Captain John C. Smith relieved Captain O'Rourke on 2 AUG 1967, at sea in the Gulf of Tonkin. He graduated from the Naval Academy in June, 1946 and served aboard the cruiser USS Oakland and aboard LSM-341 in the Yangtze River
Group. He reported for submarine duty in 1949 rising to the position of CO of the
USS Tusk. He was a professor of Naval Science at the University of Wisconsin
and served on the staff of ComSubPac. He holds the Master of Arts from Boston
University. He assumed command of Sub Division 11, comprised of four nuclear submarines. When he assumed command of Rainier, Captain Smith and his
family resided in Orinda, CA.