Dissertation Research: Fighting Engineers: U.S. Navy and Professional Mechanical Engineering, 1842-1900

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This dissertation research project, Fighting Engineers: The U.S. Navy and Professional Mechanical Engineering, 1842-1900, investigates nineteenth century Navy social hierarchy, engineering style, and engineers. Navy engineers were few in number before the Civil War, but the engineering corps expanded several fold during the war. Social conflict developed between combat and engineering officers, known throughout the second half of the century as the line-staff dispute. At stake was authority and prestige; line officers were unwilling to share either with shipboard engineers and fought against any encroachment on their traditional privileges. For their part, engineers rallied support in Congress, academia, and industry to gain the respect they felt they deserved. This dissertation connects to a broader historical theme: government sponsorship of technology, an American phenomenon that often has a military genesis. From 1865 to 1890, the U.S. Navy created modern mechanical engineering at the Naval Academy. The formation of this new body of technical knowledge had dramatic and unforeseen multiplier effects for the nation. By century's end, Navy engineer veterans directed the largest industrial corporations in the country and taught at its finest universities. They were one critical but overlooked factor in nineteenth century American economic development. Funds for this project support research at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.