Washington Irving Chambers

Infobox Military Person
name=Washington Irving Chambers
born= 1856
died= death year and age|1934|1856


caption=Captain Washington Irving Chambers
nickname=
placeofbirth= Kingsport, New York
placeofdeath=
allegiance= United States of America
branch= United States Navy]
serviceyears=1876-19??
rank= Captain
unit=
commands=
battles=
awards=
relations=
laterwork=Captain Washington Irving Chambers, USN (1856-1934) was a United States Navy officer who played a major role in the early development of Naval aviation, serving as the first officer to have oversight of the Navy's aviation program.

Chambers was born in Kingsport, New York in 1856 and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1876. He served in various sea and shore billets from that time onwards, including on the celebrated Greely Relief Expedition under Winfield Scott Schley. In 1907-09, he was Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance. Later on, he was placed in charge of the development of aviation in the Bureau of Navigation. Among his other accomplishments, Captain Chambers arranged for the first take-off and landing of an airplane on a ship, pioneered work on torpedoes, and submitted one of the first American designs for an all-big-gun battleship.

Chambers Field in Norfolk, Virginia, dedicated in June 1938, was named in his honor.

Many of his papers are held by the U.S. Library of Congress.

ee also

Stein, Stephen K. "From Torpedoes to Aviation: Washington Irving Chambers & Technological Innovation in the New Navy 1876 to 1913" (University of Alabama Press, 2007)

References

*Grossnick, Roy A. et al. "United States Naval Aviation 1910-1995." Washington, D.C: Naval Historical Center, Dept. of the Navy, 4th edition [1997?]

*Stein, Stephen. Washington Irving Chambers: Innovation, Professionalization, and the New Navy, 1872-1913 ] Ph.d. diss: Ohio State University, 1999.

External links

* [http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/carriers/cv-hist1.html A Brief History of U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers - Part I: The Early Years] - From the Chief of Naval Information, U.S. Navy
* [http://www.bluejacket.com/usn-usmc_avi_post-ww1_air_fields.html bluejacket.com U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Historic Air Fields Post World War I] - Reference to Chambers Field
* [http://home.midsouth.rr.com/css/Dissabstract.htm WASHINGTON IRVING CHAMBERS: INNOVATION, PROFESSIONALIZATION, AND THE NEW NAVY, 1872-1919 dissertation abstract]