Former head of U.S. Naval Academy dies

BRYN MAWR, Pa., June 17 (UPI) -- Retired Vice Adm. James Calvert, who commanded the first U.S. submarine to visit the North Pole, has died at 88.

Calvert also served as head of the U.S. Naval Academy and commander of the First Fleet in the Pacific before he retired in 1973.

He died June 3 of heart disease in Bryn Mawr, Pa., where he lived during his final years, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Calvert was the author of two books, "Surface at the Pole," published in 1960, about the nuclear-powered USS Skate's 1959 voyage, and a memoir, "Silent Running," published in 1995.

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 1942, Calvert served on the USS Jack, a submarine credited with sinking 15 enemy vessels during eight patrols in the Pacific.

As superintendent of the Naval Academy from 1968 to 1972, Calvert helped create a curriculum that allowed students to major in subjects other than engineering. He brought more civilian teachers on board and founded the James Forrestal Lecture, which brought leaders such as Henry Kissinger and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to Annapolis, Md.

He is survived by his second wife, two sons and four stepsons.