John Lenthall was an American naval architect and shipbuilder. He was a chief of the Bureau of Construction and Repair from 1853 to 1871.
Background
John Lenthall was a native of the District of Columbia. His father, also John Lenthall, was an Englishman who while acting as Latrobe's superintendent in the building of the Capitol was killed on September 19, 1808, by the fall of a vaulting in the north wing. His mother, Jane Lenthall, survived till 1852.
Education
The son is said to have learned shipbuilding from his father and from Samuel Humphreys. He received training in Europe, visiting shipyards in the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, and the Russian Empire. During his studies he prepared drafts of 300 different ships in European navies.
Career
Lenthall entered the naval service on May 1, 1835, was appointed chief naval constructor in 1849, and chief of the bureau of construction in 1853, the first professional naval architect to occupy that post if the few months' occupancy by Samuel Hartt is excepted. Before entering this position he had served at the Portsmouth and Philadelphia navy yards. While at these places and in Washington from 1849 on, he was chiefly responsible for the design of the class of wooden, steam frigates represented by the Merrimac and including such ships as the Wabash, Niagara, Roanoke, Colorado, and Minnesota. They were recognized as the best ships of their kind before iron vessels appeared.
During the Civil War Lenthall remained as chief of the bureau of construction. As a master of wooden shipbuilding, Lenthall was naturally a conservative regarding ironclads and the new monitors. Accordingly he seems to have let others, especially Fox and Stimers, go ahead with the building of light-draft monitors and iron gunboats without taking much interest in them, with the result that many of the ships built turned out to be deficient in some respects. Lenthall continued as head of his bureau till January 1871, although he had reached retiring age earlier.
He continued to make his home in Washington and as late as 1881 was a member of an advisory board on new construction. Thus he had a hand in the building of the new navy that began at that time. He died suddenly in the Baltimore & Ohio railroad station in Washington as he was boarding a train for New York. A General Order from the secretary of the navy, W. H. Hunt, announced his death and commended his life and services. He was buried in Rock Creek Parish Cemetery, Washington, where his father, mother, and sister also lie.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
"He has not much pliability or affability, but, though attacked and denounced as corrupt and dishonest, I have never detected any obliquity or wrong in him. His sternness and uprightness disappointed the jobbers and the corrupt, and his unaffected manner has offended others. "- Gideon Welles.