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Home Town Mosel, Wisconsin
Last Address FURER, JULIUS AUGUSTUS RADM USN DATE OF BIRTH: 10/09/1880 DATE OF DEATH: 06/05/1963 BURIED AT: SECTION 4 SITE 5647-D ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
Date of Passing Jun 05, 1963
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JULIUS AUGUSTUS FURER
Navy Cross
Julius Augustus Furer, Naval Constructor, inventor, administrator, and author, was born 9 October 1880 at Mosel, Wisconsin and appointed to the United States Naval Academy in 1897, he graduated at the head of his class in 1901.
After sea duty in INDIANA (Battleship No. 1) and SHUBRICK (Torpedo Boat No. 31), he acquired a Master of Science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1905.
In the era of great naval expansion after the Spanish-American War, Furer established a reputation for professional competence in his remarkably expeditious outfitting of the Navy Base at Charleston, South Carolina, which at that time lacked a physical plant, natural resources, and a skilled shipbuilding labor force.
While serving in the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1911, he applied new theories of scientific management. His advanced thinking and methods of procurement brought him the added task of purchasing all tools, machinery, and dock facilities for the Navy’s new base for the Pacific Fleet— Pearl Harbor. Furer installed the equipment in 18 months, but delayed his departure when submarine F-4 (No. 23) sank in 50 fathoms off Honolulu. He insisted on salvaging her, and invented a submersible pontoon which raised the boat and enabled her to be moved to drydock. An investigation of her hull revealed a design error which was corrected to avoid similar accidents.
Furer returned to Washington late in 1915 and took charge of the Supply Division, Bureau of Construction and Repair. Against some opposition by advocates of smaller vessels, he proposed the construction of 110-foot submarine chasers to meet the threat of the German U-boat. Furer’s arguments persuaded the Navy’s General Board to order 450 vessels constructed on Furer’s basic design. These contributions to the American war effort earned Furer the Navy Cross.
Following the war, he reported to the staff of the Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, and tirelessly devoted his talent to the improvement of damage control, ship design, and crew comfort. From December 1922 to April 1927, he was a member of the U.S. Naval Mission to Brazil.
Furer next was assigned to the Asiatic Station, where he developed extensively the aircraft facilities at Cavite, Philippine Islands. In 1928, he became Manager of the Industrial Department of the Philadelphia Navy Yard, and supervised the modernization of battleships PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38) and NEW MEXICO (BB-40). Under his management, the yard set records for low costs and speed of construction. Between July 1935 and December 1937, Furer was Naval Attache at embassies in London, Paris, Berlin, and Rome. His technical advice aided the American delegation to the London Naval Conference in 1936.
A Rear Admiral at the outbreak of World War II, he became the Coordinator of Research and Development, and the senior member of the National Research and Development Board. He coordinated widespread research that speeded development of modern weapons systems for the Navy. These services won Furer the Legion of Merit 30 June 1945.
Julius Furer retired from active service in 1945, but was recalled to duty in the Navy’s History Division in 1951.
During a second retirement, he wrote the widely acclaimed study, “Administration of the Navy Department in World War II,” published in 1960.
Rear Admiral Julius A. Furer died 6 June 1963 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Other Comments:
USS JULIUS A. FURER was launched 22 July 1966 by the Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; and sponsored by Mrs. Julius A. Furer, widow of Rear Admiral Julius A. Furer. Commissioned 11 November 1967. After receiving a LAMPS helicopter flight deck in 1973, JULIUS A. FURER was redesignated a guided missile frigate on 30 June 1975 and became FFG-6. Decommissioned on 10 November 1988, she was leased to Pakistan on 31 January 1989 and became guided missile frigate BADR (D-161). Returned to U.S. custody at Singapore on 11 December 1993, she was stricken from the Navy Register the same day. Transferred to the Maritime Administration on 29 March 1994, former JULIUS A. FURER was sold for scrap the same day to Trusha Investments Pte. Ltd., c/o Jacques Peirot, Jr. & Sons, of New York City for $660,600.
We Build * We Fight
For over 60 years, the men and women of the Naval Construction Force have been giving their all to protect our Nation and serve our armed forces with pride.
SEABEES KILLED IN ACTION IN WAR AND PEACE
Since the outbreak of World War II, 22 Civil Engineer Corps officers and 353 Seabees have been killed in action during wartime. During the last few decades, however, a new peacetime threat has emerged. Various disaffected groups in the world have increasingly made use of terrorism as a weapon. Three Civil Engineer Corps officers and one Seabee are numbered among their victims.
At mid-morning on 3 February 1974 on the northeastern edge of the U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay in the Philippines, Captain Thomas J. Mitchell, CEC, USN, Commander of the 30th Naval Construction Regiment, Commander Leland R. Dobler, CEC, USN, Commanding Officer of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133, and Lieutenant Charles H. Jeffries, CEC, USN, Officer in Charge of Detachment WALLABY of that battalion, were riding in a jeep on an inspection tour of a section of perimeter road which was being worked on by Lieutenant Jeffries's detachment. The three officers were driving in an isolated area approximately seven miles from base headquarters in deep jungle along the boundary between the base and Bataan Province when unidentified terrorists ambushed them, cutting the three men down in a hail of fire. Seabees from Detachment WALLABY, who were working about half a mile away, heard the shooting, rushed to the ambush scene, and notified base headquarters. Medical personnel were immediately flown to the scene, but the three men were dead when they arrived. U.S. Marines and Philippine Constables immediately moved into area to locate the attackers, but they were unsuccessful and the attackers were never positively identified. To this day, the three officers remain the victims of anonymous terrorists.
The latest incident of a Seabee falling victim to terrorist activity took place on 15 June 1985. Following completion of a routine repair project at a base in Greece, Steelworker 2nd Class Robert D. Stethem, USN, and four other members of Underwater Construction Team 2 were returning to the United States aboard TWA Flight 847 when Shiite Muslim terrorists hijacked the flight and diverted it to Beirut, Lebanon. The terrorists singled out Stethem and another Seabee for physical abuse. While the aircraft sat at the Beirut airport, the terrorists beat Stethem over a prolonged period, and finally killed him with a bullet to the head. After lengthy negotiations, the remaining passengers were finally freed. The four terrorists made good their escape into Beirut, but one was later apprehended in Germany and convicted of air piracy and murder.
INTRODUCTION. Naval Construction Force (NCF) is a generic term applied to that group of deployable naval organizational components which have the common characteristics of possessing the capability to construct, maintain, and/or operate shore, inshore, and:or deep ocean facilities in support of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps and. when directed, other agencies of the United States Government. Most NCF units are in the Fleet administration chain of command. but a few are under the command of shore activities. Operational control of
deployed NCF units may be exercised by commands other than those which have administrative control such as unified commanders or their component commanders.
Dlrecf support of NCF units is provided by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) through its Construction Battalion Centers. and other principal support organizations.
