(4 of 9)
Sailor's Sailor. The fact that Arleigh Albert ("31-Knot") Burke is at the helm of the new Navy is no accident of seniority. Last year able, Navy-wise Secretary Thomas began looking for a replacement for retiring Admiral Robert Carney as Chief of Naval Operations. Thomas was keenly aware of the nuclear revolution and deeply concerned about the Navy's failure to grasp its full significance. Thomas wanted a man with the vision and drive required by the atom. He wanted someone who understood naval aviation. But most of all he wanted a man that the Navy would be glad to follow into its tomorrow. This had to be one of the old Navy's own, a sailor's sailor who had fought the professional Navy's battles on the open sea and in the Pentagon narrows.
Thomas studied his lists and found his man. But he had to be certain. Almost casually, he canvassed the fleet, asked the admirals to name the five men whom they considered the best in their ranks. One name appeared on every list: Arleigh Burke, and with President Eisenhower's enthusiastic approval, Rear Admiral Burke was brought up past 92 seniors and made CNO. Despite his relative youth. Burke had all the qualifications.
About To Be Bilged. The Navy's Burke was born a farm boy near Boulder, Colo., with Baseline Lake (now part of the city's reservoir system) the nearest body of water. His father, Oscar Burke,* was a Swede, and his mother. Claire Mokler Burke, was Pennsylvania Dutch. As the eldest of six children, Arleigh worked hard on his father's 170-acre farm. But a country school teacher aroused his interest in the Navy and on June 26, 1919, the sturdy blond Swede from Boulder stepped off the old Washington, Baltimore & Annapolis railway (now defunct, but known for years to midshipmen as the "Weary, Belated & Annoyed") to begin his Navy career.
Annapolis was tougher for Burke than for most. "I didn't have enough background," he explains. "I nearly bilged out the first year. I had to work like hell, and I got in the habit of it." The habit has never been broken: Burke works from 12 to 14 hours for at least six, and often seven, days a week, has had only one 30-day leave since he left Annapolis 33 years ago.
Port to Port. On the day he graduated, Ensign Burke walked under crossed swords, amid all the pomp and circumstances of an Annapolis wedding, with pretty Roberta ("Bobbie") Gorsuch of Washington at his side. He had met her as a blind date, gone with her for three years, wearied his classmates with a favorite remark: "Lord, but that girl of mine is a wonder."
A wonder she had to be, for the life of a young Navy couple was not easy. In the wake of the Washington disarmament conference, the Navy was cutting its size and promotions were slow. Arleigh was assigned to the battleship Arizona, and Bobbie Burke spent the next five years scurrying from port to port on the West Coast. "As soon as I saw where the ship was docked," she says, "I started walking. Then I would rent the first acceptable place we could afford. Arleigh always liked to live near the ship."