The Washington herald., 1914-12-20
man HAS SAVED
nation Millions
David Watson Taylor, New
Constructor Of U. S.
Navy.
MADE VAST ECONOMIES
Taken Important Part in Designing
Vessels During the Past
Twenty Years.
MADE VAST ECONOMIES

| The man VINO has saved the nation
millions" Is the manner In which David
tor OF the United States Navy, has been
described. His achievement in this par
ticular is not the product Of economy
alone, but directly the fruit OF his rare
scientific attainments.
Dave" Taylor, as his intimates call
him, was born in Louisa county, Va.
| March 4, 1884. In 1881 he entered tha
United States Naval Academy as a cadet
engineer In those days twenty-five cadet
engineers were appointed yearly to the
academy, and their admission was deter
mined by competitive examinations Of
| candidates from the country at large.
For a country bred lad, educated mostly
under his fathers roof the manner n
which young Taylor acquitted himself at
the entrance examinations was spectac-
ular. Out of 100 candidates he passed
number two. and soon after entering An
napOlis he showed that he would not be
content with second place.
| In 1852 the cadet engineers and the
cadet midshipmen at the Naval Academy
were merged and thereafter officially
known as naval cadets. Three years
later, when the ever memorable June
week arrived. Taylor was the first to ad-
vance from the ranks OF the graduating
/
only headed his class, but he had won
by his work the highest percentage of
marks Of any naval academy graduate up
to that date. The record he made has
never since been equalled at the insti-
tuition.
The irritating part about Taylor
scholastic successes, SO his classmates
said, was that he never seemed to study
and alway had an abundance of time for
| recreation. The truth OF II was. his
mind had the rare quality Of quick abb
sorption combined with intelligent diges-
tion. In his first class year Cadet Tay-
lor was the highest cadet officer at An
HapOlis. Apparently all he had To do was
| TO run over a lesson once to know II,
and mathematical problems were just
| pie TO him.
One instance will illustrate the char
acter Of mind of the new chief con-
structor. One OF the subjects of the
academy curriculum was international
| law, and the examiners one year chose
rather difficult phase of this branch of
the cadets studies Indeed. the particu-
lar point was one Of rather elaborate
treatment in the textbook. and the best
that the bulk OF the students could do
was to summarize the question more or
less imperfeCtly.
When the examiners reached Cadet
TaylOr's paper. they found II not only
full. but substantially a verbatim repeti-
tiOn OF a passage from the textbook.
Now. experience had commonly proved
this degree Of thoroughness to be a mat
ter for suspicion. II looked too much
like direct copy, and young Taylor
was thought to have been guilty of crib
bing. He merely smiled when he was
called before the board OF officers and
indisputably established his innocence
av,l Id -
desk and rewriting Of1hand the interna-
tional problem.
With his academic days finished he
WAS ordered to sea for the usual two
years tour afloat. but after a short
cruise on the European station he was
detailed. in October. lSS5, to the Royal
Naval College. Greenwich. England. for
a three years course in naval archi-
lecture. In those days there was no
training school in this country for naval
architects; our naval constructors were
evolutiOns Of ship carpenters and build
ers of wooden craft. Their educa ton was
more practical than scientific. as a rule
The birth Of the new navy made the
professional deficiencies of the service
evident in this direction. and Taylor and
some of his fellows were sent to DIFF
ferent institutions in Europe where the
required advanced instruction might be
given them. Taylor astonished the fac
ulty at Greenwich just as much as he
had amazed the officials at the United
States Naval Academy. During his first
year at the Royal Naval College his
standing was exceptionally high, and
because of this merit he was appointed
Assistant Naval Constructor in August,
1885,. winning his detail to the Construc-
tiOnal Corps OF the United States navy
a year sooner than usual.
He was graduated from the ROYAL
Naval College at Greenwich at the COM
pletion of the three years course in
1888. and his diploma was the reward
for the highest marks in the naval
course received up to that
time by any English or foreign stu
dent. Indeed. TayIor's achievement in
this department of the Greenwich in
stitution stands today as the record
Yet the college has graduated some of
the foremost men in this profession.
For a while after his return to this !
Assistant Naval Constructor
Taylor was attached to the Bureau of
and Repair. Navy Depart 3
ment. Washington. and was later sent
to the navy yard at Mare Island, Cal,
where he took an active part in impor-
tant shipbuilding operations. In the :
early '90s he returned to Washington
and to the Bureau of Construction as
an assistant to the chief constructor.
and he has been stationed at the Ma |
tional Capital ever since.
As far back as 1894, when only thirty /
years old. Taylor attacked a very difiL /
cult problem in a paper written for the /
British Institution of Naval Architects,
a body that has had for its member /
ship the leading lights of the profess /
sion. The paper dealt with Ship Shap- ,
ed Stream Forms and was a mathe- ,
maticaI treatment of the decidedly alb
struse problems involved in the move ,
ment OF water about ship shaped bodies.
Because of this contribution to the lit