US Navy Officer (1876-1919). Widely regarded as the "Father of Naval Aviation", in 1910 he was the officer tasked to study the application of aircraft to sea warfare. The career of Washington Irving Chambers spans a formative period in the development of the United States Navy: He entered the Naval Academy in the doldrums of obsolete, often rotting wooden ships, and retired four decades later after he had collaborated with other visionaries to convince Congress and the public of the need to adopt a new naval strategy built around a fleet of technologically advanced battleships and laid the important foundation for naval aviation and the vital role it would play in the modern navy.
He was the only child of Jacob and Margaret Chambers, both natives of New York State, and named after prominent 19th century New York author, Washington Irving (1783-1859), often called "the Father of American Literature", and himself named after George Washington, historically regarded as "the Father of his Country". Perhaps something about the name "Washington" inspires paternal instincts?
Per the 1860 US Census, Chamber's father was working as a "gate keeper" and by 1870 the elder Chambers was a "boot maker". In both these censuses, the future naval officer's name was recorded as "Irving". In June 1871, he was appointed a cadet midshipman to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis from the 13th NY Congressional District. He completed the four year course in June 1876 when he was 20 years old and graduated as a Passed Midshipman, required to spend two years at sea before commissioning as an ensign.
After serving aboard USS Pensacola, later in the Portsmouth, he was commissioned Ensign to rank from November 30, 1878. He was subsequently advanced in rank as follows: Lieutenant (junior grade), January 1, 1886; Lieutenant, May 29, 1891; Lieutenant Commander, July 13, 1899; Commander, April 21, 1905; Captain, December 7, 1908. His transfer to the Retired List of the Navy in that rank dates from June 30, 1913, but Chambers continued on duty until November 8, 1919 when he was relieved of all active duty after forty-three years. His prodigious talents and contributions to the Navy ironically precluded him from advancement to "flag officer" since his prolonged shore duty that included assignment to the Naval War College, naval boards tasked with ad hoc program and weapons development, the Bureau of Ordnance and guiding the newly formed Bureau of Aviation, denied him the requisite years of sea duty for flag rank eligibility.
From the time he was commissioned an ensign, the varied ships Chambers was attached to included USS Marion, barge; Alert, gunboat; Thetis, a wooden hulled, three masted whaler that cruised to the Arctic to rescue the stranded Greely Expedition (Army-1884); Petrel, gunboat; Atlanta and Minneapolis, cruisers, 1891 and 1895; Puritan, monitor, 1897; Executive Officer of the Annapolis, gunboat, 1900; thereafter in command of the Frolic, schooner, 1902; Nashville, gunboat, 1905; Florida, monitor #9, 1906; and the battleship Louisiana, 1909.
Chambers shore duty that alternated with sea duty, included tours at the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department 1883; at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 1893; Navy Department Bureau of Ordnance, as Recorder of the Armor Board, 1897; Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, 1898-1902. He was a member (1904) successively of the Navy Department General Board, the board on Rules for Construction and Classification of Steel and Iron Vessels; the board on proposed rules governing Steamboat Inspection Service; and again in the Bureau of Ordnance as Assistant Chief of the Bureau in 1907; and as Assistant to the Aide for Material, 1909.
His interest in and pioneering in the field of aviation dates from early 1910 when Captain Chambers was nearly solitary in his belief that the Navy needed aviation. The Undersecretary of the Navy directed Captain Chambers "to observe everything that will be of use in the study of aviation and its influence upon the problems of naval warfare." After acting as an official observer at aviation meets at Belmont Park, New York, and Halethorpe, Maryland, Chambers realized that a convincing demonstration should be brought directly to the attention of the Navy in general. Approaching the Wright Company with the proposal that they fly one of their panes from the deck of a battleship, Orville Wright declined Chamber's proposal . linked,Chambers quickly realized the most important first step to prove that the airplane could operate at sea was to show that landings and take-offs from ships were possible. Chambers attended one of the first major flying meetings, being held at Belmont Park, NY, in October 1910. He met Glenn Curtiss and Eugene Ely at the competition and made a proposition. If he would supply the ship, would they make the attempt to land on board? Ely was excited at the prospect and agreed. but the Curtiss Company agreed to make the attempt. With Eugene Ely as pilot, a flight was made, November 14, 1910, from a platform constructed on the bow of USS Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The good impression received from this experience resulted in the offer by Curtiss to teach a naval officer to fly at their camp in San Diego, California, free of charge, as no funds for such instruction were available.
Captain Chambers investigated every phase of aviation of that time, and recommendations were made to Congress. The first appropriation of $25,00 for aviation was included in the 1911-1912 Naval Appropriation Act, and he was detailed to the Bureau of Navigation to devote his entire time toward the establishment of a naval aviation service. as aviation was considered to be "a dangerous plaything" by many officers in the various bureaus of the Navy Department, and since cooperation of the bureaus was absolutely essential, Captain Chambers assignment was on exceedingly difficult one. The success of Naval aviators and flights made in a few subsequent years contributed much to the growing conviction of its worth.
In connection with the establishment of an aviation experiment station, Captain Chambers had temporary duty at Hammondsport, New York, Annapolis, Maryland, and Dayton, Ohio. In October 1913, the Secretary of the Navy appointed Captain Chambers Chairman of the Board to make a careful study of the needs for an aeronautical organization within the Navy. Policy outlined included important recommendations for an aviation training station to be established at Pensacola, Florida. These were later approved, and the first naval Air Station was built in January 1914 on the site of the abandoned Navy Yard there, where all available aeronautical material, planes and pilots were ordered.
On January 8, 1914, he was detached from Bureau of Navigation, and to the Division of Operations, Navy Department, for special duty. During this period of service, recommendations to the Navy Department caused the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to be set up (1915) and Captain Chambers continued to serve under the first Chief throughout the World War, and until relieved of active duty on November 8, 1919.
Captain Chambers died on September 23, 1934, near Chillicothe, Ohio, while enroute to Washington by Train.
Captain Chambers was entitled to the Spanish Campaign Medal, Philippine Campaign Medal, Cuban Pacification Medal, and the Victory Medal for World War I service.graduated. This work covers Chambers's early naval career, his work at the new Office of Naval Intelligence, his participation in the Greeley Relief Expedition, and a survey for the projected isthmian canal through Nicaragua, before becoming the key advocate for naval modernization. As such, Chambers worked as a pioneering torpedo designer, supervised construction of the Maine, modernized the New York Navy Yard, and became a member of the first permanent faculty at the Naval War College.
During his long career, Chambers not only designed torpedoes, but also several warships, including a prototype Dreadnought-style battleship and a host of small devices that ranged from torpedo guidance systems to the first catapult for launching airplanes from ships. At the close of his career, Chambers purchased the navy's first aircraft and founded its air arm. Working with Glenn Curtiss, Chambers guided a coalition of aviation enthusiasts and pioneers who popularized naval aviation and demonstrated its capabilities. Chambers arranged the first take-off and landing of an airplane from a ship and other demonstrations of naval aviation. Combined with his tireless advocacy for modernization, these contributions secured a place in naval and aviation history for the innovator. Naval aviation pioneer. Captain Washington Irving Chambers, USN served as the first officer to oversee the the U.S. Navy's aviation program. He was born in Kingsport, New York in 1856. At the age of 20, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy. Her served in various sea/shore billets, eventually being placed in charge of the development of aviation in the Bureau of Navigation in 1911. He arranged for the first take-off and landing of an airplane on a ship. He died in 1934; four years later in 1938, Chambers Field in Norfolk, Virginia was dedicated to Captain Chambers and his many contributions in the pioneering field of Naval aviation. In 2010, the Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) vessel in the Lewis and Clark class of dry-cargo-ammunition was christened and launched. (2011 is the 100th anniversary of Naval aviation.)
He was the only child of Jacob and Margaret Chambers, both natives of New York State, and named after prominent 19th century New York author, Washington Irving (1783-1859), often called "the Father of American Literature", and himself named after George Washington, historically regarded as "the Father of his Country". Perhaps something about the name "Washington" inspires paternal instincts?
Per the 1860 US Census, Chamber's father was working as a "gate keeper" and by 1870 the elder Chambers was a "boot maker". In both these censuses, the future naval officer's name was recorded as "Irving". In June 1871, he was appointed a cadet midshipman to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis from the 13th NY Congressional District. He completed the four year course in June 1876 when he was 20 years old and graduated as a Passed Midshipman, required to spend two years at sea before commissioning as an ensign.
After serving aboard USS Pensacola, later in the Portsmouth, he was commissioned Ensign to rank from November 30, 1878. He was subsequently advanced in rank as follows: Lieutenant (junior grade), January 1, 1886; Lieutenant, May 29, 1891; Lieutenant Commander, July 13, 1899; Commander, April 21, 1905; Captain, December 7, 1908. His transfer to the Retired List of the Navy in that rank dates from June 30, 1913, but Chambers continued on duty until November 8, 1919 when he was relieved of all active duty after forty-three years. His prodigious talents and contributions to the Navy ironically precluded him from advancement to "flag officer" since his prolonged shore duty that included assignment to the Naval War College, naval boards tasked with ad hoc program and weapons development, the Bureau of Ordnance and guiding the newly formed Bureau of Aviation, denied him the requisite years of sea duty for flag rank eligibility.
From the time he was commissioned an ensign, the varied ships Chambers was attached to included USS Marion, barge; Alert, gunboat; Thetis, a wooden hulled, three masted whaler that cruised to the Arctic to rescue the stranded Greely Expedition (Army-1884); Petrel, gunboat; Atlanta and Minneapolis, cruisers, 1891 and 1895; Puritan, monitor, 1897; Executive Officer of the Annapolis, gunboat, 1900; thereafter in command of the Frolic, schooner, 1902; Nashville, gunboat, 1905; Florida, monitor #9, 1906; and the battleship Louisiana, 1909.
Chambers shore duty that alternated with sea duty, included tours at the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department 1883; at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 1893; Navy Department Bureau of Ordnance, as Recorder of the Armor Board, 1897; Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, 1898-1902. He was a member (1904) successively of the Navy Department General Board, the board on Rules for Construction and Classification of Steel and Iron Vessels; the board on proposed rules governing Steamboat Inspection Service; and again in the Bureau of Ordnance as Assistant Chief of the Bureau in 1907; and as Assistant to the Aide for Material, 1909.
His interest in and pioneering in the field of aviation dates from early 1910 when Captain Chambers was nearly solitary in his belief that the Navy needed aviation. The Undersecretary of the Navy directed Captain Chambers "to observe everything that will be of use in the study of aviation and its influence upon the problems of naval warfare." After acting as an official observer at aviation meets at Belmont Park, New York, and Halethorpe, Maryland, Chambers realized that a convincing demonstration should be brought directly to the attention of the Navy in general. Approaching the Wright Company with the proposal that they fly one of their panes from the deck of a battleship, Orville Wright declined Chamber's proposal . linked,Chambers quickly realized the most important first step to prove that the airplane could operate at sea was to show that landings and take-offs from ships were possible. Chambers attended one of the first major flying meetings, being held at Belmont Park, NY, in October 1910. He met Glenn Curtiss and Eugene Ely at the competition and made a proposition. If he would supply the ship, would they make the attempt to land on board? Ely was excited at the prospect and agreed. but the Curtiss Company agreed to make the attempt. With Eugene Ely as pilot, a flight was made, November 14, 1910, from a platform constructed on the bow of USS Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The good impression received from this experience resulted in the offer by Curtiss to teach a naval officer to fly at their camp in San Diego, California, free of charge, as no funds for such instruction were available.
Captain Chambers investigated every phase of aviation of that time, and recommendations were made to Congress. The first appropriation of $25,00 for aviation was included in the 1911-1912 Naval Appropriation Act, and he was detailed to the Bureau of Navigation to devote his entire time toward the establishment of a naval aviation service. as aviation was considered to be "a dangerous plaything" by many officers in the various bureaus of the Navy Department, and since cooperation of the bureaus was absolutely essential, Captain Chambers assignment was on exceedingly difficult one. The success of Naval aviators and flights made in a few subsequent years contributed much to the growing conviction of its worth.
In connection with the establishment of an aviation experiment station, Captain Chambers had temporary duty at Hammondsport, New York, Annapolis, Maryland, and Dayton, Ohio. In October 1913, the Secretary of the Navy appointed Captain Chambers Chairman of the Board to make a careful study of the needs for an aeronautical organization within the Navy. Policy outlined included important recommendations for an aviation training station to be established at Pensacola, Florida. These were later approved, and the first naval Air Station was built in January 1914 on the site of the abandoned Navy Yard there, where all available aeronautical material, planes and pilots were ordered.
On January 8, 1914, he was detached from Bureau of Navigation, and to the Division of Operations, Navy Department, for special duty. During this period of service, recommendations to the Navy Department caused the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to be set up (1915) and Captain Chambers continued to serve under the first Chief throughout the World War, and until relieved of active duty on November 8, 1919.
Captain Chambers died on September 23, 1934, near Chillicothe, Ohio, while enroute to Washington by Train.
Captain Chambers was entitled to the Spanish Campaign Medal, Philippine Campaign Medal, Cuban Pacification Medal, and the Victory Medal for World War I service.graduated. This work covers Chambers's early naval career, his work at the new Office of Naval Intelligence, his participation in the Greeley Relief Expedition, and a survey for the projected isthmian canal through Nicaragua, before becoming the key advocate for naval modernization. As such, Chambers worked as a pioneering torpedo designer, supervised construction of the Maine, modernized the New York Navy Yard, and became a member of the first permanent faculty at the Naval War College.
During his long career, Chambers not only designed torpedoes, but also several warships, including a prototype Dreadnought-style battleship and a host of small devices that ranged from torpedo guidance systems to the first catapult for launching airplanes from ships. At the close of his career, Chambers purchased the navy's first aircraft and founded its air arm. Working with Glenn Curtiss, Chambers guided a coalition of aviation enthusiasts and pioneers who popularized naval aviation and demonstrated its capabilities. Chambers arranged the first take-off and landing of an airplane from a ship and other demonstrations of naval aviation. Combined with his tireless advocacy for modernization, these contributions secured a place in naval and aviation history for the innovator. Naval aviation pioneer. Captain Washington Irving Chambers, USN served as the first officer to oversee the the U.S. Navy's aviation program. He was born in Kingsport, New York in 1856. At the age of 20, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy. Her served in various sea/shore billets, eventually being placed in charge of the development of aviation in the Bureau of Navigation in 1911. He arranged for the first take-off and landing of an airplane on a ship. He died in 1934; four years later in 1938, Chambers Field in Norfolk, Virginia was dedicated to Captain Chambers and his many contributions in the pioneering field of Naval aviation. In 2010, the Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) vessel in the Lewis and Clark class of dry-cargo-ammunition was christened and launched. (2011 is the 100th anniversary of Naval aviation.)
US Navy Officer (1876-1919). Widely regarded as the "Father of Naval Aviation", in 1910 he was the officer tasked to study the application of aircraft to sea warfare. The career of Washington Irving Chambers spans a formative period in the development of the United States Navy: He entered the Naval Academy in the doldrums of obsolete, often rotting wooden ships, and retired four decades later after he had collaborated with other visionaries to convince Congress and the public of the need to adopt a new naval strategy built around a fleet of technologically advanced battleships and laid the important foundation for naval aviation and the vital role it would play in the modern navy.
He was the only child of Jacob and Margaret Chambers, both natives of New York State, and named after prominent 19th century New York author, Washington Irving (1783-1859), often called "the Father of American Literature", and himself named after George Washington, historically regarded as "the Father of his Country". Perhaps something about the name "Washington" inspires paternal instincts?
Per the 1860 US Census, Chamber's father was working as a "gate keeper" and by 1870 the elder Chambers was a "boot maker". In both these censuses, the future naval officer's name was recorded as "Irving". In June 1871, he was appointed a cadet midshipman to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis from the 13th NY Congressional District. He completed the four year course in June 1876 when he was 20 years old and graduated as a Passed Midshipman, required to spend two years at sea before commissioning as an ensign.
After serving aboard USS Pensacola, later in the Portsmouth, he was commissioned Ensign to rank from November 30, 1878. He was subsequently advanced in rank as follows: Lieutenant (junior grade), January 1, 1886; Lieutenant, May 29, 1891; Lieutenant Commander, July 13, 1899; Commander, April 21, 1905; Captain, December 7, 1908. His transfer to the Retired List of the Navy in that rank dates from June 30, 1913, but Chambers continued on duty until November 8, 1919 when he was relieved of all active duty after forty-three years. His prodigious talents and contributions to the Navy ironically precluded him from advancement to "flag officer" since his prolonged shore duty that included assignment to the Naval War College, naval boards tasked with ad hoc program and weapons development, the Bureau of Ordnance and guiding the newly formed Bureau of Aviation, denied him the requisite years of sea duty for flag rank eligibility.
From the time he was commissioned an ensign, the varied ships Chambers was attached to included USS Marion, barge; Alert, gunboat; Thetis, a wooden hulled, three masted whaler that cruised to the Arctic to rescue the stranded Greely Expedition (Army-1884); Petrel, gunboat; Atlanta and Minneapolis, cruisers, 1891 and 1895; Puritan, monitor, 1897; Executive Officer of the Annapolis, gunboat, 1900; thereafter in command of the Frolic, schooner, 1902; Nashville, gunboat, 1905; Florida, monitor #9, 1906; and the battleship Louisiana, 1909.
Chambers shore duty that alternated with sea duty, included tours at the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department 1883; at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 1893; Navy Department Bureau of Ordnance, as Recorder of the Armor Board, 1897; Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, 1898-1902. He was a member (1904) successively of the Navy Department General Board, the board on Rules for Construction and Classification of Steel and Iron Vessels; the board on proposed rules governing Steamboat Inspection Service; and again in the Bureau of Ordnance as Assistant Chief of the Bureau in 1907; and as Assistant to the Aide for Material, 1909.
His interest in and pioneering in the field of aviation dates from early 1910 when Captain Chambers was nearly solitary in his belief that the Navy needed aviation. The Undersecretary of the Navy directed Captain Chambers "to observe everything that will be of use in the study of aviation and its influence upon the problems of naval warfare." After acting as an official observer at aviation meets at Belmont Park, New York, and Halethorpe, Maryland, Chambers realized that a convincing demonstration should be brought directly to the attention of the Navy in general. Approaching the Wright Company with the proposal that they fly one of their panes from the deck of a battleship, Orville Wright declined Chamber's proposal . linked,Chambers quickly realized the most important first step to prove that the airplane could operate at sea was to show that landings and take-offs from ships were possible. Chambers attended one of the first major flying meetings, being held at Belmont Park, NY, in October 1910. He met Glenn Curtiss and Eugene Ely at the competition and made a proposition. If he would supply the ship, would they make the attempt to land on board? Ely was excited at the prospect and agreed. but the Curtiss Company agreed to make the attempt. With Eugene Ely as pilot, a flight was made, November 14, 1910, from a platform constructed on the bow of USS Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The good impression received from this experience resulted in the offer by Curtiss to teach a naval officer to fly at their camp in San Diego, California, free of charge, as no funds for such instruction were available.
Captain Chambers investigated every phase of aviation of that time, and recommendations were made to Congress. The first appropriation of $25,00 for aviation was included in the 1911-1912 Naval Appropriation Act, and he was detailed to the Bureau of Navigation to devote his entire time toward the establishment of a naval aviation service. as aviation was considered to be "a dangerous plaything" by many officers in the various bureaus of the Navy Department, and since cooperation of the bureaus was absolutely essential, Captain Chambers assignment was on exceedingly difficult one. The success of Naval aviators and flights made in a few subsequent years contributed much to the growing conviction of its worth.
In connection with the establishment of an aviation experiment station, Captain Chambers had temporary duty at Hammondsport, New York, Annapolis, Maryland, and Dayton, Ohio. In October 1913, the Secretary of the Navy appointed Captain Chambers Chairman of the Board to make a careful study of the needs for an aeronautical organization within the Navy. Policy outlined included important recommendations for an aviation training station to be established at Pensacola, Florida. These were later approved, and the first naval Air Station was built in January 1914 on the site of the abandoned Navy Yard there, where all available aeronautical material, planes and pilots were ordered.
On January 8, 1914, he was detached from Bureau of Navigation, and to the Division of Operations, Navy Department, for special duty. During this period of service, recommendations to the Navy Department caused the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to be set up (1915) and Captain Chambers continued to serve under the first Chief throughout the World War, and until relieved of active duty on November 8, 1919.
Captain Chambers died on September 23, 1934, near Chillicothe, Ohio, while enroute to Washington by Train.
Captain Chambers was entitled to the Spanish Campaign Medal, Philippine Campaign Medal, Cuban Pacification Medal, and the Victory Medal for World War I service.graduated. This work covers Chambers's early naval career, his work at the new Office of Naval Intelligence, his participation in the Greeley Relief Expedition, and a survey for the projected isthmian canal through Nicaragua, before becoming the key advocate for naval modernization. As such, Chambers worked as a pioneering torpedo designer, supervised construction of the Maine, modernized the New York Navy Yard, and became a member of the first permanent faculty at the Naval War College.
During his long career, Chambers not only designed torpedoes, but also several warships, including a prototype Dreadnought-style battleship and a host of small devices that ranged from torpedo guidance systems to the first catapult for launching airplanes from ships. At the close of his career, Chambers purchased the navy's first aircraft and founded its air arm. Working with Glenn Curtiss, Chambers guided a coalition of aviation enthusiasts and pioneers who popularized naval aviation and demonstrated its capabilities. Chambers arranged the first take-off and landing of an airplane from a ship and other demonstrations of naval aviation. Combined with his tireless advocacy for modernization, these contributions secured a place in naval and aviation history for the innovator. Naval aviation pioneer. Captain Washington Irving Chambers, USN served as the first officer to oversee the the U.S. Navy's aviation program. He was born in Kingsport, New York in 1856. At the age of 20, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy. Her served in various sea/shore billets, eventually being placed in charge of the development of aviation in the Bureau of Navigation in 1911. He arranged for the first take-off and landing of an airplane on a ship. He died in 1934; four years later in 1938, Chambers Field in Norfolk, Virginia was dedicated to Captain Chambers and his many contributions in the pioneering field of Naval aviation. In 2010, the Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) vessel in the Lewis and Clark class of dry-cargo-ammunition was christened and launched. (2011 is the 100th anniversary of Naval aviation.)
He was the only child of Jacob and Margaret Chambers, both natives of New York State, and named after prominent 19th century New York author, Washington Irving (1783-1859), often called "the Father of American Literature", and himself named after George Washington, historically regarded as "the Father of his Country". Perhaps something about the name "Washington" inspires paternal instincts?
Per the 1860 US Census, Chamber's father was working as a "gate keeper" and by 1870 the elder Chambers was a "boot maker". In both these censuses, the future naval officer's name was recorded as "Irving". In June 1871, he was appointed a cadet midshipman to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis from the 13th NY Congressional District. He completed the four year course in June 1876 when he was 20 years old and graduated as a Passed Midshipman, required to spend two years at sea before commissioning as an ensign.
After serving aboard USS Pensacola, later in the Portsmouth, he was commissioned Ensign to rank from November 30, 1878. He was subsequently advanced in rank as follows: Lieutenant (junior grade), January 1, 1886; Lieutenant, May 29, 1891; Lieutenant Commander, July 13, 1899; Commander, April 21, 1905; Captain, December 7, 1908. His transfer to the Retired List of the Navy in that rank dates from June 30, 1913, but Chambers continued on duty until November 8, 1919 when he was relieved of all active duty after forty-three years. His prodigious talents and contributions to the Navy ironically precluded him from advancement to "flag officer" since his prolonged shore duty that included assignment to the Naval War College, naval boards tasked with ad hoc program and weapons development, the Bureau of Ordnance and guiding the newly formed Bureau of Aviation, denied him the requisite years of sea duty for flag rank eligibility.
From the time he was commissioned an ensign, the varied ships Chambers was attached to included USS Marion, barge; Alert, gunboat; Thetis, a wooden hulled, three masted whaler that cruised to the Arctic to rescue the stranded Greely Expedition (Army-1884); Petrel, gunboat; Atlanta and Minneapolis, cruisers, 1891 and 1895; Puritan, monitor, 1897; Executive Officer of the Annapolis, gunboat, 1900; thereafter in command of the Frolic, schooner, 1902; Nashville, gunboat, 1905; Florida, monitor #9, 1906; and the battleship Louisiana, 1909.
Chambers shore duty that alternated with sea duty, included tours at the Bureau of Navigation, Navy Department 1883; at the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, 1893; Navy Department Bureau of Ordnance, as Recorder of the Armor Board, 1897; Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, 1898-1902. He was a member (1904) successively of the Navy Department General Board, the board on Rules for Construction and Classification of Steel and Iron Vessels; the board on proposed rules governing Steamboat Inspection Service; and again in the Bureau of Ordnance as Assistant Chief of the Bureau in 1907; and as Assistant to the Aide for Material, 1909.
His interest in and pioneering in the field of aviation dates from early 1910 when Captain Chambers was nearly solitary in his belief that the Navy needed aviation. The Undersecretary of the Navy directed Captain Chambers "to observe everything that will be of use in the study of aviation and its influence upon the problems of naval warfare." After acting as an official observer at aviation meets at Belmont Park, New York, and Halethorpe, Maryland, Chambers realized that a convincing demonstration should be brought directly to the attention of the Navy in general. Approaching the Wright Company with the proposal that they fly one of their panes from the deck of a battleship, Orville Wright declined Chamber's proposal . linked,Chambers quickly realized the most important first step to prove that the airplane could operate at sea was to show that landings and take-offs from ships were possible. Chambers attended one of the first major flying meetings, being held at Belmont Park, NY, in October 1910. He met Glenn Curtiss and Eugene Ely at the competition and made a proposition. If he would supply the ship, would they make the attempt to land on board? Ely was excited at the prospect and agreed. but the Curtiss Company agreed to make the attempt. With Eugene Ely as pilot, a flight was made, November 14, 1910, from a platform constructed on the bow of USS Birmingham at Hampton Roads, Virginia. The good impression received from this experience resulted in the offer by Curtiss to teach a naval officer to fly at their camp in San Diego, California, free of charge, as no funds for such instruction were available.
Captain Chambers investigated every phase of aviation of that time, and recommendations were made to Congress. The first appropriation of $25,00 for aviation was included in the 1911-1912 Naval Appropriation Act, and he was detailed to the Bureau of Navigation to devote his entire time toward the establishment of a naval aviation service. as aviation was considered to be "a dangerous plaything" by many officers in the various bureaus of the Navy Department, and since cooperation of the bureaus was absolutely essential, Captain Chambers assignment was on exceedingly difficult one. The success of Naval aviators and flights made in a few subsequent years contributed much to the growing conviction of its worth.
In connection with the establishment of an aviation experiment station, Captain Chambers had temporary duty at Hammondsport, New York, Annapolis, Maryland, and Dayton, Ohio. In October 1913, the Secretary of the Navy appointed Captain Chambers Chairman of the Board to make a careful study of the needs for an aeronautical organization within the Navy. Policy outlined included important recommendations for an aviation training station to be established at Pensacola, Florida. These were later approved, and the first naval Air Station was built in January 1914 on the site of the abandoned Navy Yard there, where all available aeronautical material, planes and pilots were ordered.
On January 8, 1914, he was detached from Bureau of Navigation, and to the Division of Operations, Navy Department, for special duty. During this period of service, recommendations to the Navy Department caused the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations to be set up (1915) and Captain Chambers continued to serve under the first Chief throughout the World War, and until relieved of active duty on November 8, 1919.
Captain Chambers died on September 23, 1934, near Chillicothe, Ohio, while enroute to Washington by Train.
Captain Chambers was entitled to the Spanish Campaign Medal, Philippine Campaign Medal, Cuban Pacification Medal, and the Victory Medal for World War I service.graduated. This work covers Chambers's early naval career, his work at the new Office of Naval Intelligence, his participation in the Greeley Relief Expedition, and a survey for the projected isthmian canal through Nicaragua, before becoming the key advocate for naval modernization. As such, Chambers worked as a pioneering torpedo designer, supervised construction of the Maine, modernized the New York Navy Yard, and became a member of the first permanent faculty at the Naval War College.
During his long career, Chambers not only designed torpedoes, but also several warships, including a prototype Dreadnought-style battleship and a host of small devices that ranged from torpedo guidance systems to the first catapult for launching airplanes from ships. At the close of his career, Chambers purchased the navy's first aircraft and founded its air arm. Working with Glenn Curtiss, Chambers guided a coalition of aviation enthusiasts and pioneers who popularized naval aviation and demonstrated its capabilities. Chambers arranged the first take-off and landing of an airplane from a ship and other demonstrations of naval aviation. Combined with his tireless advocacy for modernization, these contributions secured a place in naval and aviation history for the innovator. Naval aviation pioneer. Captain Washington Irving Chambers, USN served as the first officer to oversee the the U.S. Navy's aviation program. He was born in Kingsport, New York in 1856. At the age of 20, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy. Her served in various sea/shore billets, eventually being placed in charge of the development of aviation in the Bureau of Navigation in 1911. He arranged for the first take-off and landing of an airplane on a ship. He died in 1934; four years later in 1938, Chambers Field in Norfolk, Virginia was dedicated to Captain Chambers and his many contributions in the pioneering field of Naval aviation. In 2010, the Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) vessel in the Lewis and Clark class of dry-cargo-ammunition was christened and launched. (2011 is the 100th anniversary of Naval aviation.)
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