Shipbuilder for the Navy Clayton M. Simmers: Father of the American Aircraft Carrier By David F. Winkler, Ph.D.
8 Naval Historical Foundation
the requirements” because the large holds could allow for storage of up to 40 aircraft. Recognizing that the fleet still maintained a requirement for colliers, Winterhalter and his colleagues pressed Simmers on converting an obsolescent pre-dreadnaught battleship or armored cruiser. Simmers noted that removal of gun turrets and supporting armored barbettes would be costly and, even if accomplished, could not approach the amount of stowage that the colliers offered. Asked what it would take to convert a collier, Simmers offered an itemized list:
1) Remove the current coaling gear and towers and erect a flying platform. 2) Install the necessary gear for handling and stowing airplanes. 3) Install an elevator and booms or derricks for handling planes over the side. 4) Rearrange quarters and provide additional quarters for the accommodation of the officers and enlisted personnel of the aviation forces. 5) Rebuild the navigating bridge. 6) Remodel main deck hatches to allow for the striking down of fuselages. 7) Install machine tools and fit out repair shops necessary in connection to the repair of airplanes. 8) Provide additional ventilation to additional quarters and possibly to the holds in case it is necessary for the preservation of the airplanes. 9) Extend fuel oil piping system to allow for the use of fuel-burning boilers, 10) Rearrange wireless and signaling arrangements. 11) Make alterations to the structure of the ship so as to provide for changing the smokestacks.
Of the proposed changes, Simmers noted the last would be the most challenging. Rear Admiral Winterhalter was
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U.S. NAVAL ACADEMY LUCKY BAG.
W
ith the cessation of hostilities ending World War I occurring a few months earlier, the General Board of the Navy met in the spring of 1918 to consider the path ahead for U.S. naval aviation. With budgetary constraints inhibiting earlier proposed recommendations of building aircraft carriers from the keel up, the Bureau of Construction and Repair (BuC&R) had assigned Cdr. Clayton M. “Pop” Simmers to conduct preliminary investigations on converting the troopship Mount Vernon into the Navy’s first flattop. Such a transformation of a ship that started her career Clayton M. Simmers as the German liner Kronprinzessen Cecilie would not have been unprecedented given the British had converted a hull intended to be placed in service as the Italian liner Conte Rosso and commissioned it in late 1918 as the world’s first true aircraft carrier. Learning of Simmers’ work, the General Board called in the constructor corps officer to discuss the conversion of a ship to a carrier with a panel of seasoned flag officers led by Rear Adm. Charles J. Badger and Rear Adm. Albert G. Winterhalter. Simmers’ career was likely facilitated through his upbringing in the industrial town of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, where Phoenix Iron Works produced cannon for the Union Army, rail for the Pennsylvania Railroad, and bridges that still span many creeks and rivers across the nation. From that industrial upbringing, Simmers attended the U.S. Naval Academy where he sang in the choir and had a reputation for virtue. Graduating with the class of 1902, Simmers served with the fleet before earning a master’s degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from MIT and orders to BuC&R as a naval constructor. Simmers informed the board that BuC&R had started to develop plans for converting Mount Vernon, but once the requirement for high speed was dropped, it had become evident that “the vessels of the Neptune (collier) class are possibly the ones which are most suited to fill
