Skip to main content

U.S. Navy

(Image not displayed)
Society: ASMEMain Category: Naval EngineeringSub Category: Steam, WaterEra: 1890-1899DateCreated: 1892Creator: U.S. Navy

The U.S.S. Olympia is one of the two surviving ships of the era of the vertical reciprocating steam engine. The Cruiser Olympia, launched in 1892, was one of the first naval ships to be built with these engines. As part of the new American steel Navy, the construction of the Olympia was authorized in 1888 as cruiser number 6. As part of a Congressionally-mandated program to establish complete domestic capability for warship construction, the ship's contract was awarded to the Union Iron Works of San Francisco.

Naval Air Station North Island
Society: AIAAMain Category: Aerospace & AviationSub Category: Air and Space TransportationEra: 1910-1919DateCreated: 1917Naval Air Station North IslandSan DiegoState: CACountry: USAWebsite: https://info.aiaa.org/tac/ETMG/HISTC/Shared%20Documents/Historic%20Aerospace%20Sites%20(HAS)/Procedures%20and%20templates/HAS%20blurb.docCreator: U.S. Navy

Known as the birthplace of Naval Aviation, North Island was the site of the first successful seaplane flight and the first amphibious flight in the U.S., both made by Glenn Curtiss.  The first Naval pilot, Lt. T.G. Ellyson, was trained here at the Curtiss Aviation Camp.  A flight school established here by Ellyson trained the next Naval aviators as well as the Navy’s first aviation maintenance personnel.  North Island was also the site of the first night flight, and the home of the first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley.

YearAdded:
2002
Image Caption: USS George Washington and USS Ronald Reagan pierside at Naval Air Station North Island
Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility
Society: ASCEMain Category: CivilSub Category: BuildingsEra: 1940-1949DateCreated: 1943Icarus WayAieState: HIZip: 96701Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asce.org/Project/Red-Hill-Underground-Fuel-Storage-Facility/Creator: U.S. Navy, Goodrich Tire Company

Conceived in the early years of World War II as a plan to bury four fuel containers horizontally in a hillside at the U.S. Navy facility at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility ultimately encompassed the design and construction of 20 vertical storage tanks - each large enough to contain a 20-story building - buried in the volcanic hillside and connected by tunnels to a harbor-side pumping station more than two-and-a-half miles away.

YearAdded:
1994
Image Credit: Courtesy Wikicommons/Leslie Nelson (CC BY-SA 4.0)Image Caption: Above-ground fuel storage tanks at Pearl Harbor prior to the construction of Red Hill.Era_date_from: 1943
Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel
Society: ASMEMain Category: MechanicalSub Category: Research and DevelopmentEra: 1940-1949DateCreated: 1949Applied Research LaboratoryState CollegeState: PAZip: 16801Country: USAWebsite: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/history/landmarks/topics-m-z/mechanical-power-production-water/-188-garfield-thomas-water-tunnel-%281949%29Creator: U.S. Navy

The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel is a unique experimental facility for hydrodynamic research and testing. The 48-inch (1.2-meter) diameter water tunnel enables the research staff to conduct basic and applied investigations in the fields of cavitation, hydroacoustics, turbulence, transition, hydrodynamic drag, and hydraulic and subsonic turbomachinery. Instrumentation and testing methods have been developed to study noise, vibration, vehicle dynamics, and the interaction between the propulsor and vehicle body.

YearAdded:
1996
Image Credit: Courtesy WikiCommons/CyberXRef (CC BY-SA 3.0)Image Caption: Entrance to the Garfield Thomas Water TunnelEra_date_from: 1949
Subscribe to U.S. Navy

Innovations

Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel

The Garfield Thomas Water Tunnel is a unique experimental facility for hydrodynamic research and testing. The 48-inch (1.2-meter) diameter water tunnel enables the research staff to conduct basic and applied investigations in the fields of cavitation, hydroacoustics, turbulence, transition,…

Read More
Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility

Conceived in the early years of World War II as a plan to bury four fuel containers horizontally in a hillside at the U.S. Navy facility at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility ultimately encompassed the design and construction of 20 vertical storage tanks - each…

Read More
Naval Air Station North Island

Known as the birthplace of Naval Aviation, North Island was the site of the first successful seaplane flight and the first amphibious flight in the U.S., both made by Glenn Curtiss.  The first Naval pilot, Lt. T.G. Ellyson, was trained here at the Curtiss Aviation Camp.  A flight…

Read More
(Image not displayed)

The U.S.S. Olympia is one of the two surviving ships of the era of the vertical reciprocating steam engine. The Cruiser Olympia, launched in 1892, was one of the first naval ships to be built with these engines. As part of the new American steel Navy, the construction of the Olympia was…

Read More

We hope you enjoyed this essay.

Please support America's only magazine of the history of engineering and innovation, and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to Invention & Technology.

Donate

Stay informed - subscribe to our newsletter.
The subscriber's email address.