despite this vigilance the forces that required an 

 observatory gained their ends.^f* 



The Observatory became a very important center 

 for hydrography and meteorology under Lt. Mat- 

 thew Fontaine Maury, who took over in 1842. 

 Maury collected the data from ships' logs to get a 

 worldwide picture of meteorology, ocean cur- 

 rents, and other oceanography. His "Sailing 

 Directions" made it possible for U.S. clipper 

 ships to reduce time of passage by one-fourth to 

 one-third. He largely ignored the Observatory's 

 astronomical responsibilities, however. The U.S. 

 Naval Astronomical Expedition to the Southern 

 Hemisphere, under Lt. Gillis, was sent to Chile in 

 1849 to make measurements of planetary positions 

 in order to determine the sun's parallax, but be- 

 cause Maury failed to take simultaneous measure- 

 ments in Washington, the expedition's main pur- 

 pose was not achieved. It did, however, collect 

 other valuable data.''"' 



Another significant naval expedition, the United 

 States Surveying and Exploring Expedition, went 

 to the Southwest Pacific in 1853, returning by way 

 of the Arctic in 1855. Deep water bottom samples 

 were taken and some useful hydrographic data 

 were published, but there was no money for a 

 complete report of the expedition. "^8 



Until 1845, the Navy was severely handicapped 

 by lack of a naval academy— relatively few naval 

 oflicers were well educated (although Dr. Hassler 

 trained some in the Coast Survey). However, the 

 Washington Navy Yard seems to have been a cen- 

 ter of some technical innovation. Probably for 

 this reason the Congress chose the Navy to super- 

 vise the development of electric motors and an 

 electric locomotive proposed by Charles Page, an 

 examiner at the Patent Office, in 1849. '^^ Dahlgren, 

 a Hassler-trained officer, did extensive ordnance 

 research at the Navy Yard. He developed a superi- 

 or cast iron cannon with characteristic "pop-bot- 

 tle" shape that matched the strength to the internal 

 pressure curve. ^0 



Although the Navy was innovative, sometimes 

 management was not adequate to produce desired 

 results. In 1842, for instance, the Navy was au- 

 thorized to build the Stevens "battery." This was 

 to be a fast, iron-clad, steam-driven ship with long 



^'>lbid.. p. 62. 

 5''Ibid.,p. 97. 



5*Nourse, J.E., Americun Exploration in the Ice Zones (D. 

 Lothrop & Co.: Boston, 1884). 

 ^''Dupree, p. 49. 



Mfbid., pp. 12.V124; Alden, Carrol S., A Short History of 

 the United States NavyO. B. IJppincolt: Philadelphia, 1927). 

 p. 26(). Hereinafter referred to as Alden. 



guns for both shot and shell; however it appears 

 that technical contract management was not ade- 

 quate, for the battery was never completed, al- 

 though half a million dollars had been spent by 

 1855.^-1 



Navy — Civil War 



The Navy may be said to have done enough 

 crude experimentation to be intellectually ready 

 when the Civil War broke out, but it had not done 

 the research which would have enabled it to solve 

 problems (e.g., to prevent boiler explosions or to 

 manufacture steel cannons). 



Because the Navy was intellectually ready, it 

 was able to take several important steps early in 

 the war. In 1861 it approved plans for three types 

 of armored ships. One of these was John Eric- 

 son's Monitor. Dahlgren was left in direct com- 

 mand of the Department of Experiments with full 

 support of the Washington Navy Yard. Steam 

 engineering R&D was stepped up, and B.F. Isher- 

 wood was made head of a new Bureau of Steam 

 Engineering in 1862. Thus a hastily built steam 

 navy successfully blockaded the South. ^"2 



Dupree summarizes the research situation dur- 

 ing the Civil War as follows: 

 Thus the Navy in the Civil War came to terms 

 with every important phase of the technological 

 revolution that affected it. Under constant criti- 

 cism from outside and riven by internal contro- 

 versy, the department nevertheless managed to 

 find officers well qualified to handle the new 

 research technology and put them in administra- 

 tive positions where they were able to act. In 

 no important way did they further the naval 

 revolution, but to keep pace with it was a ma- 

 jor accomplishment which hinted at the govern- 

 ment's potential ability to apply scientific pro- 

 cedures to technological problems. ^-^ 



Navy— Post-Civil War 



After the Civil War the Navy engaged in a vari- 

 ety of research endeavors. It continued its role in 

 exploration, with emphasis on the Arctic. At the 

 Naval Academy one graduate. A. A. Michelson. 

 began his famous measurements of the velocity of 

 light which eventually made him the first Ameri- 

 can Nobel laureate in science. At the Naval Ob- 

 servatory astronomy again assumed real impor- 

 tance under Gillis. and, in 1866, the work on winds 

 and currents which Maury had originated was 

 transferred to a new Hydrographic Office. Al- 

 though it is no longer a leader in astronomy as it 

 was in the 1890's, the Naval Observatory plays a 



'''Dupree, p. 123. 

 Wlbid., pp. 124-126. 

 "Ibid., p. 126. 



330 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS 



