Robert Dexter Conrad (March 20, 1905 – July 26, 1949) was a

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officer. He graduated from the

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and was commissioned as an

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in June 1927.

Naval career

Following duty onboard , he attended the Postgraduate School at Annapolis, Maryland, and earned a Master of Science degree in

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in June 1932. Then ordered to the

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(

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), he served there until the fall of 1933 when he took a leave of absence to study at

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. Returning to the

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, he served in the Design and Construction Division and in the Research and Information Section of the

Bureau of Construction and Repair The Bureau of Construction and Repair (BuC&R) was the part of the United States Navy which from 1862 to 1940 was responsible for supervising the design, construction, conversion, procurement, maintenance, and repair of ships and other craft for the ...

; then, from August 1937 to June 1939, at the Experimental Model Basin at

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Duty at

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followed and in November 1940 he was appointed Assistant

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, later Special Naval Observer, at the American Embassy,

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World War II service

In January 1942 he returned to Washington, D.C. Initially in the Bureau of Ships, he became Head of the Progress and Planning Section in the Office of the Coordinator of Research and Development, Office of the

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

in April and remained in that post until May 1945. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his work during that period. After the end of the war in

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, Captain Conrad continued his research work through many organizational changes, and was eventually designated Director of the Planning Division, Office of Research and Inventions, later the Office of Naval Research. He was awarded the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for his work both during and after the Second World War.

Retirement

Captain Conrad retired in 1947 and died in

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on July 26, 1949.

Award named in his honor

The Navy's top scientific award, an annual award to the individual making an outstanding contribution in naval research and development bears Captain Conrad's name: the

Captain Robert Dexter Conrad Award The Captain Robert Dexter Conrad Award is an award presented annually to the individual making an outstanding contribution in naval research and development. Background The award is named in honor of Captain Robert Dexter Conrad, who was the pri ...

Ship naming

The , a research ship operated by

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, was named in his honor.

References

External links

Robert Dexter Conrad Papers, 1909-1961 MS 203
held by Special Collection & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy {{DEFAULTSORT:Conrad, Robert D. 1905 births 1949 deaths People from Orange, Massachusetts Military personnel from Massachusetts United States Naval Academy alumni MIT School of Engineering alumni United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of World War II Recipients of the Legion of Merit American expatriates in the United Kingdom