By Dr. Rob Gates
After I give a tour of the Dahlgren Heritage Museum, I all the time begin on the {photograph} of Admiral John A. Dahlgren. It’s commonplace to get questions like “Was he born round right here?” or “When was he stationed right here?” The solutions to these questions are, respectively, “No” and “By no means.” So, who was John Dahlgren and why are the Navy laboratory and city named after him?
John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren was born in Philadelphia in 1809. His mother and father, Bernhard and Martha Dahlgren, had been effectively educated and on the sting – geographically and financially – of Philadelphia society and he knew the youngsters of the highest households. His mother and father insisted that he be given a correct schooling and he obtained high grades in arithmetic, science, and Latin at a Quaker college.
Dahlgren’s world modified when his father died in 1824 and left the household in dire monetary straits. He utilized for an appointment as a midshipman within the Navy however was turned down. He labored for a time as a church secretary after which determined to reapply. This time, nevertheless, Dahlgren did one thing completely different and, following a sample that he used all through his life and profession, used outdoors affect. On this case, that of outstanding residents of Philadelphia and household associates.
He was appointed as a midshipman in February 1826 and in April was ordered to serve on the USS Macedonian, initially the HMS Macedonian, on a cruise to South America. That was adopted by a cruise to the Mediterranean on the USS Ontario. To this point, his profession was very like that of any Midshipman however issues had been about to take a flip. His cruise was reduce quick by sickness and he was despatched dwelling on the USS Constellation, one of many unique six frigates ordered by the US Navy. He used his three months depart to go to the Norfolk Navy College to review for his promotion examination.
He handed and was assigned to the USS Sea Gull, a receiving ship in Philadelphia, as a handed midshipman.1 There have been some benefits to such an project. First and most significantly, it counted as an project at sea. Within the 19th century, promotion was by strict seniority and there was no necessary retirement age. So, along with ready your flip for promotion, it was mandatory to construct a resume. A very powerful a part of a private file was time at sea and, ultimately, command at sea. Different benefits included simple obligation with time to pursue different pursuits and the chance to reside (and spend time) on shore fairly than on the ship. Dahlgren, for instance, studied legislation by studying and making notes on Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Legal guidelines of England, an influential legislation textual content from the 18th Century.
In June 1833, he acquired sick once more and took an unplanned years depart to get well his well being. When he was returned to energetic obligation in 1834, he was assigned to america Geodetic Survey as an assistant to the Superintendent Ferdinand Hassler. This took benefit of his expertise in arithmetic and science and was a turning level in his profession. Hassler believed in persevering with the schooling of his assistants and Dahlgren obtained the equal of a graduate schooling in arithmetic from him. He excelled in his assignments and, as his obligations grew, he took on extra duties as a pacesetter of a survey workforce. He rapidly discovered that he was being paid half that of the civilian members of his workforce and campaigned for a promotion or pay improve. Each had been turned down and, as earlier than, Dahlgren used affect outdoors of the Division of the Navy and wrote a letter to his senator, who pressured the Secretary of the Navy on Dahlgren’s behalf.2 Shortly after, he obtained his promotion to lieutenant.
Sadly, the shut work he was doing broken his eyes and in 1837 he was despatched to the naval hospital in Philadelphia for remedy. When his eyes didn’t enhance he requested depart to go to Paris – on full pay – for remedy. Dahlgren spent six months there however, once more, there was little enchancment. He was supplied a selection – go to sea and presumably lose his sight or go on furlough at half pay. He objected to half pay on the idea that he had a service-related harm. After his proposal was rejected, he appealed to his congressman who had the choice reversed. He stayed on depart till 1842.
Whereas his eyesight didn’t enhance in Paris, it was one other turning level in his profession. He grew to become acquainted with the work that Henri Joseph Paixhans was doing with the French Navy on a sort of cannon that would hearth an explosive shell. Dahlgren studied Paixhans’s work and wrote and self-published a translation of his work after coming back from Paris. He distributed it to Navy officers which established his popularity as an ordnance knowledgeable. When he returned to energetic obligation and was assigned to the USS Cumberland, he was a division officer and accountable for the Cumberland’s 4 shell weapons. Whereas on the USS Cumberland, he invented an easier breech lock for the weapons and an improved methodology for sighting weapons, which added to his popularity as an ordnance knowledgeable. The cruise was reduce quick by anticipation of conflict with Mexico and he returned to Philadelphia in late 1846 and awaited orders. They got here in January 1847 when Dahlgren was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography on the Washington Navy Yard.
For the subsequent 5 years Dahlgren utilized the arithmetic and science that he discovered from Hassler to the event of ordnance. Throughout that point, he established the Experimental Take a look at Battery on the Navy Yard and he used the information that had been gathered by testing in a scientific method to designing naval weapons.
The consequence was the well-known soda bottle-shaped Dahlgren gun. He additionally assigned Navy officers to the foundries the place the weapons had been made and utilized his data to develop a extra rigorous method to the acceptance of the weapons by the Navy.
In 1861, the Commandant of the Navy Yard, Captain Franklin Buchanan, a Maryland native, resigned his fee on the assumption that Maryland would secede. When that didn’t occur, he supplied to withdraw his resignation. His supply was turned down and he “went south” and joined the Accomplice Navy.3
Buchanan’s logical successor was Commander Dahlgren, however Commandant was a captain billet and his promotion was unlikely. Promotion to captain often adopted a command tour at sea and Dahlgren had not been to sea in a number of years and had by no means had a command tour. His good friend President Abraham Lincoln intervened and satisfied Congress to move a Particular Act to advertise him over the Navy’s objections.
An analogous factor occurred seven months later. Dahlgren wished command at sea and Lincoln used his affect to have Dahlgren promoted to rear admiral and assigned to command the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron off Charleston, South Carolina to exchange Rear Admiral Samuel F. DuPont in 1863.
But it surely was not simple or with out controversy. Dahlgren had been pushing Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles for project to sea obligation for a yr and Welles had resisted on the grounds that Dahlgren was extra worthwhile in his ordnance project. When he was promoted and noticed that DuPont was in disfavor due to his failure in Charleston, Dahlgren noticed a chance. He approached Welles about changing DuPont. Welles felt that Dahlgren’s choice would trigger resentment inside the officer corps however, on the similar time, knew that it might please the president. Welles resented Dahlgren’s relationship with Lincoln and noticed it as a chance to get Dahlgren out of Washington and away from the president. His compromise was to nominate Rear Admiral Andrew H. Foote to command the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron with Dahlgren in a subordinate function commanding the ironclads. Foote and Dahlgren ready to take command and met with Brigadier Normal Quincy A. Gillmore, the newly assigned military commander in South Carolina, to debate his plan to seize Charleston. Foote fell sick and when he died, Welles felt that as a result of Dahlgren was acquainted with Gillmore’s plan, he was the only option to succeed him.
Dahlgren had three missions when he took command: (1) seize Charleston, (2) blockade the South Atlantic Coast, and (3) defend the fleet and base at Port Royal. Nevertheless, he was given just one particular instruction by Welles – assist the Military and Normal Gillmore in conducting his operations. When he took command, he discovered that Gillmore’s first operation was to happen in only a few days. Dahlgren jumped in to assist him and, whereas he felt that the Navy carried out admirably, he noticed the primary indicators of the issues that had been to hassle him for a lot of the remainder of the conflict. Dahlgren supported Gillmore’s joint army-navy plan however thought there wanted to be a single total commander. Dahlgren commanded the navy drive whereas Gillmore commanded the military. Every felt free to do what they thought was proper and, because of this, coordinated effort was problematic.
There have been additionally character points. Welles had lengthy thought that Dahlgren’s push for sea obligation was motivated by a seek for the glory that he couldn’t get in a shore project. Since that required defending his popularity, he was reluctant to take probabilities and fast to keep away from taking duty for failure. Sadly, Gillmore displayed lots of the similar traits. That ultimately led to a feud that coloured Dahlgren’s postwar years. The top consequence was quite a few military operations that achieved comparatively little and, in any case, didn’t result in the seize of Charleston.
Within the fall of 1863, Dahlgren informed Welles, who agreed along with his evaluation, that he couldn’t undertake internal harbor operations at Charleston, as desired by Gillmore, with the forces at his disposal. He mentioned that he may achieve this with extra ironclads. Welles agreed however famous that it might be a number of months earlier than new ironclads could be obtainable. Nevertheless, by the top of the yr, the Conflict Division and the Navy Division each determined there have been increased priorities and that there wouldn’t be any future efforts to seize Charleston.
Dahlgren’s focus the remainder of the yr was on blockading efforts and sustaining a stalemate in Charleston. Throughout this time, he supplied to resign thrice. Welles attributed the provides to Dahlgren’s “glory in search of” and rejected all of them. He additionally noticed attainable political issues if he accepted Dahlgren’s resignation and nonetheless wished to maintain Dahlgren out of Washington.
Late within the yr, Normal Sherman was approaching Savannah and Dahlgren noticed a chance to assist him by amphibious operations on the Georgia coast. Dahlgren had a longstanding curiosity in amphibious operations and had beforehand developed a small boat howitzer and the Mannequin 1861 Navy (or “Plymouth”) rifle for shipboard and amphibious use. He additionally developed a handbook for amphibious operations that included a fleet drive of educated sailors and marines and included artillery. Lots of the components of amphibious operations that he pioneered, examined, and revised are actually broadly accepted. He later supported Sherman’s transfer to bypass Charleston by offering a naval distraction. He occupied Charleston in February 1865 and spent the remaining months of the conflict eradicating obstructions in harbors and, lastly, disbanding his squadron. He relinquished command in July and returned to Washington.
He spent a while in Washington earlier than taking command of the South Pacific Squadron in 1866. He returned to Washington in 1868 and served as Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance for a yr after which as Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard till his loss of life in 1870.
Looking back, a few of Welles’s considerations had been borne out. Senior navy officers revered Dahlgren for his work in ordnance however, as Welles suspected, resented his use of relationships and politics to get successes that they felt he had not earned. It needs to be mentioned that he had some success whereas commanding the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron and, to 1 diploma or one other, he achieved his three goals. He additionally developed an understanding of joint operations and pioneered amphibious operations. He was a prolific author and authored quite a few books on ordnance and one on amphibious operations.
On the damaging aspect, his battle with Gillmore formed his life from the top of the Civil Conflict till his loss of life. He spent a lot effort defending his popularity from prices from Gillmore and others and “refought” Charleston usually throughout these years. Consequently, his contributions to studying the teachings of the latest conflict and additional contributions to ordnance had been few.
Dahlgren’s Legacy Lives On
John Dahlgren left a wealthy legacy within the growth, acceptance, and testing of naval ordnance. He established the Experimental Take a look at Battery on the Washington Navy Yard for these functions. His legacy was preserved after his loss of life when the Naval Proving Floor (NPG) was established in Annapolis, Maryland in 1872 after which moved to Indian Head, Maryland in 1890. The main focus of the NPG was on the identical issues that involved Dahlgren though Indian Head branched out, particularly throughout World Conflict I, and produced smokeless gunpowder and examined rockets. Nevertheless, expertise overtook the capabilities of the Indian Head river vary and by 1917, the necessity for a bigger testing vary for the Naval Proving Floor had change into vital.
Rear Admiral Ralph Earle, Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance, championed the hassle to relocate the vary from Indian Head. In 1918 an auxiliary take a look at vary was created at Dido, in King George County, Virginia, that was referred to as the Decrease Station of Indian Head. Earle thought that an applicable title was wanted for the publish workplace on the new web site. He persuaded Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to request the U.S. Postal Service to alter the title of the present Dido publish workplace to Dahlgren to honor the “Father of American Naval Ordnance,” with the change occurring in 1919. A lot of the testing moved to Dahlgren and, in 1932 the Decrease Station formally grew to become the Naval Proving Floor and Indian Head grew to become the Naval Powder Manufacturing facility.
The positioning at Dahlgren was initially established to check giant caliber naval weapons however has examined all sizes and calibers of navy weapons – from 18 inches down – and, extra just lately, the electromagnetic railgun. Testing peaked throughout World Conflict II and once more, however at a decrease degree, in the course of the Vietnam years. Dahlgren was the one place to fireplace 16-inch weapons when the battleships had been reactivated within the Nineteen Eighties. The Navy has mentioned that almost 350,000 rounds had been fired at Dahlgren between 1918 and 2007, averaging 3,800 rounds fired per yr.
Dahlgren’s mission expanded from ordnance testing to analysis and growth when Dr. L.T.E. Thompson got here in 1923. It has continued and has included things like work on laser-guided projectiles within the Seventies. Different issues had been additionally occurring in Dahlgren. Aviation work got here to Dahlgren in 1919 and stayed till World Conflict II. Work included growth and testing of unmanned airplanes, the Norden bombsight, and bombs. Dahlgren’s efforts in gunnery had been computation-intensive and one of the crucial highly effective computer systems of the day, the Aiken Relay Calculator, got here to Dahlgren and, a number of years later, was changed by the Navy Ordnance Analysis Calculator. Dahlgren’s pc functionality led to new alternatives in ballistics, orbital mechanics, and missiles.
There have been challenges to each the Dahlgren web site and the river vary. Dahlgren met lots of the challenges by broadening its mission to make the most of its capabilities to fulfill rising Navy wants, together with in lasers and unmanned automobiles. Finally, experience in these new areas led to the present deal with methods engineering.
By all the modifications and challenges, the Potomac River Take a look at Vary – “the nation’s largest absolutely instrumented over-water gun-firing vary” – has remained an essential a part of Dahlgren’s mission. Throughout every of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) research, the vary was a key aspect in Dahlgren’s responses and the cornerstone that preserved Dahlgren’s location.
The newest problem is a June 2023 lawsuit filed by environmental teams involved with the potential air pollution of the river from weapons testing. A settlement was reached in January 2024 when the Navy agreed to hunt a “allow for discharges of pollution” from the state of Maryland.
As capabilities and scope of labor grew over time, the title of the group modified to replicate its altering mission. In 1992, the title was modified to the Naval Floor Warfare Middle Dahlgren Division.
So, John Dahlgren was not born right here and by no means served right here however the Division is his legacy and, so, his title lives on.
Robert V. (Rob) Gates, a retired Navy Senior Govt, served because the Technical Director on the Naval Floor Warfare Middle (NSWC), Indian Head Division, and in lots of technical and government positions at NSWC, Dahlgren Division, together with head of the Strategic and Strike Techniques Division. He holds a B.S. in Physics from the Virginia Navy Institute, a Masters in Engineering Science from Penn State, and a Masters and PhD in Public Administration from Virginia Tech. He’s a graduate of the U.S. Naval Conflict Faculty. Dr. Gates is the Vice President of the board of the Dahlgren Heritage Basis.
Notes
1. A ship that was previous its helpful life and now not seaworthy could possibly be transformed right into a receiving ship. It could be completely tied up at a harbor or navy yard and used for inducting (“receiving”) and coaching newly recruited sailors.
2. Seniority was an issue. A midshipman appointed in 1839 may count on to be promoted to lieutenant in 1870. Promotion additionally required project to a place that supported the rank. Dahlgren fell quick in each regards.
3. Buchanan was commissioned a Captain within the Accomplice Navy and commanded the CSS Virginia (previously the USS Merrimack) towards the USS Congress and USS Cumberland within the Battle of Hampton Roads. He was wounded and was not in command towards the USS Monitor. He was later promoted to full admiral, the one one within the Accomplice Navy.
4. The vary of the 14 and 16-inch weapons being developed for battleships may solely be examined below restricted circumstances at Indian Head. As well as, there have been some testing-related incidents.
5. In 1914, Secretary Daniels issued Normal Order Quantity 99 which prohibited alcohol (for ingesting) onboard navy ships. Consequently, purchases of espresso elevated and sailors reportedly referred to it as “a cup of Josephus Daniels” which was later shortened – and higher recognized – as “a cup of Joe.”
References
Browning, Robert M. Jr. “The Early Architect of Amphibious Doctrine.” Naval Historical past Journal. April 2019.
Bruns, James H. “John A. Dahlgren: Lincoln’s Seasick Naval Genius.” Sea Historical past. Autumn 2016, 20-25.
Craig, Lee A. Josephus Daniels: His Life and Instances, Chapel Hill: College of North Carolina Press, 2013.
Dahlgren, Madeleine Vinton. Memoir of John A. Dahlgren. Boston: James B. Osgood and Firm, 1882.
Luebke, Peter C., Ed. The Autobiography of Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren. Washington Navy Yard, D.C.: Naval Historical past and Heritage Command, 2018.
Naval Floor Warfare Middle Dahlgren Division, Water Vary Sustainability Environmental Program Evaluation, Could 2013.
Rife, James P. and Rodney P. Carlisle. The Sound of Freedom: Naval Weapons Know-how at Dahlgren, Virginia 1918-2006. Dahlgren, VA: NSWCDD, 2007.
Schneller, Robert J. Quest for Glory: A Biography of Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1996
Symonds, Craig L. Accomplice Admiral: The Life and Wars of Franklin Buchanan. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008.
Taaffe, Stephen R. Commanding Lincoln’s Navy. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2009.
Featured Picture: A 14-inch gun fires a take a look at spherical down vary, throughout World Conflict II. (Photograph through U.S. Naval Historical past and Heritage Command)
