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. 

Mr. Laurence R. Dutton

Award: Harold E. Saunders Award
Year: 1995
Recipient:
Mr. Laurence R. Dutton
Reason:
For his significant contribution to naval engineering as set forth in the following:

Larry R. Dutton's career in naval engineering spans more than 30 years at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, but his reach goes far beyond. His dynamic leadership, farsighted vision, superb technical competence and solid reputation for customer-focused process improvement have earned him a key role in shaping the way ship maintenance engineering is conducted throughout the Navy. His influence has touched every aspect of the ship repair process and has spanned the breadth of Navy ship technology; from submarines to surface combatants, and amphibious ships to aircraft carriers, and from combat systems to propulsion, both nuclear and non-nuclear.
Beginning as a physicist in the shipyard's nuclear power program, Mr. Dutton rose quickly in influence and responsibility, soon becoming Norfolk's first Nuclear Planning Manager. In 1973, he reached the position many consider the most prestigious civilian job in naval shipyards, Chief Design Engineer, Norfolk Naval Shipyard. He transformed the Norfolk design division into the most revered among all naval shipyards for responsive, high quality waterfront support.

Mr. Dutton was the prime mover in developing a NAVSEA ship Alteration (SHIPALT) Improvement Program, to correct inadequate system and equipment engineering being done by various planning yards and NAVSEA. Every depot repair activity benefited from this effort, both public and private. When scheduled maintenance resulted in some components getting overhauls that were not needed and others failed prematurely from missed refurbishment, he initiated a program for Point-of-Entry Full Performance Testing to ensure accurate and timely work identification. POET is now used by many of the shipyard's customers and has been exported to all other shipyards. He developed the General Overhaul Specifications for Surface Ships (GSO) document, which will continue to be a bible for ship maintenance activities. Fiscal responsibility has always been a hallmark of Mr. Dutton as he struggled to return a high quality product to the customer at minimum cost. With the lowest overhead burden for all shipyard engineering and planning organizations and fewer total employees than any other shipyard when normalized for number of waterfront employees, his lean organization provides the best value by a wide margin.

Adding to his personal accomplishments, Mr. Dutton's impact is being further multiplied by his cadre of thousands of engineers who have spread throughout the ship repair community. His realistic approach to problem solving, which focuses on getting the task accomplished while still meeting all technical specifications, has given each the proper blend to make consistently sound engineering decisions.
Mr. Dutton is unquestionably the preeminent Chief Design Engineer among all naval shipyards. For the past three decades, his influence has extended way beyond the reaches of Norfolk Naval Shipyard to the entire ship repair business. His determined, pragmatic leadership turned the Norfolk Naval Shipyard Design Division into an organization characterized by advanced thinking, with a bold and forward looking attitude, totally dedicated to the mission of the shipyard and the Navy. During all his far-reaching efforts for the Department of the Navy, he has never lost sight of his primary role, that of dedicated, immediate and high quality technical support to the shipyard's waterfront productive effort. He is a most deserving recipient of the Saunders Award.