Chiefs of BuDocks and NAVFAC

By August 31, 1842, naval administrative duties had expanded significantly necessitating that a system of bureaus be established under the Secretary of the Navy, to replace the Board of Naval Commissioners. The five new bureaus included the Bureau of Navy Yards and Docks; the Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repair; the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing; the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography; and the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

Congress granted to the Secretary of the Navy the right to assign and distribute among the bureaus the duties of the Navy Department as he saw fit to accomplish its duties. Each Bureau performed its duties under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy and its orders were considered as emanating from him, giving them the full force and effect of his authority.

President John Tyler immediately put the Bureau system into operation and appointed Commodore Lewis Warrington, then president of the Board of Navy Commissioners, to be the first chief of the Bureau of Navy Yards and Docks. The Bureau was vested with the construction and maintenance of the docks, wharves, and buildings within the navy yards. In addition to Warrington and Chief Engineer Sanger, the personnel of the Bureau in 1842 consisted of only a chief clerk, two clerks, a draughtsman, and a messenger.

In 1898, Mordecai Endicott became the first Civil Engineer Corps officer to be appointed Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks. Prior to this time, line officers held the position of chief although Civil Engineer Corps officers made all the technical engineering decisions with respect to the public works throughout the naval shore establishment.

On May 1, 1966, the Bureau of Yards and Docks was abolished as part of the Department of Defense's reorganization of its material establishment, and was replaced by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC).