Arthur Leopold Busch
| Arthur Leopold Busch | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 5, 1866 Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. |
| Died | March 9, 1956 (aged 90) |
| Occupation | naval architect |
Arthur Leopold Busch or Du Busc (5 March 1866 – 9 March 1956) was a British-born American naval architect responsible for the development of the United States Navy's first submarines.
Busch was born in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire in England. When he was age 13, he apprenticed to Craggs & Sons of Middlesbrough, and at the age of 20 was employed as a draftsman while studying naval architecture at night. He relocated to Ulster, Northern Ireland in 1888, where he served as draftsman-in-charge at the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast until 1892.
In January 1892, Busch emigrated to the United States, and was employed as a draftsman at William Cramp and Sons Shipbuilders in Philadelphia. He was a longtime member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) which became organized in 1893 in the state of New Jersey. In 1895, Busch moved to Elizabethport, New Jersey, where he was the shipyard superintendent at Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard This shipyard is where the United States Navy's first submarines were built under Busch's supervision beginning in the late fall of 1896. Busch worked in unison with John Philip Holland to design and build the pioneering USS Holland (SS-1), also known as the Holland VI design. This was the first commissioned submarine in the United States Navy, and purchased by the American Government on April 11, 1900 – a day later commemorated by the United States submarine community as "Submarine Day". Holland's company was then known as the Holland Torpedo Boat Company - the forerunner and precursor to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation. The United States government then ordered more submarines after the successful trials and purchase of Holland VI. These submarines were known as the A-class or Plunger class. A prototype was constructed under Busch's direction at the Crescent Shipyard in the year 1900. This submarine craft was called Fulton, named after the American steamship pioneer Robert Fulton. However, Fulton was never commissioned into U. S. Navy service and was sold to the Imperial Russian Navy in 1905 for use in the Russo-Japanese War against the Empire of Japan.
...
Wikipedia