James Wilson King (1818 – June 6, 1905)
/ref>[https://archive.org/details/cu31924005009638 www.archive.org ''Report of Chief Engineer J. W. King, United States navy, on European ships of war and their armament, naval administration and economy, marine constructions and appliances, dockyards, etc., etc (1877)''] was an American Navy Officer. He served as Chief Engineer of the United States Navy. During his career, he held every position in the Navy to which an engineering officer could be called. Today, he is best known for his 1880 book, ''The Warships and Navies of the World'', which has been called "an important book to establish reliable contemporary information."www.globalsecurity.org ''The New Navy''.
/ref> It was republished by the

U.S. Naval Institute The United States Naval Institute (USNI) is a private Nonprofit organization, non-profit military association that offers independent, nonpartisan forums for debate of national security issues. In addition to publishing magazines and books, the ...

in 1982.

Career

King was appointed to the Navy from Maryland as a Third Assistant Engineer on September 2, 1844.Naval Historical Center, ''Officers of the Continental and US Navy and Marine Corps 1775–1900''
During the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, he was attached to the paddle-frigate and participated in the capture of all but one of the towns on the Mexican coast taken by the Navy. On July 10, 1847, he was promoted to Second Assistant Engineer. King served on all the first steamers that belonged to the U.S. Navy, except the first ''Fulton''. King was promoted to First Assistant Engineer on September 13, 1849 and to Chief Engineer on November 12, 1852. He was appointed Government Inspector of Ocean Mail Steamers at New York in 1853.King, J.W. ''The Warships and Navies of the World'', page v. In 1858, he was appointed Chief Engineer at the New York Navy Yard. King was Chief Engineer of the

North Atlantic Fleet The North Atlantic Squadron was a section of the United States Navy operating in the North Atlantic. It was renamed as the North Atlantic Fleet in 1902. In 1905 the European and South Atlantic squadrons were abolished and absorbed into the Nort ...

in the early part of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. "Subsequently he was the superintendent of the construction of all the armour-clads built west of the

Alleghenies The Allegheny Mountain Range (; also spelled Alleghany or Allegany), informally the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the Eastern United States and Canada and posed a significant barrier to land travel in less develo ...

, involving an expenditure in the aggregate of seven millions of dollars". King was promoted to Engineer in Chief on March 15, 1869. In 1869, President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...

appointed him

Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering The Bureau of Steam Engineering was a bureau of the United States Navy, created by the act of 5 July 1862, receiving some of the duties of the former Bureau of Construction, Equipment and Repair. It became, by the Naval Appropriation Act of 4 June ...

. In this post, King introduced double-expansion engines into the U.S. Navy. He held this post until March 20, 1873. During the mid-1870s, King—as chief engineer of the Navy—made many visits, official and private, to Europe, to collect information relating to shipbuilding, machinery, and other aspects of naval warfare. In 1877, he produced a report to Congress entitled, ''European Ships of War and Their Armament, Naval Administration and Economy, Marine Constructions and Appliances, Dockyards, etc., etc''. King's critical evaluations of naval architecture assumed that Congress might soon fund new designs for a re-equipped American Navy. A second edition was published in 1878. King then produced an expanded version of these reports in his 1880 book, ''The Warships and Navies of the World''.King, J.W. ''The Warships and Navies of the World'', p. iv.

Retirement and death

King was placed on the retired list on August 26, 1881. He died at his home at 3221 Powelton Avenue,

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 ...

, on June 6, 1905.

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, James Wilson 19th-century American naval officers 1818 births 1905 deaths Military personnel from Maryland People of Maryland in the American Civil War Union Navy officers United States Navy engineering officers United States Navy personnel of the Mexican–American War