Harold E. Saunders

Captain Harold E. Saunders, USN, (1880-1961), was the leading hydrodynamicist in the United States in the mid 20th century. He is best known for the 3-volume book, Hydrodynamics in Ship Design, of which the first two volumes appeared in 1957 and the third, posthumous volume, was published in 1965, by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, New York (SNAME).

Earlier in his career, then Commander Saunders published, for the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair, C and R Bulletin No. 7, The Prediction of Speed and Power of Ships by Methods in Use at the United States Experimental Model Basin Washington, Government Printing Office, [Washington: 1933]. The title of this book refers back to Adm. David W. Taylor's better known Speed and Power of Ships (1910).

Saunders is still often cited as an authoritative source on the resistance and propulsion of ships, especially naval ships. A number of his published works appear in the list of refrences in SNAME's Principles of Naval Architecture.

Sources

• Principles of Naval Architecture, edited by John P. Comstock, Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, [New York: 1967]
• Library of Congress Card Catalog No. 67-20738