1423 Powhatan St., Suite 1
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Phone (703) 836-6727
Fax (703) 836-7491
Email: asnehq@navalengineers.org

 

ASNE is the leading professional engineering society for engineers, scientists and allied professionals who conceive, design, develop, test, construct, outfit, operate and maintain complex naval and maritime ships, submarines and aircraft and their associated systems and subsystems.  ASNE also serves the educators who train the professionals, researchers who develop related technology, and students who are preparing for the profession.  Society activities provide support for the U.S. Navy; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Army.

ASNE is the seventh oldest technical society in the United States.  It was founded in 1888 by a group of naval engineering pioneers, most of them officers of the U.S. Navy's Engineering Corps, who sought a unified approach to their profession in order to make the most of new advances in technology. The purposes of ASNE are:           

  • to advance the knowledge and practice of naval engineering in public and private applications and operations,
  • to enhance the professionalism and well-being of members, and
  • to promote naval engineering as a career field.

For 125 years, the Society’s objectives have been strengthened and preserved to meet the changing needs of a time-honored profession. Today ASNE conducts a variety of technical meetings and symposia, publishes the highly regarded Naval Engineers Journal and a number of other technical proceedings and publications, and fosters professional development and technical information exchange through technical committees, local section activities and cooperative efforts with government organizations and other professional societies.

The Society's annual meeting, ASNE Day, is typically held in February of each year in the Washington, DC, area. The meeting features major addresses by high level industry and government leaders and panel discussions by leading members of the profession.  It also includes presentation and discussion of technical papers on a variety of timely naval engineering topics, presentation of the Society's prestigious annual awards and a large exposition with government and industry exhibits covering the full spectrum of naval engineering technology. ASNE Day is highlighted by the Society’s annual Honors Gala, attended by hundreds of executives and senior managers from both government and industry.

Our website is designed to not only serve our members, but also to support scholars, students and others interested in the varied field of naval engineering.  We welcome your suggestions on ways we can improve your experience. 

CDR David W. Bella, USN

Award: Claud A. Jones Award 

 1998 

CDR David W. Bella, USN

 

For his significant contribution to naval engineering as set forth in the following: 

As evidenced by his superlative tour as Officer in Charge, U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility, Detachment, Sasebo, Japan, Commander David Bella has displayed vast knowledge and expertise in engineering, superb technical acumen, and total commitment to excellence.  During this assignment, he established the first in-house workforce at the Detachment, making it the second largest ship repair organization in Sasebo.  Under his leadership the Detachment took on 40% of scheduled availability work and 70% of all emergent and casualty repairs for Sasebo based ships.  His management and operational talents produced nearly ten million dollars savings compared to formerly contracted work.  His careful management of the enormous planning and production effort reduced the ships maintenance backlog on the six Sasebo ships by over two thirds.  In addition, he spearheaded the transformation of the YR-85 repair barge into a floating shop facility for the SRF Detachment.

 

Responding to a twenty-five percent reduction in the duration of scheduled availabilities, he managed to complete all needed repairs for fourteen availabilities without deferment, allowing each ship to commence operations immediately.  A further demonstration of his expert application of engineering principles was his service as the technical authority and subject matter expert for the first open water docking of an LHA in a floating drydock in Sasebo.  As a direct result of his engineering oversight, the Selected Restricted Availability for this LHA, the largest Navy availability ever attempted in Sasebo, was completed ahead of schedule.

 

Commander Bella superbly led his detachment.  His uncompromising insistence on the best that the Navy, the Detachment, and a host of Japanese contractors had to offer, and his unrelenting drive to complete all repair work and modernization set a standard for ship repair that few repair activities ever achieve.  He streamlined the repair process and developed efficiencies for performing true continuous maintenance to include accomplishing depot and intermediate repairs with the same workforce.  Commander Bella’s extraordinary performance has had a profound and far-reaching impact on the material readiness of Seventh Fleet ships.  For his exceptional accomplishments in Fleet support engineering, Commander Bella is most deserving of the Society’s Claud A. Jones Award.