Rickover helped give American nuclear submariners both an elite professional identity and high status within the Navy. Royal Navy destroyers provide a contrasting example, especially the Tribal class. Their crews could regard themselves as the elite while still feeling like underdogs alongside cruisers, capital ships, and carriers. Professional confidence and institutional prestige therefore describe different aspects of a service's identity.
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Elite identity and status in the submarine service
Rickover's nuclear submariners combined professional pride with institutional status, unlike destroyer crews who still felt like underdogs.