1423 Powhatan St., Suite 1
Alexandria, Virginia 22314
Phone (703) 836-6727
Fax (703) 836-7491
Email: asnehq@navalengineers.org

 

ASNE is the leading professional engineering society for engineers, scientists and allied professionals who conceive, design, develop, test, construct, outfit, operate and maintain complex naval and maritime ships, submarines and aircraft and their associated systems and subsystems.  ASNE also serves the educators who train the professionals, researchers who develop related technology, and students who are preparing for the profession.  Society activities provide support for the U.S. Navy; U.S. Coast Guard; U.S. Marine Corps; U.S. Merchant Marine and U.S. Army.

ASNE is the seventh oldest technical society in the United States.  It was founded in 1888 by a group of naval engineering pioneers, most of them officers of the U.S. Navy's Engineering Corps, who sought a unified approach to their profession in order to make the most of new advances in technology. The purposes of ASNE are:           

  • to advance the knowledge and practice of naval engineering in public and private applications and operations,
  • to enhance the professionalism and well-being of members, and
  • to promote naval engineering as a career field.

For 125 years, the Society’s objectives have been strengthened and preserved to meet the changing needs of a time-honored profession. Today ASNE conducts a variety of technical meetings and symposia, publishes the highly regarded Naval Engineers Journal and a number of other technical proceedings and publications, and fosters professional development and technical information exchange through technical committees, local section activities and cooperative efforts with government organizations and other professional societies.

The Society's annual meeting, ASNE Day, is typically held in February of each year in the Washington, DC, area. The meeting features major addresses by high level industry and government leaders and panel discussions by leading members of the profession.  It also includes presentation and discussion of technical papers on a variety of timely naval engineering topics, presentation of the Society's prestigious annual awards and a large exposition with government and industry exhibits covering the full spectrum of naval engineering technology. ASNE Day is highlighted by the Society’s annual Honors Gala, attended by hundreds of executives and senior managers from both government and industry.

Our website is designed to not only serve our members, but also to support scholars, students and others interested in the varied field of naval engineering.  We welcome your suggestions on ways we can improve your experience. 

CAPT Millard S. Firebaugh, USN

Award: Gold Medal Award
Year: 1986
Recipient:
CAPT Millard S. Firebaugh, USN
Reason:
For his significant contribution to naval engineering as set forth in the following:

For outstanding technical achievement and leadership as the Program Manager for the SSN-21 Acquisition Project.

Captain Millard S. Firebaugh has been the SEAWOLF Class Nuclear Attack Submarine Acquisition Program Manager from that ship’s original conceptualization on through its preliminary and contract design phases, and most recently, into its detailed design phase.

As the first and only SSN-21 Program Manager, Captain Firebaugh has directed the Navy’s fiscally constrained resources toward the design of a submarine with an unprecedented increase in technological and warfighting capability. In doing so, he successfully applied several new concepts to the Navy’s shipbuilding process. These included the use of interactive graphics and other computer-aided design tools. These innovations enabled the design team to make trade-off studies and assess alternatives at an unparalleled rate, resulting in a significantly higher design performance than originally envisioned and the establishment of an approved top level requirements document prior to the contract design phase.

As a result of Captain Firebaugh’s innovative contracted design support strategy, at the completion of the contract design phase, the Navy had two completely independent designs from which to choose, as well as a number of alternative system configurations.

Captain Firebaugh’s total system management approach insured that throughout the design process, every technical decision had been weighed against its producuibility, affordability, and configuration impacts. Construction techniques and producibility have been full integrated at a detailed level. This effort has allowed the specification of modular construction, R&D integration,, and configuration control, resulting in a design which is traceable, easily upgradeable, and affordable. His inspirational leadership and keen insight have made possible the design of the fastest, deepest diving, quietest and most heavily armed SSN this country has ever put to sea – a cornerstone of our national defense.

Captain Firebaugh’s personal dedication, leadership and technical expertise have resulted in great benefit to the naval engineering community, as well as to the Navy and the Nation, thereby making him most worthy to receive the Gold Medal Award for 1986.