Harold Gardiner Bowen Sr. (6 November 1883 – 1 August 1965) was a

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 ...

Vice admiral, former head of the Office of Naval Research and a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

. He was the recipient of the

Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...

and he was the namesake of . His son Harold G. Bowen Jr. also became a Vice Admiral, known for his involvement in the inquiry into the ''Pueblo'' incident.

Biography

Harold Gardiner Bowen was born 6 November 1883 in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

to Amos Miller Bowen and Eliza Rhodes Henry. His father had been a Union officer during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and served in the

Rhode Island House of Representatives The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island, the upper house being the Rhode Island Senate. It is composed of 75 members, elected ...

for six years. Bowen graduated from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

, Annapolis, Maryland in January 1905. He was assigned to in 1905 and in 1906. He received his commission in the spring of 1907 and was assigned to during the first leg of the Great White Fleet. He transferred to in the spring of 1908 and eventually became the Chief Engineer's first assistant.Bowen 1954, p. 7. Bowen transferred to as the executive officer. Aboard ''Hopkins'' he learned a great deal about engineering due to the poor condition of the ship and eventually became the engineering officer as well as the executive officer, with only two officers aboard. ''Hopkins'' suffered a boiler accident and two sailors were killed, but Bowen was away from the ship that day taking a promotions exam. After the commanding officer departed, Bowen was the only officer left on ''Hopkins'' and became commanding officer as a lieutenant. Bowen married Edith Brownlie of

Vallejo, California Vallejo ( ; ) is a city in Solano County, California and the second largest city in the North Bay region of the Bay Area. Located on the shores of San Pablo Bay, the city had a population of 126,090 at the 2020 census. Vallejo is home to th ...

, 27 September 1911 at the First Presbyterian Church in Vallejo. He earned a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

from

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 ...

in 1914. Bowen began serving as Chief Engineer on several ships and was attached to in 1914, followed by (ex-''Pennsylvania'') in late 1915 and in late 1918. Claud A Jones Medal of Honor 1932

Bowen spent three years ashore ending July 1922, part of it as a shop superintendent and later as Engineer officer of the

Mare Island Navy Yard The Mare Island Naval Shipyard (MINSY) was the first United States Navy base established on the Pacific Ocean. It is located northeast of San Francisco in Vallejo, California. The Napa River goes through the Mare Island Strait and separates t ...

. He became Assistant Fleet Engineer under Admiral

Edward Walter Eberle Edward Walter Eberle (August 17, 1864 – July 6, 1929) was an admiral in the United States Navy, who served as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy and the third Chief of Naval Operations. Early years Edward Walter Eberle was b ...

, Commander of the

Battle Fleet The United States Battle Fleet or Battle Force was part of the organization of the United States Navy from 1922 to 1941. The General Order of 6 December 1922 organized the United States Fleet, with the Battle Fleet as the Pacific presence. This f ...

, embarked on . He was later the Fleet Materiel Officer for the Battle Fleet under Admiral

Samuel Robison Admiral Samuel Shelburne Robison CB, USN (May 10, 1867 – November 20, 1952) was a United States Navy officer whose service extended from the 1890s through the early 1930s. He held several major commands during World War I, and from 1928 to 193 ...

, aboard . Bowen returned to shore as Production Manager of

Puget Sound Navy Yard Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, officially Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), is a United States Navy shipyard covering 179 acres (0.7 km2) on Puget Sound at Bremerton, Washington in uninterrupted u ...

, prior to 1930. Bowen was the Assistant Chief of the

Bureau of 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 ...

from 1931 to 1935 and then the Chief of the Bureau of engineering from 1935 to 1939. While there Bowen was a champion for research and development (R&D) of high pressure, high temperature steam propulsion. A technology said to radically change maritime steam turbine operation, increasing the speed and range of Navy ships in World War II. Bowen was Director of the

Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. It was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, applied research, technological ...

(NRL) from 1939 to 1941. According to Amato, in "Pushing the Horizon", a history of the Naval Research Laboratory, Bowen's leadership of NRL was mixed. He championed vital research, such as

Radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

, yet his personality conflicts with key figures like

Vannevar Bush Vannevar Bush ( ; March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all warti ...

and Secretary of the Navy

Frank Knox William Franklin Knox (January 1, 1874 – April 28, 1944) was an American politician, newspaper editor and publisher. He was also the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936, and Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt durin ...

ultimately excluded the Navy and NRL from the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...

. Similar conflicts with

William Sterling Parsons Rear Admiral William Sterling "Deak" Parsons (26 November 1901 – 5 December 1953) was an American naval officer who worked as an ordnance expert on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He is best known for being the weaponeer on the ''En ...

, Rickover and others also prevented Bowen from being involved post war nuclear development handing development of the

Nuclear navy A nuclear navy, or nuclear-powered navy, refers to the portion of a navy consisting of naval ships powered by nuclear marine propulsion. The concept was revolutionary for naval warfare when first proposed. Prior to nuclear power, submarines were ...

to Admiral

Hyman G. Rickover Hyman G. Rickover (January 27, 1900 – July 8, 1986) was an admiral in the U.S. Navy. He directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of the U.S. Naval Reactors offic ...

at the Bureau of Ships instead. Although Bowen and NRL were excluded from the Manhattan project, NRL's work starting in 1939 on thermal separation of

uranium isotopes Uranium (92U) is a naturally occurring radioactive element that has no stable isotope. It has two primordial isotopes, uranium-238 and uranium-235, that have long half-lives and are found in appreciable quantity in the Earth's crust. The decay ...

at the

Philadelphia Navy Yard The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard was an important naval shipyard of the United States for almost two centuries. Philadelphia's original navy yard, begun in 1776 on Front Street and Federal Street in what is now the Pennsport section of the ci ...

steam plant did become a part of the project to build the atomic bomb. The S-50 facility at

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...

was based on that concept as well. One of Bowen's duties during the war was to seize and operate corporations for federal government under Presidential

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...

s. His and the Navy's first corporate seizure of World War II was

Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company The Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was a United States shipyard, active from 1917 to 1948. It was founded during World War I to build ships for the United States Shipping Board. During World War II, it built ships as part of the U.S. Gov ...

Kearny, New Jersey Kearny ( ) is a town in the western part of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States and a suburb of Newark. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town's population was 40,684,shipyard near

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

had shut down due to a

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

for the better part of August 1941 with no work being done on $493 million ($ today) in defense contracts. As the Navy's Officer-in-charge, Bowen operated the yard for 134 days meeting many of the originally scheduled deadlines returning operation back to the company in early January 1942. He was also the officer in charge during the seizure of Los Angeles Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. He would seize and operate a half dozen other major industrial plants, among others, for the Navy during the war. In 1942, Bowen was made Special Assistant to the

Under Secretary of the Navy Under may refer to: * "Under" (Alex Hepburn song), 2013 * "Under" (Pleasure P song), 2009 *Bülent Ünder (born 1949), Turkish footballer *Cengiz Ünder (born 1997), Turkish footballer *Marie Under (1883–1980), Estonian poet * Under (restaurant) ...

, James V. Forrestal (1942–1944) and after Secretary Knox's death, Bowen became Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, Forrestal (1944–1947). In 1946, Forrestal made Bowen the first leader of the Office of Research and Invention (ORI) which would eventually become the Office of Naval Research. In January 1947, Bowen made a six-point policy proposal to Navy leadership pushing for comprehensive R&D into nuclear propulsion, munitions, nuclear medicine and nuclear science, but he failed and those activities went to the Bureau of Ships under Admiral Rickover instead of Bowen's ORI. Bowen retired on 1 June 1947, a week short of 46 years of service. Bowen died 1 August 1965, at Our Lady of Fatima Hospital,

. His residence was in

Cranston, Rhode Island Cranston, once known as Pawtuxet, is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island. The official population of the city in the 2020 United States Census was 82,934, making it the second largest in the state. The center of population of Rhode Island ...

at the time of his death. He was interred 4 August 1965 at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

, section 4, grave 3188-B. He was survived by his wife Edith Brownlie-Bowen and his son Harold G. Bowen Jr.

Awards and honors

* He was the namesake of * Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame inductee, 1992 * The Vice Admiral Harold G. Bowen Award is used by the Navy to recognize important inventions made by military or civilian employees of the Navy. * Letter of Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox for Bowen's services in the development and perfection of Radar.Bowen 1954, p. 230. * Several commendatory letters from Secretary Knox regarding Bowen's handling of

. *

Distinguished Service Medal (US Navy) The Navy Distinguished Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps which was first created in 1919 and is presented to sailors and Marines to recognize distinguished and exceptionally meritoriou ...

, from Secretary of the Navy Forrestal for his career of service to the Navy. Specifically citing his work relating to radar and steam propulsion research and his wartime duties in taking over industrial plants ensuring vital war material production.Bowen 1954, p. 359.

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowen, Harold Gardiner Sr. 1883 births 1965 deaths American mechanical engineers 20th-century American memoirists United States Navy personnel of World War I Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Engineers from Rhode Island People from Providence, Rhode Island Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy vice admirals United States Navy World War II admirals