Experimental Landing Platform Power and Control House and Foundations for Rockers and Machinery, undated
Abstract
Papers: Blueprints of and calculations for devices to counter the Acoustic Torpedo developed for ASDEVLANT, Quonset Point NAS, RI, and Surface Division of ASDEVLANT, Port Everglades, FL, 1943–1945; Blueprints and calculations for Damage Control and Hull Stability tests developed for Damage Control Project, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, 1945–1947; Correspondence, memoranda and reports regarding inventions and devices, 1938–1948.
The collection consists of forty-seven boxes of blueprints of anti-submarine and damage control devices, as well as those for yachts and the Aluminette. Included are mathematical calculations, technical booklets and reports, and correspondence relating to his work for the U.S. Navy in World War II and the immediate postwar era. From 1943 to 1947, Burgess worked for the Navy under personal service contracts: first for the Surface Division of ASDEVLANT at Quonset Point Naval Air Station, Rhode Island, and the U.S. Coast Guard Base at Port Everglades, Florida, and second, with the Damage Control Project administered by the Navy’s Office of Research and Inventions at Stevens Institute of Technology, 1945–1947. During his first assignment, he worked on acoustic torpedo countermeasures. At Stevens, he worked on hull stability measures and devised a method to calculate a ship’s stability when it had been damaged in action. By using these calculations, a ship would be saved from sinking.
He also worked on the development and testing of hull designs for a class of fast destroyers. Burgess considered his work for the Navy one of the most fruitful periods in his long and varied scientific career. The Navy, in turn, felt that his contributions to the development of devices were invaluable.
The Burgess collection constitutes a body of important scientific and technical materials relating to developments in naval warfare during World War II. The war marked an acceleration of government funding for projects leading to improvements in warfare. Burgess’s papers document his response as an engineer and architect to the needs and demands of the wartime era.
Dates
- Creation: undated
Creator
- From the Collection: Burgess, W. Starling (William Starling), 1878-1947 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Access is open to all researchers, unless otherwise specified.
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Repository Details
Part of the Naval War College Archives Repository