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Arthur Leopold Busch or Du Busc (5 March 1866 – 9 March 1956) was a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
-born American naval architect responsible for the development of the United States Navy's first submarines.


Biography


Early life

Busch was born in
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...
,
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
in
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. When he was age 13, he apprenticed to Craggs & Sons of Middlesbrough, and at the age of 20 was employed as a draftsman while studying
naval architecture Naval architecture, or naval engineering, is an engineering discipline incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software and safety engineering as applied to the engineering design process, shipbuilding, maintenance, and ...
at night. He relocated to
Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
in 1888, where he served as draftsman-in-charge at the
Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...
shipyards in
Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
until 1892.


Career in the United States

In January 1892, Busch emigrated to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, and was employed as a draftsman at
William Cramp & Sons William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company (also known as William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company) of Philadelphia was founded in 1830 by William Cramp, and was the preeminent U.S. iron shipbuilder of the late 19th century. Company hi ...
Shipbuilders in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. He was a longtime member of the
Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) is a global professional society that provides a forum for the advancement of the engineering profession as applied to the marine field. Although it particularly names the naval archi ...
(SNAME) which became organized in 1893 in the state of New Jersey. In 1895, Busch moved to Elizabethport, New Jersey, where he was the shipyard superintendent at Lewis Nixon's
Crescent Shipyard Crescent Shipyard, located on Newark Bay in Elizabeth, New Jersey, built a number of ships for the United States Navy and allied nations as well during their production run, which lasted about ten years while under the Crescent name and banner. ...
This shipyard is where the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
's first submarines were built under Busch's supervision beginning in the late fall of 1896. Busch worked in unison with
John Philip Holland John Philip Holland ( ga, Seán Pilib Ó hUallacháin/Ó Maolchalann) (24 February 184112 August 1914) was an Irish engineer who developed the first submarine to be formally commissioned by the US Navy, and the first Royal Navy submarine, ''Ho ...
to design and build the pioneering , also known as the ''Holland VI'' design. This was the first commissioned submarine in the United States Navy, and purchased by the American Government on April 11, 1900 – a day later commemorated by the United States submarine community as "Submarine Day". Holland's company was then known as the Holland Torpedo Boat Company - the forerunner and precursor to the Electric Boat Division of
General Dynamics Corporation General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the U ...
. The United States government then ordered more submarines after the successful trials and purchase of ''Holland VI''. These submarines were known as the A class or . A prototype was constructed under Busch's direction at the Crescent Shipyard in the year 1900. This submarine craft was called ''Fulton'', named after the American steamship pioneer
Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboa ...
. However, ''Fulton'' was never commissioned into U. S. Navy service and was sold to the
Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from ...
in 1905 for use in the
Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
against the
Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...
.


Career in Japan

After Crescent Shipyard lost the contract from the US Navy for the B-class submarines, Busch was offered a position by Isaac Leopold Rice with Electric Boat Company, which had received a contract from Japan for the construction of five Type VII submarines for the
Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrend ...
. These vessels were built at the company’s Fore River Shipyards in Quincy, Massachusetts. Busch oversaw construction of the vessels, their dismantling, transport to
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
by rail, shipment to
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
and reassembly at the
Yokosuka Naval Arsenal was one of four principal naval shipyards owned and operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy, and was located at Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture on Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama. History In 1866, the Tokugawa shogunate government established the ...
in
Yokosuka is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has a population of 409,478, and a population density of . The total area is . Yokosuka is the 11th most populous city in the Greater Tokyo Area, and the 12th in the Kantō region. The city ...
, Japan. The project was done in complete secrecy, as the United States was officially
neutral Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...
in the Russo-Japanese War. The entire project was completed in twelve months, and Busch was honored with the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class by Emperor Meiji.
Rheocities biography


Subsequent career

After returning from Japan, Busch returned to work for Lewis Nixon as manager of the United States Shipbuilding Company in
Perth Amboy, New Jersey Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 55,436. Perth Amboy has a Hispanic majority population. In the 2010 census, th ...
. In 1909, Busch established the American Architectural Shipbuilding and Development Company, and proposed designed for miniature submarines to the Japanese government. The venture was not a success and Busch went to work for the New Jersey Drydock Company in Elizabeth, New Jersey and was later shipyard manager for the Moore Shipyards of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company, and advisor to the president of Eureka Shipyards in Newburg, New York. During his long career, Busch was responsible for the design and development of many ship classes for the United States Navy and contributed to their production at some of the country's largest shipyards through both World Wars. He retired in 1941, and died on 9 March 1956. After
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Busch changed his last name to Du Busc in 1919 - this was most probably due to the large amount of anti-German sentiment that existed in the United States during that time though his family lineage was of
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
origins.


References

* ''Who Built Those Subs?'' by Richard Knowles Morris, PhD; ''Naval History Magazine'' - October 1998 (125th anniversary) United States Naval Institute. * ''John P. Holland, 1841-1914 - Inventor of the Modern Submarine'', University of South Carolina Press, 1998 (originally published in 1966 under the same title). *''Submarine Pioneers'' by Richard Compton-Hall MBE RN, pub Sutton Publishing Ltd, UK 1999. * ''International Directory of Company Histories'', Volume 86. Thomson Gale Group/St. James Press, July 2007 (General Dynamics/Electric Boat Corporation. pp 136–139). * ''The Defender, "The Story of General Dynamics"'' by Roger Franklin, pub. Harper-Collins, 1986. Written by former Business Week on-line editor . * ''The Klaxon'' official newsletter of the U. S. Navy's "Silent Service", published Nautilus Memorial Submarine Force Library and Museum, New London/Groton CT. March 1992. * Documents and letters written by John Philip Holland, Elihu B. Frost, Lewis Nixon and others. Archives of The Nautilus Memorial Submarine Force Library and Museum, New London CT. * Obituary in ''The New York Times'' Sunday March 11, 1956.


External links

* Revised by Gary W. McCue, Naval Architect/Submarine Historian.
Official Chief of Naval Operations/Submarine Warfare Division web page under — U.S. Submarine Pioneers


Official Electric Boat/General Dynamics web site acknowledging Arthur L. Busch's key role as the company's first shipbuilder. John Philip Holland's diminished role within his (own) company is also acknowledged.

General Dynamics origins traces back to John P. Holland's company. Mr. Busch was present and on the scene since this company's foundation back on 7 February 1899.

Nixon and Busch started Crescent in January 1895.

Further information on submarines built at Crescent under Arthur Busch's supervision including the proto-type submarine Fulton.
Reocities biography


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Busch, Arthur Leopold 1866 births 1956 deaths People from Elizabeth, New Jersey People from Middlesbrough English emigrants to the United States American naval architects Submarine pioneers Foreign advisors to the government in Meiji-period Japan Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th class