The Bureau of Construction and Repair (BuC&R) was the part of 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 ...
which from 1862 to 1940 was responsible for supervising the design, construction, conversion, procurement, maintenance, and repair of ships and other craft for the Navy. The bureau also managed
shipyard
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance ...
s, repair facilities, laboratories, and shore stations.
On 20 June 1940, Congress passed a law which consolidated the Bureau's functions with those of the
Bureau of Engineering (BuEng), creating the
Bureau of Ships (BuShips).
History
The Bureau was staffed by officers of the Construction Corps (called constructors) with advanced degrees in naval architecture. Six civilian constructors were hired by the Navy in 1794 to supervise construction of the frigates authorized by Congress that year.
[Snyder, Philip W., RADM USN "Bring Back the Corps" ''United States Naval Institute Proceedings'' February 1979 p.49] The Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repairs was established in 1842 as one of the five original material bureaus replacing the former
Board of Navy Commissioners. In 1862, Congress decided to replace the Bureau into three new organizations: the Bureau of Construction and Repair, the
Bureau of Steam Engineering (later called the Bureau of Engineering), and the
Bureau of Equipment. The Bureau of Construction and Repair was established by Congress by an act of July 5, 1862 (12 Stat. 510). The new organization, headed by a Chief of the Bureau, was responsible for all aspects of ship construction, except for propulsion systems, which were the responsibility of the Bureau of Engineering; and equipage, which fell under the Bureau of Equipment.
The Construction Corps was created in 1866 to be staffed by constructors graduated from the
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of ...
cadet-engineer curriculum implemented in 1864.
[Snyder, Philip W., RADM USN "Bring Back the Corps" ''United States Naval Institute Proceedings'' February 1979 pp.50-51] The Construction Corps provided permanent naval status for personnel who had formerly been employed in a civilian capacity on an as-needed basis.
[Snyder, Philip W., RADM USN "Bring Back the Corps" ''United States Naval Institute Proceedings'' February 1979 p.51] Naval constructors gained the rank and recognition previously available to doctors of the Medical Corps and pursers of the Supply Corps.
Two cadet-engineers of the Naval Academy class of 1879, Frances Bowles and Richard Gatewood, set the standard for postgraduate education of Construction Corps officers.
Bowles and Gatewood completed postgraduate work 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 ...
in the developing science of
naval architecture.
The postgraduate program shifted to the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern t ...
in 1901.
The Bureau of Equipment was discontinued in 1910, and formally abolished in 1914. Its functions were divided between the Bureau of Construction and Repair and the Bureau of Steam Engineering. These two bureaus were placed under the supervision of the Coordinator of Shipbuilding in 1939, and were superseded by the Bureau of Ships in 1940. The "engineering duty only" (
EDO
Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo.
Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...
) designation of Bureau of Engineering officers expanded to include naval architects of the Construction Corps when the Bureau of Ships was formed in 1940.
The consolidation with BuEng into BuShips had its origins when , first of the s to be delivered, was found to be heavier than designed and dangerously top-heavy in early 1939. It was determined that an underestimate by BuEng of the weight of a new machinery design was responsible, and that BuC&R did not have sufficient authority to detect or correct the error during the design process. Initially, Acting
Secretary of the Navy Charles Edison proposed consolidation of the design divisions of the two bureaus. When the bureau chiefs could not agree on how to do this, he replaced both chiefs in September 1939. The consolidation was finally effected by a law passed by Congress on 20 June 1940.
Chiefs of the Bureau
Individuals who served as Chief of the Bureau include:
* Commodore
David Conner, September 1, 1842 - March 1, 1843
* Captain Beverly Kennon, March 2, 1843 - April 9, 1844
* Commodore
Charles Morris, April 10, 1844 - May 31, 1847
* Commodore Charles W. Skinner, June 1, 1847 - February 28, 1852
* Commodore
William B. Shubrick, March 1, 1852 - June 30, 1853
* Chief Naval Constructor
Samuel Hartt, July 1, 1853 - November 16, 1853
* Chief Naval Constructor
John Lenthall, November 17, 1853 - January 22, 1871
[Tucker, Spencer C., ed., ''Civil War Naval Encyclopedia'', Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2011, , pp. 348-349.]
* Chief Constructor Isaiah Hanscom, January 23, 1871 - April 27, 1877
* Chief Constructor John W. Easby, April 28, 1877 - December 13, 1881
* Chief Constructor
Theodore D. Wilson
Theodore Delavan Wilson (also Theodore Delevan Wilson) (11 May 1840 – 29 June 1896) was an American naval ship designer, constructor and instructor of naval architecture and shipbuilding. As chief constructor for the Bureau of Construction and ...
, March 3, 1882 - July 7, 1893
* Rear-Admiral
Philip Hichborn, July 23, 1893 -
* Rear Admiral
Washington L. Capps
Washington Lee Capps (31 January 1864 – 31 May 1935) was an officer of the United States Navy, who served during the Spanish–American War and World War I. In the first years of the 20th century, he served as Constructor of the Navy and Chief o ...
, served 1903-1910
* Chief Constructor Richard Morgan Watt, served 1910-1914
* Rear Admiral
David W. Taylor, (December 14, 1914 - July 1, 1922)
* Rear Admiral
John D. Beuret
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
, (July 1, 1922 - November 21, 1929)
* Rear Admiral
George H. Rock
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd President ...
, (November 21, 1929 – October 1, 1932)
* Rear Admiral
Emory S. Land, (October 1, 1932 – March 16, 1933) - acting
* Rear Admiral
Emory S. Land, (March 16, 1933 – March 16, 1937)
* Rear Admiral
William G. DuBose
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...
, (March 16, 1937 - ?)
* Rear Admiral
Alexander H. Van Keuren
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
, (- July, 1940 (Last Chief of BuC&R. Thereafter, also July, 1940, became Vice-Chief of new Bureau of Ships
uShipswhich supplanted BuC&R)
Footnotes
External links
National Archives – Records of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Ships(the successor organization of the Bureau of Construction and Repair)
{{Authority control
1862 establishments in the United States
1940 disestablishments in the United States
Construction and Repair
Engineering units and formations of the United States military
Military units and formations established in 1862
Military units and formations disestablished in 1940