Topside Design of Warships: A 100 Year Perspective

The warship design process requires competition, compromise, and iteration. This is as true today as it was when David Taylor was a young officer in the Construction Corps at the turn of the century when the U. S. was struggling to develop a world class navy. The naval architects and ordnance engineers of his day wrestled over topside arrangements much as do their current counterparts. They tried to anticipate future threats, and they worried about cost because they were in an arm's race. These were total ship engineering issues, although the phrase had not yet been coined. What is different today? It is tempting to say that the short answer is technology. And, more importantly, the rate of change. Yet, an objective appraisal of David Taylor's era tells us that they too experienced an explosion in technology. Just the years 1900–1910 alone saw the introduction of dreadnought battleships, submarines, and aircraft. We are still trying to grapple with the implications of the last two warfare systems. History tells us that our predecessors got it right more often than wrong. Why? Because they recognized the need to change the way they did business in the face of new technologies and new threats.