At first, Navy Secretary John Lehman dismissed as "little trinkets" the gifts that defense contractors had lavished on Admiral Hyman Rickover. But Lehman's later response to the largesse, including a letter of censure inserted last month in the retired admiral's record, indicated that Rickover's take was more substantial. Last week the Navy released a 32-page report listing $68,703 worth of gifts that Rickover accepted over the years, and in some cases demanded, from General Dynamics, whose Electric Boat shipyard in Connecticut was a principal Navy contractor. Included were diamond earrings and a jade pendant (combined value: $1,125), cleaning bills for the admiral's suits ($1,871), chauffeur charges for 504 separate trips ($16,200) and food and other amenities amounting to $12,000, including such oddities as a long- standing Rickover request for 30 to 50 pounds of fresh fish at the launching ceremony for each new General Dynamics-built nuclear submarine.
General Dynamics, fined $676,283 for the improper gratuities, insisted in the report that the gifts did not affect Rickover's administration of Navy contracts. Rickover, 85, was not available for comment.