He had the deck repaired in four hours, allowing the ship's aircraft (which had been airborne when the kamikaze struck) to land safely – for this Raborn was awarded the Silver Star.

He reported directly to Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Arleigh Burke and the Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas.

[3] Raborn had delivered Polaris three years ahead of schedule, due in part to his application of the PERT methodology.

[5] A later CIA director, William Colby, described Raborn as focused on intelligence technology and not sufficiently attuned to the cultural issues involved in dealing with foreign nationals and governments.

[7] FBI files on William Raborn This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Navy