SSP Celebrates the Navy’s 250th Birthday

17 November 2025

From Thomas Jones

WASHINGTON – As the Navy celebrates its 250th birthday, some employees at Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) are marking this occasion by sharing the journey that led them to the command.

Download

For Tim Bartha, deputy branch head for nuclear weapons surety policy and compliance, finding his way to the Navy, and then SSP, wasn’t straightforward.

“We did have Navy recruiters visit us while I was in high school, and I remember being very interested in their nuclear power program,” Bartha said. “At the time though, I thought it would be better for me if I continued onto higher education instead. I ended up spending two years at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, working towards a degree in electrical engineering, before I realized that wasn’t the path I wanted to take. I withdrew from the school, went back to the recruiters that I had spoken to, and before I knew it, I was enlisted into the program I had been interested in nearly five years ago at that point.”

Bartha enlisted with the Navy’s Nuclear Power Program in 1990, and after nine years in service, he became a chief electronics technician in 1999.

“Making chief was my ultimate milestone when I first enlisted, but by the time I actually became a chief I had a family, and was really looking hard at my career,” he said.

Shortly after becoming a chief, Bartha earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from the New School University while stationed at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Unit Ballston Spa, in New York.

“I had a package in to become a limited duty officer (LDO), but at the time they were making all LDOs go to the carrier fleet,” Bartha said. “I wanted to go back to submarines, but the only way to do that was to go through Officer Candidate School (OCS).”

Going through OCS isn’t often the next step for recently minted chiefs, but with a newly earned degree and the opportunity to return to submarines, it was the obvious choice for Bartha.

In 2001, he graduated from OCS at Pensacola, FL., as a supply officer, spending 12 more years in the Navy before finally retiring in 2013.

"I did an Individual Augmentee to Afghanistan during one of my shore duties, which ended up being 15 months of separation from my family,” he said. “That time apart made me decide to alter my trajectory, and I ended up retiring from the Navy after 24 years. A year later, I was offered a job here [at SSP], and snatched up the opportunity to be back supporting the Navy and its submarines,” Bartha said.

For Chief Petty Officer David Smith, the path was more straightforward. Smith currently serves as the military working dog kennel master and assistant nuclear weapons security officer at SSP.

“I grew up in a rough environment, and having just had a newborn daughter, I wanted to make a better life for myself and for her,” Smith said. “I joined the Navy in 2006, and have had three different rates. Initially an engineman, I cross-rated to explosive ordnance disposal and then again to master-at-arms.”

Smith says the joy he’s found in his work is thanks in part to the variety of different jobs he’s been able to experience.

“I’ve done multiple deployments on a carrier, and as force protection, and I think my career has been very unique and definitely rewarding,” he said. “I’ve been able to meet people from numerous cultures, from every walk of life, and getting to see and learn about all of these new things is awesome.”

Smith is responsible for manning, training, and equipment for the kennels and kennel masters at Strategic Weapon Facilities Pacific and Atlantic – Field Activities of SSP – as well as advising and assisting SSP’s nuclear weapons security officer in matters pertaining to nuclear weapon security and force protection programs and policies.

“I got involved with the Navy to protect my family and my country, and I’m proud to say that the work I’m doing accomplishes that,” Smith said. “I’m proud to call myself a Sailor.”

SSP is the Navy command responsible for sustaining the Navy’s Strategic Weapon System (SWS) on the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) and supporting the integration of the D5LE weapon system on the new Columbia-class SSBNs. Looking to the future, SSP is actively modernizing the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad through development of the D5LE2 SWS and pioneering regional strike capabilities of the future through development of the nuclear-armed sea launched cruise missile (SLCM-N) and the non-nuclear hypersonic conventional prompt strike system (CPS).

Google Translation Disclaimer

Search News

SSP Celebrates the Navy’s 250th Birthday

From Thomas Jones