New Mexico Military Institute. Retrieved 22 August 2021. He was the beloved husband for 38 years of Elaine (Edwards) Wertheim; devoted father of Benjamin E. Wertheim; son of Rear Adm. Robert H. Wertheim and the late Barbara Selig Wertheim; and brother of David A. Wertheim.
  26. ^ "Silver Taps 2019". New Mexico Military Institute. 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  27. ^ "Founders Circle". The Denis. Denis Theatre Foundation’s. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  28. ^ "In Memorium". The Bridge. Vol. 50, no. 4. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Engineering. Winter 2020. p. 108. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
  29. ^ "Nationwide Gravesite Locator". National Cemetery Administration. United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
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