Nuke sub Nevada's skipper returns to LV roots

Walter Luthiger left Las Vegas in 1978, a new Bishop Gorman High School graduate headed off to college. He returned last week a Navy captain and skipper of a nuclear-powered ballistic submarine crew.

The Las Vegas native returned to his hometown to speak to the Navy League on Friday as part of the centennial anniversary of the Navy's submarine service.

Luthiger commands the blue crew of the nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarine Nevada, home ported at the Bangor Naval Submarine Base in Washington. Navy submarines are staffed with two rotating crews -- blue and gold -- to allow them to remain constantly under way.

The Nevada, 560 feet by 42 feet and 16,774 tons, is one of 18 Ohio-class ballistic missile subs. Powered by a nuclear reactor, it can reach speeds of more than 25 knots and is equipped with 24 launch tubes for firing Trident I ballistic missiles. The missiles carried by the Navy's submarines represent more than 54 percent of U.S. strategic weapons.

Luthiger became the Nevada blue crew's commanding officer Nov. 19 and set to sea for the first time as captain of the boat on March 1.

The nuclear field was a natural for Luthiger, but his choice of a naval career came by chance.

While growing up in Southern Nevada, with the nearby Nevada Test Site, Luthiger said, "I would hear and read about the bomb tests and other experiments at the Test Site on the news. Curious to learn more, I visited the (Department of Energy's) Nevada Operations Offices over on Highland Drive and collected all their public information brochures. That's what fed my interest in nuclear energy."

His choice of the Navy ROTC came after a recruiting post card fell out of a magazine he was reading.

"I had been wondering how I was going to finance my college education, and this looked like it had some possibilities, so I sent it in," he said.

Luthiger was commissioned an ensign in 1982 following his graduation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with degrees in nuclear engineering and physics. Following training assignments in Florida and Idaho, Luthiger's first assignment was aboard the submarine Gurnard, a tour of duty that included a 44-day expedition under the polar ice cap.

In 1991 Luthiger took part in Operation Desert Storm as a weapons officer aboard the submarine Chicago. He also served on the staffs of major and joint commands before being named commander of the Nevada.

The family atmosphere of a submarine crew drew him to what is called the Navy's Silent Service.

His submarine family now includes about 160 enlisted men, 15 chief petty officers and 15 officers of the Nevada's blue crew. Women are not allowed to serve aboard subs.

Not the least of that family feeling is the home-cooked food. Submariners have long enjoyed the reputation as the best-fed sailors in the Navy, and Luthiger's blue crew is no exception. A one-time baker at the old Dunes hotel-casino and carver at the Las Vegas Hilton's Barronshire restaurant, Luthiger is no stranger to good food.

But even he is impressed by the senior chief petty officer and seven mess specialists who run the Nevada's kitchen and dining facility.

"These guys prepare full meals every six hours while we're at sea, and three a day in port," he said. "My guys actually cook recipes submitted by the crew on a regular basis. Some from their mothers, some from their wives. It provides variety and makes the time away from home just a little less lonely."

Luthiger plans to return to Las Vegas in September to speak to area high school JROTC cadets and other groups as part of the Navy's yearlong Submarine Centennial program.

For more information, call Jack Hildum of the Navy League at 247-1422.

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