REAR-ADMIRAL G. W. MELVILLE, U.S.N. 183 



REAE-ADMIKAL G. W. MELVILLE, U.S.N., AND APPLIED 

 SCIENCE IN CONSTEUCTION OF THE NEW FLEET. 



By the late Professor R. H. THURSTON. 



A S remarked by the editor of The Nation, the retirement of Rear- 

 -^-^ Admiral George W. Melville merits more attention than it has 

 received. The final withdrawal of the engineer in chief of the United 

 States Navy is an event of importance, not only as affecting the 

 efficiency of the naval service, the value of its fleet and the usefulness 

 of its personnel, but also, in hardly less degree, as liable to influence 

 the progress of applied science in that essential branch of the public 

 service. The retiring officer has held his position, despite all political 

 changes, for the extraordinary period of sixteen years. His fourth 

 term expired on August 8 and, although his retiring age was attained 

 in January, he was, under a provision of the law allowing the Presi- 

 dent that option, retained and permitted to serve out his term. 



It has been during the term of service of Admiral Melville that the 

 ' new navy ' has been created and all the modern scientific methods and 

 all the resources of the applied sciences have been availed of in its con- 

 struction and operation. In this work of application of modern learn- 

 ing, conspiring with recent invention, Melville has been responsible for 

 the most extensive and vitally essential innovations, those of the de- 

 partment of machinery ' of propulsion. That his administration has 

 been attended with the highest success is sufficiently evidenced by his 

 long retention in his office and by the unanimous agreement of our 

 own and foreign naval experts in a high rating of our fleet. The com- 

 ments of the past summer upon the occasion of the visit of the Kear- 

 sarge to European waters, the earlier verdict on the performance of 

 our fleet during the Spanish-American war and particularly on the 

 Oregon and her work, are illustrations of the opinions of foreign as well 

 as of our own experts. For the whole mass of machinery with which 

 these ships are laden, and for their performance under steam, the 

 Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering of the Navy Department is 

 ultimately responsible. Melville has carried this responsibility for 

 sixteen years and retires with honor and appreciation by all who have 

 officially dealt with him or who have been professionally familiar with 

 his work. The transformation which he has witnessed and in which 

 he has taken so large a part is only comparable to that of the original 

 introduction of steam into the navy, and the only comparable career 

 is that of Engineer-in-Chief Isherwood, who was similarly responsible 



