The Man Who Invented The LST's Of World War II

Three men stand out in my memory from the thousands with whom I've known: Captain Henry T. Wright, construction officer, ‘ Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King and ... John C. Niedermair. — Rear Adm. Edward Ellsberg

by Shirlianne Gunther STONE HARBOR - John C. Niedermair, known by his colleagues as the father of today's modem navy, has no intention of “giving up the ship.” Niedermair, 87, has recently completed a comprehensive volume of his life’s work and his contributions to naval history for the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The extensive book, which took a good part of a year to complete, is on file at the Naval Memorial Library and the Nimitz library. But Niedermair’s story isn't over. “I never seem to have enough time and I want to get time to write a book," Niedermair said enthusiastically the other day. “My whole life has been exciting — since I was a little boy in dresses,” he said with a grin. NIEDERMAIR’S LIST OF awards, medals, honors and letters of praise — which include such things as the navy’s Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the Harold E. Saunders Award from the American Society of Engineers, and countless other prestigious commendations — would fill a volume of its own. His name pops up in logs of architectural history, books such as Master of Sea Power by Thomas B. Buell and numerus other places. Niedermair takes it all in stride and seems unimpressed by the impact he’s had on history. “I never felt any emotion about my work — I felt fate or God was playing a good part in it,” he said. As the Navy's top civilian ship designer for more than 20 years, his ships, destroyers, battleships, cruisers, submarines, aircraft carriers, landing craft (8,000 of them in all) played a big part in winning World War II.

"I looked at the requirements and sketched it (design for the first LST) on the back of an envelope in about a half of a minute../'

NIEDERMAIR’S GENIUS for understanding a problem and working out an immediate solution, plus his expertise in carrying the plan from beginning to end made him indispensible and earned him the reputation as the “father of today’s modem navy.” He was the first man to work out a method of salvaging submarines from deep water. He also designed — in less than a minute — the LST (Landing Ship, Tanks) called the workhorse of World War II. This ship could cross oceans, deliver tanks and heavy equipment and land directly on the beach. “On November 4, 1941 a dispatch came from the British saying they needed a landing craft. Winston Churchill said two empires were standing still waiting for this ship,” Niedermair recalls. Many architects said it was impossible to design. But Neidermair solved the age-old problem of landing men and Equipment on enemy shores. “I LOOKED AT THE rea uirements and sketched it out on le back of an envelope in about a half of a minute. We built them and turned about 50 of them over to the British. Before the end of World War II the Allies had more than 25,000 landing craft of various sizes. Niedermair said the British didn’t owe the Americans anything because they brought the idea of radar into being. "The principle of radar was known, but the British worked it out." ' During those war-tom years Niedermair worked closely with the British. As an independent architect, working on his own, he was not tied down to government bureacracy. “The British were afraid that Germany would invade Great Britain. They sent all their ship plans over on the King George and turned them over to my care,” he said. Niedermair studied the plans for ideas and worked closely with a British officer named Commdr. Cole. "OUR FILING SYSTEM and information never went into the general files of the Navy Department. He had different codes in those days and labelled Cole’s file The Coal Bin," he said smiling. Niedermair's freedom to move and develop designs on his own helped speed things up for the war effort. “We had already been lending destroyers to the British. Then the U.S. established the Lend Lease Fund. We didn’t have to submit plans for approval to the Naval Dept.'That way (under Lend Lease) there was no delay. Niedermair has been involved with countless designs, some famous like the Polaris and the

Forrestal and others (like the ones etched on some of his medals) models of perfect design and stability. "WHEN I LOOK AT A SHIP I can tell if it’s safe. I have a feeling — something inside me that some people call the mine’s eye," Neidermair said. "The Titanic had good distribution but was very long,” he noted. Niedermair was a student when the “unsinkable” ship, believed to be the safest ship afloat, sank on its first voyage after striking an iceberg. That was on the night of April 14-15, 1912. The tragedy occurred about 1,600 miles northeast of New York City on its first trip

HIS NAME pop* up in logs of architectural history, books such as “Master of Sea Power’...

from England to New York. More than 1,400 people died. Years later Niedermair went to London in connection with that project. "I knew the consultant engineer. There weren’t any problems with it. It was well built. The iceberg wiped the side right off. If there was any fault at all it is that they didn’t pay attention when the fog moved in,” he said. WHEN NIEDERMAIR APPROACHED a problem he didn’t limit his thinking to design. Watertight integrity, ship stability and the safety of the m6n on board were of prime concern. "I would make mathematical calculations on how many planes might get through to sink the ship,” Niedermair explained. In one case, the architect studied the line of projection of missies and the lack of protection on ships — and then did something about it. In addition to everything else, he worked on the first guided missies and helped design and raise money for the first computers. “I thought at the time that there would be a lot of unemployment because of computers.” Niedermair, who understands politics as well as architecture, was constantly on call to solve

problems. Other people were after him to do their designs. "They wanted me to design airships, but I turned that down," he said. Through all his influence , and dedication to his work Niedermair remained committed not just to the “machines" he designed, but to the "humans” who had to use them. TODAY NIEDERMAIR SEES changes in the world of naval design. "But it’s hard to tell. Engineering is a key business today but now they call them management .engineers, computor engineers, marine engineers — everybody’s an engineer. It must have been a nice title." Niedermair said, too, that today the navy is not involved with ship design in the same capacity as when he was at the helm of the ship. “Most of it now is sent out on government contracts to places like General Electric. In the old days we worked at very high pressure. I had a guardian angel on my shoulder," he said smiling. Every era has its place, he noted. “Your organization reaches the end of its usefulness — it won’t work in the modern world of computers that can think almost as well as people." Niedermair moves with the times, and seems to find humor in all the recognition he’s received for his work. A graduate of Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, his abilities were accepted by him as a natural course of events. On a recent trip to Washington he was honored by a group of architects he had taught. "They got them all together and when I met them some were still shy of me because I was the big boss." he said laughing. \ Besides being involved with photography apd working on a new computer project, Niedermair is determined to write a book. But the book will not be about his achievements. "It will be a book^related to mankind I think he’s made a lot of mistakes," Niedermair said. Shirlianne Gunther is a freelance writer whose home is in Cape May Court House. x—Hlagnjinc Publi»h*d by th« S«awove Corp P O M* 484. Cap* May N J 08204 a» a, »uppl*m«nt to th* Cap* May Cou%y ' ^ H*rald and th* tow*r.Town«hip lantern Contributions & iSoas ore welcome and may be arranged by colling (609) 967 3312^ Editor John H Andrus II General Manager Bonnie tteina Photographer Bonnie Grove * HSl toowgv Cord Al r*h|( rMorywl Al property ngt'tt for the enure content* of ttw» puMcetion the* be the property of the Senveve Corp No pert hereof may CAPE MAY COUNTY MAGAZINE / 3