Samuel Murray Robinson - Electric Drive Pioneer

Electric Drive Pioneer

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.

In August 1913, Jupiter's trials almost ended before they began. While underway off the coaling station in Tiburon, California in preparation for its shakedown cruise, Jupiter took evasive action to avoid an accidental collision with a passing submarine. During the sudden maneuver, a fuse on the main electrical panel blew, shutting down every piece of machinery on the ship, including its steering. With only four minutes before the ship would run aground, Robinson restored power; Jupiter got underway with 30 seconds to spare.

Robinson remained with Jupiter for its shakedown cruise, during which the collier traveled from the West Coast to the Atlantic and became the first naval vessel to transit the Panama Canal. At the end of Jupiter 's trials, Robinson reported that turboelectric drive was lighter and more compact than the competing propulsion methods, and moreover was easily operated by relatively unskilled sailors, permitted accurate speed control, and exceeded General Electric's economy estimates by a remarkable 18 percent. Based on his report, turboelectric drive was selected for installation in the new battleship California, and Robinson was assigned to superintend the construction of California's electric equipment at the Mare Island Navy Yard.

He was assigned to the Bureau of Engineering from 1914 to 1919, where he helped design five battleships in rapid succession. In spring 1917, he sailed by convoy to Britain to study technical developments of the Royal Navy and spent time as an observer with the British Grand Fleet. From 1919 to 1921 he had sea duty as fleet engineering officer to the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet. He returned to the Bureau of Engineering in 1921 to begin six years as officer in charge of the Design Division. He became manager of the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington in 1927.