Vice Admiral Levering Smith (5 March 1910 – 5 April 1993) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

admiral. He is best known for his role in the development of the

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

and

Trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...

missiles for

ballistic missile submarine A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN � ...

Biography

Levering Smith was born in

Joplin, Missouri Joplin is a city in Jasper and Newton counties in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bulk of the city is in Jasper County, while the southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both Jasp ...

, on 5 March 1910 to Aaron Levering and Ethel (McClellan) Smith. He entered the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of ...

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

, from which he graduated with the class of 1932. He served on the battleship from 1932 to 1936, and the destroyer from 1936 to 1938, before returning to Annapolis as an instructor. He then attended the

Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD ci ...

from 1939 to 1940. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Smith was posted to the aircraft carrier , serving on it until it was sunk in the

Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, fought during 25–27 October 1942, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Santa Cruz or Third Battle of Solomon Sea, in Japan as the Battle of the South Pacific ( ''Minamitaiheiyō kaisen''), was the fourt ...

in October 1942. He then served on the cruiser until it, too, was sunk in the

Battle of Tassafaronga The Battle of Tassafaronga, sometimes referred to as the Fourth Battle of Savo Island or, in Japanese sources, as the , was a nighttime naval battle that took place on November 30, 1942, between United States Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy warsh ...

the following month. He later participated in the

Battle of the Philippine Sea The Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944) was a major naval battle of World War II that eliminated the Imperial Japanese Navy's ability to conduct large-scale carrier actions. It took place during the United States' amphibious in ...

on the fleet flagship . After the war, Smith was posted to the

Naval Ordnance Test Station Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region Southwest under Commander, Navy Installat ...

at China Lake, California, where he worked with rockets as the head of first the Explosives Department and then as associate technical director. He came to the conclusion that

solid-propellant rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/ oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Arabs, Chinese, Persi ...

s were the best solution for shipboard and submarine use. In 1954, he became the head of the Explosive Department at the Naval Ordnance Missile Test Facility at

White Sands, New Mexico White Sands is a census-designated place (CDP) in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. It consists of the main residential area on the White Sands Missile Range. As of the 2010 census the population of the CDP was 1,651. It is part o ...

, concurrently serving as the Navy deputy to the Army general in command of the

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...

. In 1955, the Navy became involved in a joint

intermediate-range ballistic missile An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km (1,864–3,418 miles), between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ...

(IRBM) project with the Army to develop the

Jupiter missile The PGM-19 Jupiter was the first nuclear armed, medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) of the United States Air Force (USAF). It was a liquid-propellant rocket using RP-1 fuel and LOX oxidizer, with a single Rocketdyne LR79-NA (model S-3D) ro ...

. Dissatisfied with

liquid-propellant rocket A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket utilizes a rocket engine that uses liquid propellants. Liquids are desirable because they have a reasonably high density and high specific impulse (''I''sp). This allows the volume of the propellant ta ...

s, the Navy pulled out of the project. The head of the Special Projects Office,

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star " admiral" rank. It is often rega ...

William F. Raborn, Jr., brought in Smith to help develop a solid-fuel missile, which became the

Polaris missile The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fueled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980. In the mid-1950s the Navy was involved in the Jupiter missi ...

. The improvement in safety could be compared to a family taking a bag of charcoal on vacation instead of a can of gasoline. He went on to work on the

and

missiles, serving as director of the Special Projects Office from 1966 until his retirement in 1974. Rear Admiral

Robert Wertheim Robert "Bob" Wertheim (9 November 1922 – 29 April 2020) was an American naval officer involved in the development of strategic weapons. Senator Robert Byrd described him as "the Navy's leading authority on strategic missiles". He was also r ...

recalled that In addition to his work on the US Navy's ballistic missile projects, he provided crucial support to the UK Polaris missile program. According to ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', "... it was no small measure due to him evering Smiththat the British Polaris programme was completed on time and on budget — an unprecedented feat in British naval history." For this, he was made an honorary

Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

on 7 January 1972. Smith died of cancer at

Scripps Mercy Hospital Scripps Mercy Hospital is a private Catholic hospital located in San Diego, California. Founded in 1890, it is the oldest hospital in San Diego County and has campuses in Chula Vista and Hillcrest. The hospital has 700 acute-care-licensed beds ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

, on 5 April 1993, and was buried in San Marcos District Cemetery in

San Marcos, California San Marcos ( ; Spanish for "St. Mark") is a city in the North County region of San Diego County, California. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 94,833. It is the site of California State University San Marcos. The city is border ...

. He was survived by his wife, Beulah Weymouth Lewis Smith (1913–2007). Since 1986, he had been honored by the Vice Admiral Levering Smith Award for Submarine Support Achievement. Presented by the Naval Submarine League, it "recognizes specific or continuing submarine support actions which have most contributed to the furtherance of the spirit or fighting mettle of the Submarine Force." His awards included three awards of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the

American Defense Service Medal The American Defense Service Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces, established by , by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on June 28, 1941. The medal was intended to recognize those military service members who had served ...

with one star, and the

Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal is a United States military award of the Second World War, which was awarded to any member of the United States Armed Forces who served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. The medal was created ...

with eleven stars. His received the

L.T.E. Thompson Louis Ten Eyck Thompson (October 24, 1891 in South Haven, Michigan – December 13, 1978) known as Dr. Tommy) was an American physicist interested in thermodynamics and ballistics and as an expert working for the United States Navy from 1920 to 195 ...

Award from the Naval Ordnance Test Station and the C. N. Hickman from the

American Rocket Society The American Rocket Society (ARS) began its existence on , under the name of the American Interplanetary Society. It was founded by science fiction writers G. Edward Pendray, David Lasser, Laurence Manning, Nathan Schachner, and others. Pendray ...

in 1957; the

American Society of Naval Engineers The American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) is a professional association of naval engineers. Naval Engineering includes all arts and sciences as applied in the research, development, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and logistic ...

' Gold Medal and the

Rear Admiral William S. Parsons Award The Rear Admiral William S. Parsons Award for Scientific and Technical Progress is awarded each year by the Navy League of the United States The Navy League of the United States, commonly referred to as the Navy League, is a national association ...

from

Navy League of the United States The Navy League of the United States, commonly referred to as the Navy League, is a national association with nearly 50,000 members who advocate for a strong, credible United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, United States Coast Guard and ...

in 1961; the Gold Knight of Management Award from the

National Management Association The National Management Association (NMA) was founded in 1925 by Mr. Charles F. Kettering. Initially named the National Association of Foreman, NMA is a national, non-profit leadership development organization headquartered in Dayton, Ohio with a ...

in 1972; and an honorary doctor of laws degree from

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the stat ...

. In 1965, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Levering 1910 births 1993 deaths Deaths from cancer in California Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Military personnel from Missouri Naval Postgraduate School alumni People from Joplin, Missouri Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy vice admirals United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Naval Academy faculty