The Courage to Fight for A Better Navy - And Their Willingness To Write About It

In the early 1900s, RADM Caspar Goodrich and Commander Holden A. Evans worked tirelessly to reform naval manufacturing using the management techniques of Frederick W. Taylor (a manufacturing thought-leader for that time). These two men failed, initially. The Admiral was forced to retire in 1909. Two years later, Commander Evans resigned after his career was ruined for trying to change Navy organizational policy. However, their extensive writing on the subject led to lengthy deliberations which helped the Navy finally recognize the value of their recommendations prior to World War I.

From 1904-1906, Rear Admiral Goodrich commanded the Pacific Fleet. He was Commandant of the New York Navy Yard in 1907-1909. Rear Admiral Goodrich retired in January 1909.

RADM Goodrich was a prolific writer on professional topics and also helped establish the Naval War College and the U.S. Naval Institute, of which he was President in 1904-1909. Rear Admiral Caspar F. Goodrich died at Princeton, New Jersey, on 26 December 1925.

Commander Evans went on to write "One Man's Fight For A Better Navy", ((New York: Dodd, Mead, 1940)).