David W . Taylor Rear Admiral David Watson Taylor , USN ( March 4 , 1864 – July 28 , 1940 ) was a naval architect and engineer of the United States Navy . He served during World War I as Chief Constructor of the Navy , and Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair . Taylor is best known as the man who constructed the first experimental towing tank ever built in the United States . Early life and career . Taylor was born in Louisa County , Va . He entered the United States Naval Academy in 1881 , after graduating from Randolph - Macon College where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi . He graduated from the Academy in 1885 at the head of his class , setting a scholarship record , which still stands today . He was then sent to Greenwich , England in 1885 and received the highest honors of the Royal Naval College , Greenwich , in 1888 , again setting a record . In August 1886 , Taylor was appointed an assistant naval constructor . Early in his naval career he served on various stations and in 1909 acted as chief of the Navy ' s Bureau of Construction and Repair . In 1895 he was the first American honored by award of a gold medal of the British Institute of Naval Architects . In 1898 he constructed and had charge of the first experimental tank for models of war vessels built in the United States . He was connected with boards dealing with hull changes of naval vessels . In probably the greatest achievement of his career he created the " Taylor Standard Series " of 80 models with systematically varying proportions and prismatic coefficient . This series is still used for preliminary estimates of ship resistance for twin screw , moderate to high speed naval ships . The book was revised in 1933 with the addition of data on 40 new models . The series data was re - analyzed using more recent methods of evaluating friction resistance , and the results were published in 1954 . Both " Speed and Power " and the Reanalysis were republished by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers in 1998 , the centennial of the EMB . The Taylor Series allows variation of the slenderness ratio , beam to draft ratio , and prismatic coefficient . While these are far from the only parameters that can be varied in a warship ' s hull design , it is possible to get a preliminary estimate of ship resistance from the series for essentially all warships , and many merchant ships , built since Taylor ' s time . Taylor ' s main contribution was to recognize that these three simple parameters were the critical ones for ship performance . A Taylor series estimate is accurate enough to plan the model test and to develop an idea of how much power will be required to achieve design speed , prior to model testing the actual hull form . Today the Taylor Series has been programmed in electronic form and is used in several ship " synthesis models " to do feasibility studies for new ships . After the " RMS Titanic " disaster of 1912 , he was assigned to investigate the problem of making ships more seaworthy through better hull construction . On this duty , he served under the Secretary of Commerce and took a leading part in the International Conference on Safety at Sea , which grew out of the " Titanic " sinking . Taylor as Chief Constructor of the Navy during World War I . On December 14 , 1914 , a few months after the outbreak of war in Europe , Taylor became chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair , with the rank of Rear Admiral on December 14 , 1914 . He held that post throughout the war , along with the title of Chief Constructor of the Navy . Taylor ' s active interest in aviation was stimulated by his appointment as a representative of the government on the National Research Council in 1916 . In January , 1917 , he was senior member of the Joint Army and Navy Technical Board for Design and Construction of a Zeppelin - type airship . Through the World War , Taylor supervised the creation of numbers of new ships for naval service . For this work the Navy bestowed upon him the Distinguished Service Medal , with the citation : " For exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility as Chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair . " The French government made him a Commander of the Legion of Honor . Rear Admiral Taylor also aided in the development of the NC - type flying boat , the first aircraft to make a transatlantic flight . Aeronautical activities in the post - war period . After his retirement from Naval service , Taylor focused his attention on aeronautics . He played a major role in promoting aviation ' s technical development , serving on several committees of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ( NACA ) , the precursor of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration . Taylor served as chairman of NACA ' s Subcommittee on Aeronautical Inventions and Designs after the subcommittee was organized in March 1927 . Later that year , he was made chairman of the Subcommittee on Aerodynamics . Long recognized as an international authority on naval architecture and marine engineering . Taylor applied the principles of hydrodynamics to the problem of aerodynamics . Following this new field of aviation , Taylor became one of the foremost authorities in the world in aerodynamics . He specialized on problems connected with the design of aircraft propellers and of seaplane floats and flying - boat hulls . In 1931 , Taylor was awarded the John Fritz Medal , the highest honor of the American engineering profession , " for outstanding achievement in marine architecture , for revolutionary results of persistent research in hull design , for improvements in many types of warships and for distinguished service as chief constructor for the United States Navy during the World War . " Shortly before his death , the Navy ' s Research and Development community honored Taylor by naming its new model basin after him . The new model basin constructed at Carderock , Maryland , the finest facility of its kind in the world , was dedicated as the David Taylor Model Basin in his presence in 1939 . The Model Basin retains his name as a living memorial to this distinguished naval architect and marine engineer . Taylor died in Washington , D . C . on July 28 , 1940 . Legacy . David W . Taylor was a greatly influential man in the development of the United States Navy ' s superiority . His legacy , and genius , live on in his descendants , awards ( below ) , and the water basin which still retains his name ( Above ) . In addition to the Model Basin , the Navy has honored Taylor ' s legacy in several ways . In 1942 the destroyer " David W . Taylor " ( DD - 551 ) was named in his honor . The Navy ' s David W . Taylor Award recognizes outstanding scientific achievement , awarded for a contribution to the development of future maritime systems through the creation of technology based upon research . He was conferred with Honorary Membership of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland . The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers awards the David W . Taylor Medal for " notable achievement in naval architecture and / or marine engineering . "