Naval History and Heritage Command

13^th Chief of Naval Operations: 16 August 1951 – 17 August 1953

The Korean War continued during Admiral Fechteler’s term in office, which due to budget constraints, was mostly being fought with ships that were being reactivated from World War II service.

Fechteler moved to modernize the Navy.  Construction began on USS Nautilus as the first nuclear propelled submarine, and USS Forrestal, the first aircraft carrier designed to operate high performance jet aircraft.