Samuel Murray Robinson
| Samuel Murray Robinson | |
|---|---|
Rear Adm. Samuel M. Robinson, chief of the Bureau of Engineering, circa 1931.
|
|
| Nickname(s) | Hobby |
| Born |
June 13, 1882 Eulogy, Texas |
| Died | November 11, 1972 (aged 90) Houston, Texas |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Navy
|
| Years of service | 1903-1946 |
| Rank |
 Admiral
|
| Battles/wars |
World War I World War II |
| Awards | Distinguished Service Medal |
Admiral Samuel Murray Robinson (August 13, 1882 – November 11, 1972) was a United States Navy four-star admiral who directed Navy procurement during World War II.
Born in Eulogy, Texas, Robinson attended primary school in Walnut Springs, Texas, high school in Dublin, Texas, and college at Fort Worth University before entering the U.S. Naval Academy in 1899. Graduating in 1903, he saw service in the Asiatic Station before making a cruise from Honolulu, Hawaii to Panama aboard the Paul Jones, the first long voyage undertaken by a destroyer.
From 1907 to 1909, he circumnavigated the globe with the Great White Fleet aboard the battleship Vermont. During the round-the-world cruise, he met his future wife on a port call in San Francisco, California, and they were married on March 9, 1909, two weeks after Vermont returned with the fleet to Hampton Roads, Virginia. Later that year, the Navy established a formal graduate program at the Academy, and Robinson was one of 10 students selected for the first class of the School of Marine Engineering, alongside future four-star admiral James O. Richardson.
Robinson was credited with pioneering electric drive propulsion in the U.S. Navy, beginning with his tour as executive officer and chief engineer of the newly built collier Jupiter. Jupiter was the first major ship equipped with turboelectric drive by the U.S. Navy, as part of a controlled experiment to evaluate the relative merits of competing propulsion mechanisms. Three new colliers of the same class were each equipped with a different propulsion type: Cyclops with reciprocating engines, Neptune with geared turbines, and Jupiter with a turboelectric drive supplied by the General Electric Company. The results of the collier trials would determine which mechanism would be selected to propel future battleships.
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