DIESEL ENCOMIUM
By CAPTAIN C. S. SEABRING, U. S. Navy
(Author’s Note: In naming in this article certain individuals as contributing to the development of the diesel engine in the United States, there is no intention to imply that those named are the only ones who made real contributions in this field. To name all who made important contributions would be impossible, for they numbered in the hundreds.)
The year 1948 marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States Navy Department. It also marks the fiftieth anniversary of the commencement of operation of the first commercial diesel engine in the world and in this country.
It is quite fitting and proper, on this double anniversary, to pay well-earned recognition to the personnel who played such a great part in the evolution and development of the diesel engine which has exerted such tremendous influence in modern naval warfare.
Not too many years ago, one of the big industrial organizations of the country decided to enter the diesel field, and it began to scan the horizon for the man they felt most qualified to head the new division. After careful consideration, an inquiry was dispatched to the then Commander of a Submarine Division, stating their plans and asking at what salary he might be interested in heading such an organization. This particular naval officer had had the most experience of anyone in the Navy in diesel engineering. His answer stated that the least acceptable annual salary would be a considerable sum, with a long term contract, and it further stipulated that the full contract sum be deposited in advance in the bank in escrow. In those days the sum named was a tremendous amount of money, and the Commander’s answer was intended to end consideration of him for the position. You can imagine his surprise, therefore, when he received word that such terms would be satisfactory. It was then necessary for him to express his appreciation for the confidence the industrial concern had indicated in his ability, but also to advise it that his ambition was to fly an Admiral’s Flag in command of a fleet, which precluded further consideration of the offer. That naval ambition was fully realized on December 31, 1941, when the former naval Commander, then Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, assumed command of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and it was later amplified on September 2, 1945, when the five-star flag of Fleet Admiral Nimitz flew from the main truck of the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay at the surrender of His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s Forces.
The November, 1915, issue of the Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers published an article entitled “Description of Main Propelling Machinery for the U.S.S. Maumee” by Lieutenant C. W. Nimitz, U.S. Navy, Member. He had worked on the development of her two 2500-horsepower M.A.N. two-cycle diesels which were built from blueprints obtained from Germany, and it was while working on these diesels that he lost the third finger of his left hand. Prior to this time he had studied diesel engineering in Nuremberg. After completion, the then Lieutenant Nimitz was attached to the U.S.S. Maumee and later commanded her. She was the first diesel propelled surface ship in the United States Navy.
Admiral S. M. Robinson, who became Chief of the Navy’s Bureau of Engineering in 1931, was a strong diesel advocate and stressed two fundamental requirements: light weight, and adaptation to production line methods of manufacture. Development contracts with five different companies were entered into in 1932 for delivery of new type units. Only one engine survived the severe tests and seemed to have promise for naval installations. It was built by Winton—now the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division of General Motors—and was thoroughly tested at the U.S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station at Annapolis. That engine was the prototype for those subsequently installed in the Porpoise, Pike, Shark, and Tarpon, our first diesel-electric drive submarines. Few people realize that that very same engine was also the prototype for those installed in all the streamlined diesel-electric locomotives built by General Motors, and which subsequently have practically revolutionized the railroad industry. Likewise, the Fairbanks-Morse opposed-piston engine, which was originally designed for submarine use and which first made its appearance in the Pollack and Plunger, today has been adapted to railroad locomotives.
At the beginning of World War II there were only about 600,000 diesel and gasoline horsepower in the Naval service as compared to approximately 14,000,000 steam horsepower. It is significant to note that by October of 1943 the total diesel horsepower in the U.S. Navy exceeded all the Navy’s steam turbine horsepower!
Vice Admiral E. L. Cochrane, U.S. Navy wartime Chief of the Bureau of Ships, made the following statement:
“The United States, in this last war, built thousands of ships, and 90 per cent of them were diesel powered. There was no vessel that was not equipped with diesel power of some kind; much use was made of diesel auxiliaries. The whole landing craft program was diesel powered, and these ships worked under the most strenuous conditions. In many an emergency, when a ship was bombed, diesel engines saved the day. Not a single one failed us in a critical operation.”
Incidentally Admiral Cochrane had supervised the installation of the first diesel engine in a submarine of the U.S. Navy many years before.
Admiral Thomas C. Hart, U.S. Navy, was the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet at the outbreak of World War II. After his return to the United States he became a member of the Navy’s General Board. A submarine officer of many years’ experience, he was intensely interested in the development of diesel power plants; so much so, that while a member of the General Board after his return to Washington in 1942 he visited the Bureau of Ships to familiarize himself with the latest developments and information then available. His keen appreciation of the latest technical advancements was well known.
Probably no senior officer was more closely concerned with diesels in the last war than was Vice Admiral C.A. Lockwood, U.S. Navy, Commander Submarines Pacific. He can recount by the dozens stories of the amazing amount of punishment which our ships took. There was, for example, the story of the Salmon, which was the depth-charged and forced to a 578 foot depth, but which upon surfacing to fight it out with the deck gun, was able to open her jammed exhaust valves, get up to speed, fight off two anti-submarine ships, and escape. Then there was the story of the Cero, which was built at Manitowoc, and which ran from Balboa to Brisbane—about 6000 miles—non stop!
In general, the diesel troubles in submarines were amazingly few, and the tender and base overhauls between patrols were excellent. There were, of course, titanic struggles to maintain the boats in the best possible condition. It was no easy task to establish repair facilities in Freemantle, Australia, as in those days spare parts were nil. The ingenuity displayed by naval personnel during the war in keeping boats running was amazing. A good example was the performance of the repair gang of the Holland in designing and machining a cutter to recondition a badly scored crankpin of a main engine of the Skipjack. In many cases it was a question Of keeping boats running with baling wire and chewing gum.
Back in 1910 or 1911 Doctor Diesel gave a talk at the United States Naval Academy. Admiral Lockwood recalls his tale of woe about his first diesel, a one-cylinder job. It blew up on him. He said, “She damn near kill me, but I make her run.” That same thing happened to the U.S. submarine force many times during the development years with “Chinese copies” of M.A.N. engines. But when we assigned a group of really smart Americans to diesel development, engines were produced which took hundreds of submarines on successful war patrols, saved the lives of their personnel many, many times, and sealed the doom of the Jap waterborne commerce.
Wartime submarines with their high speed diesels were a far cry from the old “rock crushers” of the R and S classes. Captain E. W. Grenfell relates that, when he was the Chief Engineer of the R-4 on the epic cruise of the “R” boats from Honolulu to New London, one engine would sometimes get five turns out of phase with the other at night, he would automatically “hit the deck” and head for the engineroom to see what was wrong. His next cruise was as Executive Officer and Chief Engineer of the Pickerel, one of our first diesel-electric submarines. Great credit for the transition to that type of propulsion plant is due to Commodore L. F. Small, U.S. Navy (Retired), now with Lima-Hamilton Corporation, Lima, Ohio, and to Captain W. D. Leggett, U.S. Navy, at present the Director of the Engineering Experiment Station at Annapolis. Due to their vision, foresight, and perseverance, and to the excellent technical performance of the civilian personnel of the Bureau of Engineering (which was later amalgamated with the Bureau of Construction and Repair into the Bureau of Ships), the diesel electric drive submarine became an actuality.
To omit the name of Mr. E. C. Magdeburger of the Bureau of Ships from a list of those deserving great credit in naval diesel development would indeed be unforgivable. In the days when diesels were not in too high favor, it was he who maintained the faith and nurtured the spark—a spark which was eventually fanned into roaring infernos in cylinders producing fifty million horsepower in World War II.
To fail to give great credit to the personnel of civilian Industry who contributed so richly during the pre-war and wartime production period would be sacrilege. Special recognition is due Mr. G. W. Codrington, Mr. K. O. Keel, and Mr. Charles Fike of Cleveland Diesel, Mr. Frank Mason and the late Mr. L. B. Jackson of Fairbanks-Morse, and Mr. J. E. Peterson of General Machinery Corporation, who after many vicissitudes actually saw the results of their efforts culminate in naval power plants that could both “take it” and “put it out” under the rigorous demands of wartime operation.
The wealth of experience gained during the pre-war submarine engine development period proved a gold mine. Coupled with the ingenuity of American Industry in adapting the article “on the shelf” to naval use, it was a vital factor in our naval construction program. Truck engines became landing craft engines, either singly in the smaller boats, or in pairs, in threes, and even in eights, in the larger units. Over 5000 diesels a month poured forth from one plant alone. Diesel locomotive engines were adapted to LST’s. In the Destroyer Escort program, when it became apparent that the turbine industry could not produce power plants in sufficient time to meet the desired schedule, it was decided to install four instead of eight diesels in each ship, thus allowing the production of twice as many ships at a time when the anti-submarine menace was at its height. Interchangeability of parts contributed greatly to better maintenance.
But a few among those who contributed so richly and unstintingly to naval programs are Mr. C. F. Kettering, Mr. E. V. Rippingille, Mr. R. K. Evans, and Mr. J. C. Fetters of General Motors Corporation, Mr. Frank Prescott and Mr. C. R. Osborne of Electromotive, Mr. Crowe of Detroit Diesel, Mr. Charles Ballou of Hercules, Mr. Frank Fernstrum of Gray Marine, Mr. Peter Lambertus of American Bearing, Mr. Christopher Strachan of Madison Iron Works, and Professor Frank M. Lewis of Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
It had become apparent in the latter part of 1940 that additional officers would be required as engineers of diesel-powered craft. At that time it was decided that approximately 300 officers would be trained per year, which was considered to be an adequate number to meet the future diesel needs of the Navy. Since the Navy itself had no adequate schools for diesel training, it was necessary to call on various universities for use of their available diesel facilities and their trained faculties.
Pennsylvania State College, Lehigh University, Cornell University, North Carolina State College, and the University of California all participated in a progressively expanding program so that by the end of 1941 the output was 105 graduates every 16 weeks. In 1943 a consolidation of diesel instruction was effected, and a revised curriculum installed in two institutions—Cornell and North Carolina State—each of which turned out officer graduates at the rate of 624 per year.
Concurrently the Naval Training School (Amphibious Engineering) at General Motors Institute, Flint, Michigan, was expanded to such an extent that it was able to graduate 1248 students a year, each having completed a six weeks operating course.
Responsible for the extensive training program were Rear Admiral (then Captain) J. L. Holloway, Jr., U. S. Navy, Director of Training, and Captain Arthur S. Adams, U.S.Navy (Retired), Director of the Field Administration Division of Training, Bureau of Naval Personnel. Most of the men so trained have now returned to civil life, taking with them a wealth of diesel experience.
One evening during President Roosevelt’s attendance at the Teheran Conference in the latter part of 1943, about a dozen officers on duty in the Bureau of Ships were called to a conference with Rear Admiral C. L. Brand, U. S. Navy, the Head of the Shipbuilding Division of the Bureau of Ships. A message had been received from the President inquiring as to how many landing craft could be produced and delivered in the United Kingdom by a specific deadline date, providing they took precedence over all other munitions of war. The answer was required by 9 o’clock the following morning for presentation at a special conference in the Cabinet room of the White House.
At first it appeared as though the diesel industry was across the barrel, since every landing craft required its diesel power plant. As the evening progressed, it finally developed that buildings-ways, steel, and certain other necessary components would be equally critical items.
The conference in the Bureau of Ships finally adjourned in the early hours of the morning, and at 9 o’clock the conferees were on hand at the White House with the pertinent data. Mr. Byrnes presided in the absence of the President. Mr. Donald Nelson and Mr. C. E. Wilson of the War Production Board, Admiral Land of the Maritime Commission, General Lucius D. Clay of the Army, Admiral Horne of the Navy, and other experts and advisors were present. The conflicts of such a program and their impacts on other programs were fully explained, and decisions were made on the spot. But a little over an hour after the convening of the conference, Mr. Nelson and Mr. Wilson were busy directing the steel mills of the country to discontinue their present rolls, and to make immediate preparations to roll material for the landing craft program.
The President had his answer in a question of hours. And on the deadline date, the Allied Forces had their diesel powered landing craft in England ready for the historic landings in Normandy.
Again the Navy and industry had demonstrated the vital versatility, ingenuity, and productivity necessary in our fight to preserve Democracy.
Graduating from the Naval Academy in 1927, Captain Seabring, an EDO, served in cruisers, destroyers, and submarines. From 1942 through 1944 he was Head of the Internal Combustion Engine Section of the Bureau of Ships. He was Executive Officer of the Naval Technical Mission to Europe in 1945, and at present is Head of the Department of Marine Engineering at the U. S. Naval Academy.