ADMIRAL FRANK L. “SKIP” BOWMAN
2022 Gibbs Brothers Medal 
Acceptance Remarks

MY DEEPEST APPRECIATION TO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING AND SPECIFICALLY TO FRANCIS AND FREDERICK GIBBS FOR ENDOWING THIS AWARD TO ENCOURAGE INNOVATION AND SAFETY IN NAVAL ARCHITECTURE AND MARINE ENGINEERING.

I STAND HUMBLY TO ACCEPT THIS AWARD ON BEHALF OF THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE US NAVY’S NUCLEAR PROPULSION PROGRAM FROM ITS BEGINNING UNDER THEN-CAPTAIN HYMAN RICKOVER TO TODAY…AND ON BEHALF OF THE INTEGRATED ENERGY COMPANY, BP, WHICH READILY INCORPORATED MUCH OF THAT NAVY NUCLEAR POWER SAFETY CULTURE  INTO ITS GLOBAL SHIPPING AND OFFSHORE ENERGY SEGMENTS.

SEVERAL MARINE ENGINEERING CONCEPTS DEVELOPED IN THE LATE 1990s, WHICH WE TERMED THE “FOUR GETS”, ARE INTEGRAL TO TODAY’S US SUBMARINE FLEET:

• GET CONNECTED BY DEVELOPING COMMUNICATIONS AT SPEED AND DEPTH;
• GET PAYLOAD TO INCLUDE OFFBOARD SENSORS AND AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES;
• GET ELECTRIC BY INCORPORATING ELECTRIC DRIVE, AND;
• GET MODULAR TO FACILITATE NEW CONSTRUCTION THROUGH MODULAR DEVELOPMENT AND ASSEMBLY.

THE US NAVAL REACTORS PROGRAM, TODAY WITH OVER 100 NUCLEAR REACTORS POWERING 86 SUBMARINES AND AIRCRAFT CARRIERS, ARGUABLY HAS THE WORLD’S BEST SAFETY RECORD OF ANY INDUSTRY OF ANY KIND WITH OVER 5400 REACTOR-YEARS OF ACCIDENT-FREE OPERATIONS WHILE SAFELY TRAVELING OVER 130 MILLION MILES  ON NUCLEAR ENERGY.

THIS AWARD RECOGNIZES THAT NAVY SAFETY RECORD AND THE MARINE ENGINEERING INNOVATIONS SINCE NAUTILUS WAS LAUNCHED IN 1954 BY MAMIE EISENHOWER…ALONG WITH THE MAJOR SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS IN BP’S OFFSHORE ENERGY OPERATIONS.

AGAIN, WITH HUMILITY, I THANK YOU FOR THIS RECOGNITION.