Bringing Science and Technology to the Waterfront - Donald L. Blount
Authors: Schleicher Dean M. 
Published: January 2024

Donald Blount is recognized around the world for his contributions to high-speed marine vehicles of various types for more than 50 years. A highlight of his career has been the revolutionary high-speed craft, DESTRIERO, which holds the combined east- and west-bound Atlantic crossing elapsed time record and the fastest east-bound crossing record for which its development history has been presented in numerous forums. An in-depth look at his career beyond this singular achievement will be shared in honor of his numerous contributions to the marine industry during his lifetime of bringing science and technology to the waterfront.

Donald Blount began his formal career in 1954 as an intern at David Taylor Research Center while a student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He was hired by DTRC and worked in the model test basin and in the tests and trials branch. In 1959 he successfully tested into a naval architecture position. He concluded his degree in Mechanical Engineering at George Washington University in 1963. Also in 1963, Gene Clement and Donald published "Resistance Tests of a Systematic Series of Planing Hull Forms" in SNAME Transactions which concluded two years of testing in Tank 3 at DTRC and of the subsequent analysis of Model Series 62. He worked in Jacques Hadler's division conducting individual research and directing engineering programs relating to emerging technology in the field of hydrodynamics. He served as Project Engineer in the ship powering, small craft, propeller and full-scale trials branches.

He volunteered and served two years as a civilian with NRDUV (Naval Research and Development Unit, Viet Nam) including being in Viet Nam during the summer of 1968. Throughout 1967 while acting as branch head, he received casualty reports from the field for trend monitoring. During his in-country tour in 1968, he personally participated in nine missions on the rivers of the Mekong Delta and offshore. Upon returning from his service he found that his position as Trials Branch Head at DTRC was no longer available and he chose to transfer to the Combatant Craft Engineering Department in Norfolk, Virginia as Technical Manager in 1969. He was responsible for planning, organizing and monitoring research and development programs for small craft and their systems. He also evaluated technological trends and selected promising approaches to achieve significant advances in performance.

Department of Defense and other governmental agencies. He was promoted to Department Head in 1981 where he was responsible for design, engineering and testing of all non-commissioned navy craft. He supervised 80 government employees and an additional 45 contracted technical staff. The department developed contract plans and specifications used to procure navy boats and craft. He served as advisor to all levels of the Department of Defense on issues relating to state-of-the-art technologies required for producing high-speed small craft.

Throughout his civil service tenure he maintained a small, private consulting practice for the recreational boating industry and when he retired from the Civil Service in 1990, he took his consulting practice full time as a naval architect and professional engineer providing hydrodynamic expertise with an emphasis on sea-keeping, propulsion, maneuvering, control and dynamic stability for high speed and special purpose commercial, military and recreational craft.

Donald has published numerous papers and has received several honors in recognition of his contributions. He maintains several professional society memberships, is a professional engineer registered in Virginia and North Carolina and has professional interests including marine archaeology and the collection of antiquarian naval architectural books about boat and yacht design. He is currently writing a book regarding the technical design of small craft. An attempt is made here to present Donald's many contributions in bringing science and technology to the waterfront.