B. F.

Isherwood
B. F. Isherwood, (born Oct. 6, 1822, New York City—died June 19, 1915, New York City),
U.S. naval engineer who, during the American Civil War, greatly augmented the U.S. Navy’s
steam-powered fleet.

The son of a physician, Isherwood attended Albany

(N.Y.) Academy (1831–36) and then learned mechanics
and engineering working successively on the Utica &
Schenectady Railroad, on the Croton Aqueduct, on the
Erie Railroad, at various U.S. Treasury lighthouses, and
at the Novelty Iron Works (New York City). In 1844 he
zoom_in
Isherwood, B.F. joined the Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy, serving
B.F. Isherwood, c. 1860s.
thereafter on several ships and land-based posts. After
Civil War glass negative collection/Library
of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital the American Civil War began, he became engineer in
File Number: LC-DIG-cwpb-05850)
chief of the Navy and, in 1862, the first chief of its
Bureau of Steam Engineering. At the beginning of the
war the Navy had but 28 steam-powered ships and boats; by the end of the war it had about
600. Isherwood oversaw the design and construction of most of these ships and, in large part,
personally designed the machinery and hulls of ships of the Wampanoag class, which, when
built, were the world’s fastest at 17 3/ knots.
4

During these years Isherwood wrote two major treatises on steam power for ships:
Engineering Precedents for Steam Machinery, 2 vol. (1859), and Experimental Researches in
Steam Engineering, 2 vol. (1863–65). The latter became a standard text and was translated
into a number of foreign languages.

Isherwood remained on active duty until 1884, when he retired as chief engineer, the highest
permanent rank in the Engineer Corps. Through his later years of duty he presided over many
experimental researches involving both U.S. Navy ships and bases and foreign navies. After
his death, the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, named Isherwood Hall in his honour.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.