page_title: George W. Melville
section_title: Steam engineering
hierarchical_section_title: George W. Melville / Naval career / Steam engineering
caption_attribution_description: George W. Melville. Library of Congress description: "Melville, Adm., Artic Explorer; Engineer of the JEANETTE in 1880s; photographed c. 1910".
context_page_description: George Wallace Melville was an American 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 Navy 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 Navy, Melville reformed the service entirely, putting Navy engineers on a professional rather than an artisan footing.
  Melville also established an engineering experiment station near the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. As engineer-in-chief of the Navy, 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 Navy ships and aid training engineering officers. Both, he surmised, would increase the efficiency of the Navy.
context_section_description: Melville was an Inspector of Coal in 1884–1886, then performed his final seagoing duty in the new cruiser Atlanta. President Grover Cleveland appointed Melville Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering August 9, 1887, with the relative rank of commodore.
  During more than a decade and a half in that post, he was responsible for the Navy's propulsion systems during an era of remarkable force expansion, technological progress and institutional change. Melville superintended the design of 120 ships of the "New Navy". Among the major technical innovations that he helped introduce, often in defiance of the conservative opinion within the naval establishment, were the water-tube boiler, the triple-screw propulsion system, vertical engines, the floating repair ship, and the distilling ship.
  Promoted to rear admiral March 3, 1899, he was appointed engineer in chief of the Navy December 6, 1900. Melville entirely reformed the service, putting Navy engineers on a professional rather than an artisan footing.
  The Annapolis laboratory was a brainchild of Melville. As engineer-in-chief of the Navy, he fought hard to get an appropriation of $400,000 for an experiment and testing laboratory to be located at Annapolis. In 1903, he finally was successful in obtaining the appropriation for the engineering experiment station.
  His primary argument for the establishment of an experiment station was that it would increase the efficiency of the Navy. His idea was to establish a dependable means for testing—before installation—machinery and equipment designed for Navy ships. His secondary argument was that it could aid in training engineering officers, and therefore, it should be located in Annapolis near the Naval Academy.
  Prior to his retirement, Melville headed a committee tasked with studying how to use fuel oil in Navy boilers instead of coal. They strongly recommended that a testing plant be developed to test methods of burning fuel in Navy boilers. On November 18, 1910, the Secretary of Navy authorized "... the construction and equipment, at an estimated cost of $10,000.00, of a structure simulating a naval fireroom, for the purpose of instigating the subject of fuel oil burning in connection with the design of proposed oil burning battleships" in an existing building at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
  Retiring from active duty on January 10, 1903, Melville spent his final years in Philadelphia, where he continued to be engaged in matters relating to his profession. His first wife having died in 1882, Melville married Estella Smith Polis in 1907. She died two years later. There was no issue from their marriage.
  Melville was the recipient of many honors during his lifetime, both in the United States and internationally. He was one of the 33 founding members of the National Geographic Society. He died in Philadelphia on March 17, 1912 and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery.
  Melville was a companion of the District of Columbia Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States – a military society of naval officers and their descendants. In 1886, he became a companion of the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States and served as its commander from 1908 to 1909 and also served as national commander-in-chief of the Order from 1911 to 1912. He was also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He was also an honorary member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and served as its 18th president.
caption: Melville between 1890 and 1910
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