military_branch george w. melville
Rear Admiral George Wallace Melville , USN ( 10 January 1841 -- 17 March 1912 ) was an engineer , Arctic explorer and author . As chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering , he headed a time of great expansion , technological progress and change , often in defiance of the conservative element of the ___MASK17___ hierarchy . He superintended the design of 120 ships and introduced the water - tube boiler , the triple - screw propulsion system , vertical engines , the floating repair ship , and the `` distilling ship . '' Appointed Engineer in Chief of the ___MASK17___ , Melville reformed the service entirely , putting ___MASK17___ engineers on a professional rather than an artisan footing . Melville also established the Engineering Experiment Station ( EES ) near the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis . As Engineer - in - Chief of the ___MASK17___ , he fought hard to get an appropriation of $ 400 , 000 for an experiment and testing laboratory to be located at Annapolis . He argued that such a facility would be a dependable means for testing machinery and equipment before its installation in ___MASK17___ ships and aid training engineering officers . Both , he surmised , would increase the efficiency of the ___MASK17___ . When the ___MASK17___ offered to have this facility named after him , Melville refused with characteristic modesty . Melville made his first trip to the Arctic in 1873 , when he volunteered to help rescue 19 survivors of the Polaris expedition . Six years later , he volunteered to accompany Lieutenant Commander George W . DeLong on board the USS Jeannette to the Bering Strait in search of a quick way to the North Pole . Jeannette became icebound and was eventually crushed ; Melville , the 10 others in his small boat , and two from DeLong ' s boat , were the only survivors . Despite the extreme length and hardships of the trip , he returned in search of DeLong and others who might possibly still be alive . He found none but retrieved all records of the expedition . The United States Congress awarded Melville the Congressional Gold Medal for his gallantry and resourcefulness ; the ___MASK17___ advanced him 15 numbers on the promotion list . He wrote of the DeLong expedition in his book , In the Lena Delta , published in 1884 . The Bureau of Steam Engineering was a bureau of the ___MASK48___ , 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 1920 , the Bureau of Engineering ( BuEng ). In 1940 it combined with the Bureau of Construction and Repair ( BuC & R ) and became the Bureau of Ships ( BuShips ). The ___MASK48___ ' s Bureau of Ships ( BuShips ) was established by Congress on 20 June 1940 , by a law which consolidated the functions of the Bureau of Construction and Repair ( BuC & R ) and the Bureau of Engineering ( BuEng ). The new bureau was to be headed by a chief and deputy - chief , one selected from the Engineering Corps ( Marine Engineer ) and the other from the Construction Corps ( Naval Architect ). The chief of the former Bureau of Engineering , Rear Admiral Samuel M . " Mike " Robinson , was named BuShips ' first chief , while the former chief of the Bureau of Construction & Repair , Rear Admiral Alexander H . Van Keuren , was named as BuShips ' first Deputy - Chief . The bureau ' s responsibilities included supervising the design , construction , conversion , procurement , maintenance , and repair of ships and other craft for the Navy ; managing shipyards , repair facilities , laboratories , and shore stations ; developing specifications for fuels and lubricants ; and conducting salvage operations . The Bureau of Construction and Repair ( BuC & R ) was the part of the ___MASK48___ which from 1862 to 1940 was responsible for supervising the design , construction , conversion , procurement , maintenance , and repair of ships and other craft for the Navy . The bureau also managed shipyards , repair facilities , laboratories , and shore stations .