Raye Montague
Coding For The High Seas
Considered the Navy's hidden figure, Raye Montague was the first person to design a Naval ship using a computer. She taught herself during the height of the Civil Rights movement to become a computer coder and engineer.
THE INSPIRATION
Raye Jordan was born on January 21, 1935, to Rayford Jordan and Flossie Graves Jordan in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her journey to becoming an engineer started when she was young.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, a Japanese two-person mini submarine, HA-19, was captured and salvaged by American engineers. To boost American morale and build support for the war, the submarine toured the United States, including a stop in Little Rock. Montague's grandfather took her to see the submarine, and while exploring it, she fell in love with the intricate details that made it work. However, as a Black woman, she would face some challenges in becoming an engineer.
EDUCATION AND FAMILY LIFE
When Montague was ten years old, she and her mother moved from Little Rock to an all-white neighborhood in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Montague struggled to find her place after the move. She was the only Black child in a neighborhood full of white families with kids who went to an all-white school. Montague had to walk alone to Merrill High School, the Black K-12 school.
Montague graduated from Merrill High in 1952 and set her sights on attending the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. However, because the school did not admit minority students into its undergraduate programs, she attended Arkansas AM&N (now called the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) instead. She graduated with a degree in business in 1956, then moved to Washington, D.C.
Montague married three times. She married Weldon Means in 1955 while at college. After their separation, she married David Montague in 1965 and gave birth to her only child, David. In 1973, she married James Parrott, but their union only lasted six months. Following this marriage, she returned to the surname Montague to match her son's name.
START IN THE NAVY
In Washington, D.C., Montague began working as a civilian clerk-typist in the Applied Mathematics Lab at the U.S. Navy’s David Taylor Model Basin, a test facility for ship design. Montague bluffed her way into this position by convincing a recruiter that she knew how to use the UNIVAC. This massive government computer performed complex calculations in a matter of seconds. A quick and dedicated learner, she taught herself to use the computer by watching others. When word of her skills reached her boss, he promoted her and asked her to train others. Montague continued to expand her computer coding skills by attending a programming school offered through the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Another sign of her dedication to her work and her ability to teach herself anything was that Montague bought her own car, despite not having a license, and drove herself to work the midnight shift at the Model Basin.
Montague remained at the Model Basin for the next eight years, steadily rising through the ranks into jobs with better pay and more responsibilities. In the 1960s, she oversaw the operation of the Livermore Advanced Research Computer (LARC) that ran hydrodynamic simulations for nuclear weapon design. During this time, many of her coworkers began going to Montague rather than to her boss for help with their computer issues. Because of her expertise in LARC, Montague believed she would be promoted to a higher pay scale. However, the Navy denied her promotion due to a salary freeze, even though her colleagues received promotions. Consequently, she moved departments and became a software systems analyst and developer for Batty Holberton, the head of software systems development within the Model Basin.
CREATING THE SOFTWARE
In 1970, Montague interviewed for a job in Computer Assisted Ship Design and Construction (CASDAC) at the Naval Ship Engineering Center (NAVSEC). Montague left her position at the Model Basin and reported for duty as a systems analyst at NAVSEC. In March 1971, she started working on a computer program called Ship Specifications. Ship Specifications was a complex programs because it combined multiple computer systems to design a ship's various parts. For six years, the Navy had been attempting to integrate the computer systems and make Ship Specifications operational, but with no success. When her boss, Wally Dietrich, assigned her the task, Montague stated she could finish Ship Specifications in only six months.
To meet this deadline, Montague worked late into the night. Sometimes, she brought family members to work to keep her company before Dietrich assigned a staff member to work alongside her at night. Despite everybody's doubts, Montague met the deadline and completed Ship Specifications in September 1971. Because of her incredible success, she believed her next step would be designing a ship, but Dietrich denied her request.
FIRST COMPUTER-DESIGNED SHIP
Only a few weeks later, though, the Admiralty approached Montague and asked her to design a ship for them using Ship Specifications. They gave her two months to design the ship, but she replied that she could finish it over the Columbus Day weekend. Montague beat her own deadline. In October 1971, she used Ship Specifications to design the Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate in only 18 hours and 26 minutes, becoming the first Black woman to design a naval ship.
In recognition of her work and for the distinction of being the first person to design a naval ship on a computer, the Navy honored Montague with the third-highest honorary award, the Meritorious Civilian Service Award, on November 2, 1972. Dietrich also nominated Montague for the Federal Woman's Award for her work on Ship Specifications.
Because of her expertise, Montague wrote the manuals, developed software aids, and trained other NAVSEC personnel in the use of Ship Specification. She also continued designing other ships, including the LHA-1 Seawolf Submarine.
In the late 1970s, Montague passed the certification exam and became an internationally registered professional engineer (RPE) with the Navy. In 1981, she transferred from CASDAC to the Office of Maritime Affairs and Shipbuilding Technology, where she worked as a computer systems analyst in the Manufacturing and Shipbuilding Technology (MT/ST) branch. After a year, she moved to the Naval Sea Systems Command, where the Navy promoted her to deputy program manager of ships.
MONTAGUE'S DESIGNS
INSPIRATION AND INSTRUCTION FOR OTHERS
In addition to her regular duties, Montague joined the Navy's Equal Opportunity Committee. She traveled across the country to speak to other women about pursuing professional dreams within the federal government. In these speeches, she emphasized the importance of mentors and used many of her own stories as examples to advocate for work-life balance and mental health.
Montague also lectured at the Naval Academy, teaching midshipmen about the Computer-Aided Design/Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) system she helped develop. She spent thirty-three years working with CAD/CAM technologies. Montague received the National Computer Graphics Association's Award for the Advancement of Computer Graphics at the NCGA's annual conference and became the acting program manager for CAD Acquisition II.
RETIREMENT
Despite her ground breaking accomplishments and decades of experience, many of Montague's duties started getting reassigned to others towards the end of her career. She almost became the Navy's first Black woman in the Senior Executive Service, but the Navy eliminated the position before she could apply. Montague retired from the Navy in 1990. The Navy presented her with an American flag flown over the Capitol and a miniature brass cannon replica from the USS Constitution.
Montague moved back to Little Rock in 2006 and became involved with local groups and chapters, including an inmate reentry program at the Arkansas Department of Corrections' Pine Bluff Unit. She also continued speaking at colleges, civic and social organizations, libraries, churches, and STEM conferences.
LASTING LEGACY
Following the release of the 2016 movie, Hidden Figures, the public became aware of the untold contributions of Black engineers to American defense. On Good Morning America, Montague was nationally recognized as a real-life hidden figure.
On October 10, 2018, Raye Montague died of congestive heart failure. Her grave is in Brentwood, Maryland. Julia Finley Mosca wrote a picture book about Montague in 2018 as part of an educational series on inspiring scientists, and her son, David Montague, coauthored a book about her life in 2021. In 2024, the Maritime Technology Information Center of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, was renamed to the Raye Montague Center for Maritime Technology, and the following year, the United States Mint released a one-dollar coin honoring Montague as part of its American Innovation Program.
Montague’s life is a testament to perseverance and the power of pursuing your dreams. Through her computer code, she revolutionized the incorporation of technology into the designs that keep the Navy afloat.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adams, Betty Sorensen. “Raye Jean Jordan Montague (1935–2018).” Encyclopedia of Arkansas, July 17, 2025. https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/raye-jean-jordan-montague-5565/.
Bowers, Paige, and David Montague. Overnight Code: The Life of Raye Montague, the Woman Who Revolutionized Naval Engineering. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2021.
“United States Mint Arkansas American Innovation® $1 Coin Products Available on January 7.” United States Mint, January 10, 2025. https://www.usmint.gov/news/press-releases/united-states-mint-arkansas-american-innovation-dollar-coin-products-available-on-january-7.
Raye Montague papers, 1933-2019, UALR.MS.0309, University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture, Little Rock, Arkansas.
CREDITS
Exhibit written by Kacey Wooster, a graduate assistant at the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture. Wooster completed her BA in History at Texas A&M University in Spring 2023. She is currently attending the UA Little Rock, pursuing a master's degree in public history.
Exhibit designed by Emily Summers, head archivist at the UA Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture.
Released May 2026