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Personal Sketches of Marine Men Charles F. Bailey, Engineering Director, Newport News Shipbuilding cc Dry Dock Co. By H. R. Simonds Photo by Gessford 3) OTICES of the completion of the largest American built vessels, the CALIFORNIA and the VIRGINIA carried the brief statement that Charles F. Bailey was the engineering director of the com- pany which built them, the Newport News Ship- building & Dry Dock Co. Little was said in these articles of the important part played by the engineering director in the design and execution of these revolutionary vessels. Mr. Bailey is a modest man and his chief concern seems to be to have his associates receive due credit for their work. However, his position as a leader in marine en- gineering activities has been recognized by his alma mater the Worcester Polytechnic institute, Worcester, Mass., which recently conferred an honorary degree upon him. Charles F. Bailey was born in the little town of Greens- boro, Vt., in 1868. He went through high school in his native state and was then sent away from home for four years of college training. He early displayed an inclina- tion for mechanical things and before finishing high school had decided to become an engineer. Accordingly Worcester Polytechnic institute was selected, and he was graduated from there in 1888 with a degree of bachelor of science in mechanical engineering. Heeding Horace Greeley’s famous advice to young men, he started out for the far West to seek his fortune im- mediately after leaving school. He landed in Tacoma, Wash., and after some anxious days without a job was taken on by the Northern Pacific railway as a machinist. He worked a year at this job and received a lot of good practical working knowledge which was to become valuable in later years. In 1889 he left to become a draftsman 7 N RECOGNITION of his leng and distinguished service and many not- able achievements in the field of ma- rine engineering, Worcester Polytech- nic Institute recently conferred upon him an honorary degree. DURING nearly 40 years of service in marine engineering he has taken an effective part to bring about the present remarkable developments in the use of turbines and higher steam pressures. H E HAS always shown an intense human interest in his associates and assistants and he has been instru- mental in developing a large number of capable marine engineers in_ the shipbuilding field. of the Tacoma Foundry & Machine Co., Tacoma, and a year later returned East. It is probable that a Miss Almeri Adgate of East Hardwick, Vt., had something to do with his return, for in 1891 she became Mrs. Bailey, and that same year Mr. Bailey was appointed chief draftsman of the Neafie & Levy Ship & Engine Building Co. in Philadelphia. It was at this time that Mr. Bailey first turned his attention to the sea. Accident probably determined his first association with the Neafie & Levy Ship & Engine Building Co., but there must have been some strain of the seafaring folks of New England in his blood for he immediately threw himself whole- heartedly into the work of designing and building ves- sels. He joined the force of the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., in 1891, and in 1900 was appointed chief engineer, a position held for 15 years during which he made valuable contributions not only to the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., but to the profes- sion of marine engineering as a whole. In 1915 he accepted an appointment as consulting engineer for the Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co., East Pittsburgh. His work with this company continued to be in the marine field, but his services were missed at Newport News, and three years later he was offered a position on the board of directors of the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., and the title of engineering director. This he accepted and he has remained in that capacity ever since. He is also director of the Newport News Construction Corp., and the Newport News Land Corp., and has many 92 MARINE REVIEW—April, 1929