Henry A . Schade Henry Adrian " Packy " Schade ( December 3 , 1900 - August 12 , 1992 ) was a United States Navy officer , naval architect , and professor . During World War II , Schade was Head of the Carrier Desk for the United States Navy ' s Bureau of Ships . In this capacity he was highly influential in the development of all classes of aircraft carriers commissioned during the war , particularly the " Essex " - class . Schade added materially in overcoming the shortage of aircraft carriers of all types by overseeing their accelerated construction thereby contributing to the defeat of the German Submarine campaign , the shift from the defensive to the offensive in the Pacific , and the subsequent successful prosecution of the war . Near the end of the war , Schade served as Chief of the United States Naval Technical Mission in Europe . The Mission was charged with the responsibility of exploiting German science and technology for the benefit of the United States Navy ' s technical Bureaus . Early life and education . He was born in Saint Paul , Minnesota . He attended Central High School . He was appointed to the United States Naval Academy by the US Congressman from the Fourth District of Minnesota in 1919 . He was called " Packy II " at first , after a more athletic student who had attended six years earlier at the Academy . His own athletic talents led his classmates to drop the " II " later . He was on the Plebe and Junior Varsity crew teams . In 1923 , Schade graduated from the Naval Academy with distinction , seventh in his class of 414 . On He was commissioned Ensign in the United States Navy and ordered to the battleship . There Schade became Communication Watch Officer . In May 1925 , Schade started postgraduate work in Naval Architecture at the Naval Academy ' s Postgraduate School , Annapolis , Maryland . In 1926 , he attended the Construction Corps . He continued his education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) , where he received his Master of Science degree in Naval Architecture in June 1928 . Schade ' s Masters thesis entitled " Deformation and Stresses in Pipe Bends " was published later that same year by MIT ' s Department of Naval Construction . Early naval career . After graduating from MIT , Schade was briefly at the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland and then at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City . From October 1928 , and for the three succeeding years , Schade served in the Industrial Department at Mare Island Navy Yard , California . In December 1931 Schade joined the Design Section within the Bureau of Construction and Repair . He was promoted to Lieutenant . He furthered the development of the use of welding in naval ship construction until January 1935 . Schade was then assigned to the Experimental Model Basin , which was then at the Washington Navy Yard . Detached from the Model Basin in July 1936 , he was ordered overseas to attend the Technische Hochschule Berlin - Charlottenburg . In June 1937 Schade received the degree of Doctor of Engineering in Naval Architecture for his research on strength of ship structures and his landmark dissertation entitled " Statik Des Schift - Bodens Unter - Wasserdruck . " An English translation by Schade was published as " Theory of Motions of Craft in Waves . " After graduating , but prior to leaving Europe , the Bureau of Ships ordered Schade on a tour of inspection , as student observer , of representative shipbuilding plants and model basins in German ports ; plus naval establishments of The Netherlands , France , Britain , Italy , and Austria . Completing his tour of European naval facilities by the end of August , 1937 , Schade then returned to the United States . Lieutenant Schade was then ordered to serve in the Office of the Superintending Constructor , later redesignated Office of the Supervisor of Shipbuilding , Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia . On June 23 , 1938 , less than one year into his duty at Newport News , Schade was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander . Also that summer , the professional organization of Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers ( SNAME ) published Schade ' s paper on his study of " Bending Theory of Ship Bottom Structure . " In June 1940 , all Constructors ( Naval Architects ) and Engineers ( Marine Engineers ) were united into a new Bureau of Ships All such technical personnel were then transferred from the line of the Navy and redesignated Engineering Duty Only - or EDOs . This massive reorganization of the Navy ' s technical Bureaus created new opportunities for younger officers with potential . Following the reorganization of the Bureau he was promoted to Commander . He assumed the billet of Senior Naval Liaison Officer ( SNLO ) assigned to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock . The SNLO is the direct link between BuShips ' ship " type desk " and the actual building and builder stationed in their yard . At this time Newport News was tackling the mighty job of acting as design agent , responsible for the creation of detailed working drawings , for the Navy ' s new Essex class aircraft carriers . This made Schade the Carrier ( type ) Desk ' s direct liaison at Newport News solely to effect work on the " Essex " design . During 1941 , the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers again published one of Schade ' s studies . His new study was entitled : " Design Curves for Cross - Stiffened Plating Under Uniform Bending Load . " This paper proved to be an important work , as the theories espoused therein by Schade were thereafter accepted and adopted by BuShips as new policy and practice regarding estimating static responses on welded stiffened ship panels . Just four days before the Japanese aerial attack on Pearl Harbor , Commander Schade celebrated his 42nd birthday . By all accounts he had done a tremendous job over the previous two years at Newport News working diligently on the " Essex " project . His efforts had not gone unnoticed in the Bureau of Ships . With the nation now at war , his reward would not be long in coming . World War II . Pearl Harbor had a dramatic impact on the leadership of BuShips . The Bureau ' s Chief , RAdm . Samuel M . " Mike " Robinson , and Deputy Chief , RAdm . Alexander H . Van Keuren , immediately recognized that this new war would be conducted just as the Japanese conducted the raid on Pearl Harbor . This would be a carrier war . To successfully prosecute this war , the United States Navy would need both better carriers and more of them to defeat their enemies . To get these ships built both quickly and properly would take skill , ability , and leadership . To get that leadership they would need to fill each key position within the Bureau with the officer best suited to handle the colossal challenges that lie before them . The Chief and Deputy Chief of BuShips wasted no time reorganizing their personnel to meet the demands of a two - ocean war . In the weeks following the attack on Pearl Harbor orders were sent to ships and stations around the world recalling the people they felt best suited for a particular task . One such recall was Commander Schade . Ordered detached from his role as SNLO at Newport News in late December 1941 , he was to report to " Main Navy " for duty at the Bureau of Ships by January 1 , 1942 . Just three weeks after turning 42 , Schade had been identified as the ideal candidate to head the Bureau ' s Carrier Desk during the country ' s first ever carrier war . Quite a responsibility for a Commander . Nearly all of the Bureau ' s ship type desks were run by officers with the rank of Captain . The fact that the most important ship type , arguably the aircraft carrier , for the anticipated nature of fighting would be placed in the hands of a mere Commander speaks volumes as to the complete faith both Robinson and Van Keuren had in Schade . There were thousands within the bureau that in some way would contribute to developing the Navy ' s carriers , but it was up to Schade to get those carriers built and fully prepared to join the fleet . In January 1942 Schade was assigned to the Navy ' s Bureau of Ships , where he was responsible for the design of the " Midway " - class carriers , with innovations including the use of the flight deck as a structural element ( previously flight decks were flimsy wooden platforms perched above the ship proper ) . For Schade ' s efforts as Head of the Carrier Desk during World War II he was awarded the Legion of Merit . The commendation attached to his award read as follows : Two days before Christmas , 1944 , Captain Schade was advanced to the rank of Commodore . In January , 1945 , Commodore Schade was ordered to report to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations for a very special reassignment of duty . Schade was to create , and head , a team of scientific and technical specialists to obtain and exploit German science and technologies in areas immediately behind the front lines of fighting in Europe . As allied ground forces gained ground , Schade and his scientists would rush into the void left behind advancing forces to study the equipment and weaponry employed by the Germans . The United States Naval Technical Mission in Europe was particularly interested the capture and study of rocketry and all things naval as German ports and bases were wrested from Hitler ' s forces . Schade initially headquartered the Mission in Paris , but soon the Mission was constantly on the move as allied forces advanced more and more rapidly deeper into German occupied territories and then into Germany itself . Post - War . Schade ' s exceptional work as Chief of the United States Naval Technical Mission in Europe earned him a Gold Star in lieu of a second Legion of Merit . The commendation which accompanied his Gold Star read as follows : Following the war , Schade was also bestowed with the American Defense Service Medal , the European - African - Middle Eastern Campaign Medal , the American Campaign Medal , and the World War II Victory Medal . Additionally , the Government of Great Britain made Schade an Honorary Officer of the Military Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire . On November 1 , 1945 , he was appointed Director of the Naval Research Laboratory , at Anacostia , relieving the man who had chosen him to run the Carrier Desk at the outbreak of the war , Rear Admiral Alexander H . Van Keuren . The NRL conducted the most sophisticated and extensive forms of research and experiments in the Navy Department for the benefit of her technical bureaus . Schade remained as Director of the Naval Research Laboratory until his retirement from the Navy Department on February 1 , 1949 . Effective upon his retirement , Schade was advanced from the rank of Commodore to Rear Admiral before being placed on the retired list . Teaching career . Schade was named Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of Research for the University of California College of Engineering at Berkeley effective upon his retirement from the US Navy . In 1950 , Schade ' s doctoral dissertation " Statik Des Schift - Bodens Unter - Wasserdruck , " written for Technische Hochschule 13 years prior in Berlin , was translated to English by Packy Schade himself and published as " Theory of Motions of Craft in Waves " by the Department of Engineering , University of California , Berkeley . In 1958 he organized a Department of Naval Architecture at Berkeley , serving as its first chair . ( The department later added offshore engineering , but was always small , and finally disbanded in 1998 ) . He received the David W . Taylor Medal in 1964 . In 1970 Schade received the Gibbs Brothers Medal of the National Academy of Sciences , and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1973 . Retirement , family , and death . Rear Admiral Schade finally retired from University of California at Berkeley in 1968 . Schade and his wife , the former Alice Houseman of Pasadena , California , had two sons , Henry A . Schade , Jr . and Richard J . Schade . Alice Schade died in 1990 . Rear Admiral Henry Adrian " Packy " Schade died less than two years later in 1992 . Legacy . Rear Admiral Henry Adrian " Packy " Schade proved just the right man , placed in exactly the right job , at precisely the right time . His particular expertise in the strength of welded ship structures made him uniquely qualified to oversee the rapid construction of the US Navy ' s aircraft carrier building program during the world ' s first ever carrier war . Modern day researchers of World War II era aircraft carriers , both student and professional , can visit the records of BuShips held at the National Archives and Records Administration , in College Park , Maryland . There they will find , indelibly marked for posterity , Schade ' s impact on the US Navy carrier program . The serial number of nearly every carrier document carries the mark of " ( 512 ) " - Schade ' s Carrier Desk ; and nearly all of those bear his classic handwritten big , bold , openly scripted partial signature " Sch " . Schade indeed left his mark upon BuShips during World War II , but he also continues to impact lives today . Professional papers of modern day Naval Architects frequently draw upon his concepts , passages , and papers as references for their own academic studies . Students are still today exploring Schade ' s original theoretical thinking on " effective breadth of ship structures " and often cite his works in their doctoral dissertations . Rear Admiral Henry Adrian " Packy " Schade may be the least known man of World War II . But , he may also be as equally responsible for victory in the Pacific as any pilot that ever took off from , or landed on , one of his carriers .