Benjamin F . Isherwood Benjamin Franklin Isherwood ( October 6 , 1822 – June 19 , 1915 ) was an engineering officer in the United States Navy during the early days of steam - powered warships . He served as a ship ' s engineer during the Mexican – American War , and after the war did experimental work with steam propulsion . Rising to the rank of rear admiral , as Engineer - in - Chief of the Navy during the Civil War , he helped to found the Navy ' s Bureau of Steam Engineering . Career in civilian engineering . Isherwood was born in New York City . He worked for the Utica and Schenectady Railroad and trained under William C . Young , one of the most prominent engineers of that period . Isherwood then worked on the Croton Aqueduct , followed by an engineering job on the Erie Canal . Designing and constructing lighthouses for the Treasury Department was Isherwood ' s last employment before joining the Navy . Early Naval career . At the age of 22 , Isherwood was appointed First Assistant Engineer in the Navy May 23 , 1844 , serving aboard in 1846 – 47 . During the Mexican – American War , he served in the steam warship , and later was senior engineer of the gunboat . When the Mexican – American War ended , Isherwood was assigned to the Washington Navy Yard , where he assisted Charles Stuart in designing engines and experiments with steam as a source of power for propelling ships . Throughout the 1850s , Isherwood compiled operational and performance data from steam engines in U . S . and foreign commercial vessels and warships . He used these empirical data to analyze the efficiency of engine types then in use . In the twelve years between the Mexican – American War and the Civil War , Isherwood published 55 technical and scientific articles on steam engineering and vessel propulsion in the prestigious " Journal of the Franklin Institute " . In 1859 the engineer published the results of his own original thermodynamic experiments in the two - volume " Engineering Precedents for Steam Machinery " . Isherwood was the nation ' s most prolific antebellum technical writer . Isherwood went to sea during the period between the wars , serving as Chief Engineer of the steam frigate on a cruise of more than three years on the Asiatic Station . During this cruise he was stricken with dysentery , prompting his return to the United States . Civil War . Shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War , Isherwood was appointed Engineer - in - Chief of the Navy , and so important were his services considered that the Bureau of Steam Engineering was created under his direction . When the Civil War began , the Navy had 28 steam vessels , and during the war , the number grew to 600 . Isherwood conducted the design and construction of the machinery necessary to accomplish this . He designed ships that were fast enough to pursue the blockade runner s . In 1863 and 1865 , Isherwood published the first and second volumes of " Experimental Researches in Steam Engineering " , which were translated into six languages and became a standard engineering text upon which future steam experimentation was based . Post - war activities . Immediately upon the conclusion of the war , Isherwood was principally involved with organizing a new scientific curriculum for steam engineering at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis . By 1874 , naval engineers refined this curriculum to the point that it served as the model for mechanical engineering education at most American universities . In 1869 Isherwood ran afoul of former shipmate Admiral David Dixon Porter . During the war years Isherwood led a campaign to increase the rank and influence of engineering officers in the navy . Porter opposed this change in the service ' s class structure . After the presidential inauguration of Ulysses S . Grant , Isherwood ' s longtime patron , Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles , could no longer protect him . Admiral Porter banished Isherwood to the Mare Island Navy Yard in San Francisco . Despite his diminished stature , Isherwood continued to produce technical innovations . In 1870 and 1871 , Isherwood conducted experiments that resulted in a propeller that was used by the Navy for the next 27 years . He was a pioneer in the production of fast cruiser s , producing this class against strong opposition . Following a tour of European dockyards , he became president of the Experimental Board under the Bureau of Steam Engineering until his retirement on October 6 , 1884 . Isherwood died in New York City at the age of 92 . Legacy . The Navy has recognized Isherwood ' s contributions in various ways . The steam engineering building at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis , Maryland , is named " Isherwood Hall " in his honor . The Rear Admiral Benjamin F . Isherwood Award is awarded by the Navy to recognize " innovation and expertise in the effective assessment , development , execution , or deployment of technological solutions for operational Fleet needs . " Three U . S . Navy ships – two destroyer s named and the never - finished fleet replenishment oiler – have been named for him . In a 1941 article in the United States Naval Institute ' s " Proceedings " , George W . Dyson stated that Isherwood might possibly be the greatest engineer the United States Navy had developed . The revolutionary engineering program initiated by Isherwood at the U . S . Naval Academy became the template for professional American mechanical engineering education . That basic curriculum designed at Annapolis in the late 1860s and early 1870s still serves as the core of university mechanical engineering pedagogy .