Recently retired Director of the Sandia National Labs, Dr. Stephen Younger, offered a fascinating visual display of a USS battleship that simply could not be sunk. Launched in 1914, Nevada was a leap forward in dreadnought technology; four of her new features would be included on almost every subsequent US battleship: triple gun turrets, oil in place of coal for fuel, geared steam turbines for greater range, and the “all or nothing” armor principle. In World War II, it was one of the battleships trapped when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Nevada was the only battleship to get underway during the attack, making the ship “the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal and depressing morning” for the United States. At the end of World War II, the Navy decided that Nevada was too old to be retained, so they assigned it to be a target ship in the atomic experiments at Bikini Atoll in July 1946.
As the Labs Director for Sandia National Laboratories, Dr. Stephen Younger provided leadership and management direction for the safe, secure execution of all Sandia missions.