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. Robert Taggart

Award: Harold E. Saunders Award
Year: 1983
Recipient:
Mr. Robert Taggart
Reason:
For his significant contribution to naval engineering as set forth in the following:

In recognition of outstanding achievement as a Naval Engineer both in the U.S. Government and in private industry. Robert Taggart has won international respect and honor in the field of naval architecture, ship propulsion and ocean engineering since early in his career of over forty years. His contributions to the research and development of both merchant and naval vessels during that career have been prodigious, covering virtually every phase of naval engineering. They have ranged from barge hull forms to improved hydraulic jet propulsion, and have included such subjects as noise in reduction gears, general ship acoustics, the mathematical fairing of ships lines in mold loft layout, hydrofoil and other special craft, and even the propulsive efficiency of men in the sea. One of the most noted of these achievements was the conceptualization and design of the first integrated propulsion control system for dynamically positioning a ship on the ocean surface, thereby defining and expanding the frontier of ship positioning technology.

What has further endeared Robert Taggart to his colleagues to a singular degree has been his innovative involvement in ship propulsion technology. A keen awareness of the ractical limitations imposed by nature on the engineering of marine vehicles has never deterred him from exploring concepts beyond the state of the art. In his many writings he has done for naval engineering what is so seldom done in traditional technology. While providing practical solutions to real-life problems, he has also given direction and encouragement to youthful and creative minds which aspire to seemingly far-out possibilities.

Robert Taggart has been most prolific in writing books and papers which share his knowledge and experience with students and others in the naval engineering field and which will stand as landmark references in decades to come. All who know him personally or who are familiar with his work will concur in the Society's selection of our Past President, Robert Taggart, as the recipient of the Harold E. Saunders Award.