James Wilson King (1818  – June 6, 1905)[1][2] was an American Navy Officer. He served as Chief Engineer of the United States Navy.[1] During his career, he held every position in the Navy to which an engineering officer could be called.[1] Today, he is best known for his 1880 book, The Warships and Navies of the World, which has been called "an important book to establish reliable contemporary information."[3] It was republished by the U.S. Naval Institute in 1982.[4]

James W. King
King during the American Civil War
Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering
In office
March 23, 1869 – March 14, 1873 (1869-03-23 – 1873-03-14)
Preceded byBenjamin Franklin Isherwood
Succeeded byWilliam Willis Wiley Wood
Personal details
Born
James Wilson King

Unknown date, 1818
Maryland, U.S.
DiedJune 6, 1905(1905-06-06) (aged 86–87)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Military service
Allegiance United States
BranchUnited States Navy
Years of service1844–1881
RankEngineer-in-chief
Wars

Career

edit

King was appointed to the Navy from Maryland as a Third Assistant Engineer on September 2, 1844.[5] During the Mexican–American War, he was attached to the paddle-frigate USS Mississippi and participated in the capture of all but one of the towns on the Mexican coast taken by the Navy.[1] On July 10, 1847,[5] he was promoted to Second Assistant Engineer. King served on all the first steamers that belonged to the U.S. Navy, except the first Fulton.[6]

King was promoted to First Assistant Engineer on September 13, 1849[5] and to Chief Engineer on November 12, 1852.[5] He was appointed Government Inspector of Ocean Mail Steamers at New York in 1853.[6] In 1858, he was appointed Chief Engineer at the New York Navy Yard.[6]

King was Chief Engineer of the North Atlantic Fleet in the early part of the American Civil War.[6] "Subsequently he was the superintendent of the construction of all the armour-clads built west of the Alleghenies, involving an expenditure in the aggregate of seven millions of dollars".[6]

King was promoted to Engineer in Chief on March 15, 1869.[5] In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering.[1] In this post, King introduced double-expansion engines into the U.S. Navy.[1] He held this post until March 20, 1873.[7][8]

During the mid-1870s, King—as chief engineer of the Navy—made many visits, official and private, to Europe, to collect information relating to shipbuilding, machinery, and other aspects of naval warfare.[3] In 1877, he produced a report to Congress entitled, European Ships of War and Their Armament, Naval Administration and Economy, Marine Constructions and Appliances, Dockyards, etc., etc.[2] King's critical evaluations of naval architecture assumed that Congress might soon fund new designs for a re-equipped American Navy.[3] A second edition was published in 1878.[9] King then produced an expanded version of these reports in his 1880 book, The Warships and Navies of the World.[10]

Retirement and death

edit

King was placed on the retired list on August 26, 1881.[5] He died at his home at 3221 Powelton Avenue, Philadelphia, on June 6, 1905.[1]

Footnotes

edit

Bibliography

edit
  • Hamersly, L. R., ed. (1870). The records of living officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. OCLC 422938.
edit