Anchored in History - Stories of America's Navy: Ep. 8 - Navy Innovator: Raye Montague (Pt. 1)

For this multi-part episode, we highlight naval innovator Raye Montague, featured in the new NHHC publication "U.S. Navy and Innovation, 20th Century Case Studies." Raye Montague's path to becoming an engineer was not without its challenges. Inspired by a submarine tour with her grandfather, she knew from a young age that this was her calling. However, growing up in the segregated South during the 1950s as an African-American, her mother warned her that she would face an uphill battle. She earned a degree in business and quickly found employment with the Navy in Washington, D.C., in 1956, where she flourished. Undeterred by a field dominated by men, Raye would learn on the job how to run a UNIVAC I computer and attend engineering and programming night classes, becoming a digital computer systems operator and systems analyst. With every continued obstacle, she persisted in overcoming it. Then, in 1971, given a task that would have taken two years on paper to sketch out the design of a warship, Raye would produce her crowning achievement: the first computer-designed warship in history, a draft for the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, and in only 18 hours and 26 minutes. For more information about Raye Montague, visit: https://www.history.navy.mil/news-and-events/anchored-in-history/podcast-navy-innovator-raye-montague-pt1