Arthur Clark Bivens

Art was born in 1929 in Tampa, Florida. He was active in the Boy Scouts attaining the rank of Eagle Scout in 1944. He was a swimmer at Hillsborough High School when it won the Florida State Swimming Championship in 1946. Art enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating high school in 1947. After Boot Camp he was sent to Electronics School and became a Petty Officer, ET 2/c. In 1949 he attended the Naval Academy Prep School and won a “Fleet Appointment” to the U.S. Naval Academy. He was a 1953 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Art loved to compete in all kinds of sports, but he fell in love with sailing when he was introduced to the Academy’s 44-ft yawls during plebe summer. He spent the next four years competing in sailing races in the Chesapeake Bay and ocean races from Newport to Annapolis. In 1953 he was presented with the Holloway Sailing Trophy as the winning skipper in the 1953 Spring Series of races in Chesapeake Bay.

Upon graduation in 1953 Art served two years on the destroyer USS Cowell (DD 547). It was during this time that Art met and married Marcy Grimshaw and started their family of three children: Christina, Susanna, and Jonathan. After two years of destroyer duty, he applied for submarines. Following Submarine School, he served on the diesel-powered USS Quillback (SS 424) and was then selected for nuclear power training. From 1958 through 1970 he served on five nuclear powered submarines, participating in the infancy and development of nuclear submarine operations. These boats were the USS Patrick Henry (SSBN 599), Scamp (SSN 588), Robert E. Lee (SSBN 601), George Bancroft (SSBN 643) and Sam Houston (SSBN 609) in which he was the Commanding Officer (Gold Crew). For this and many “Cold War” patrols he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and then was assigned as the first Training and Readiness Officer of the submarine squadron in Holy Loch, Scotland. He was promoted to Captain in 1973 and served as Deputy Project Manager for the Trident Submarine System.

Art retired from the Navy in 1978 and went to work in the civilian nuclear power industry as Manager, Reactor Construction and Operations with the Atomic Industrial Forum. He worked with industry and government to improve nuclear safety, operations, training, emergency response, quality assurance, security, and construction efficiency.

After his second retirement, Art served as a Volunteer Sailing Coach with the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron where he participated in a couple of races from Newport to Bermuda. He enjoyed tennis, golf, and skiing. He wrote two books: Of Nukes and Nosecones, A Submarine Story and From Sailboats to Submarines. He was the Admin Vice President including the Scribe of the USNA Class of 1953, writing the Class News column for the alumni magazine Shipmate from 2008 until 2022. His fellowship with his Naval Academy classmates remained vibrant for 70 years.

Survivors include his wife of 68 years, Marcy, daughters Christina and Susanna (Warren) and son Jonathan (Lisa).

SAILOR REST YOUR OARS