Vice Adm. Nils Ronald Thunman was born in 1932 in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Swedish immigrants who moved to Springfield in 1939. His father, who dearly loved his adopted country, became an engineer, helping to build several of Springfield’s most important public works.
To say that the admiral led a consequential life would be a gross understatement. Thunman graduated from Springfield High School in 1949, where he became a class leader and excelled at basketball and especially football. He was, after all, a strapping 6 foot 3 inches tall. Next came the U.S. Naval Academy, where he ranked second in his class in leadership when he graduated in 1954.
Following graduation, he spent a year on a surface ship before switching to submarines, his heart’s desire. But that meant surviving several interview sessions with the legendary Adm. Hyman Rickover, feared as a harsh taskmaster and already known as the father of the nuclear navy. Thunman not only survived those tests, but he went on to have a stellar career, which included serving as the executive officer of an attack submarine, command of his own attack submarine from 1968-1971, and later command of the entire Pacific submarine fleet. In between those assignments he served on Adm. Rickover’s staff, all the while collecting more colorful stories and earning the respect of all those with whom he served.
From 1981 to 1985 the admiral served as the deputy chief of naval operations for submarine warfare, the Navy’s top submariner. In that position, he oversaw the development of the Tomahawk missile and the modernization of the nation’s submarine fleet during the Reagan administration’s military build-up. In that role he often testified before Congress, and even found time to help explorer Bob Ballard find the RMS Titanic and author Tom Clancy write thrilling bestsellers on the silent service.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, driven into bankruptcy when the Soviets couldn’t keep pace with America’s technological advances, it was in no small part due to the service of Thunman and men like him. He helped defeat the Soviets without America going to war. Eastern Europe was liberated without a shot being fired.
That’s quite a legacy for any man. Yet despite all of that and his many amazing accomplishments, Thunman managed to exude integrity, humility and an unflagging sense of humor about himself, so often conveyed by the stories the master raconteur told. Those traits led all who knew him to consider him a friend. No doubt, those same traits were the ones that his wife, Owsley, and his children treasured. So well done, Nils Ron Thunman. You’ve served your family, your country and your God very well.
-Mark DePue
This article appears in January 1-7, 2026.
