Ralph Earle served the United States Navy during the Spanish-American War and World War I. He was the Chief, Bureau of Ordnance (BUORD) and retired as a rear admiral in 1927.
Background
Ralph Earle was born on May 3, 1874 in Worcester, Massachussets, United States. He was the second son and second of five children of Stephen Carpenter and Mary Louisa Eaton (Brown) Earle.
His father, a prominent architect, was descended from Ralph Earle, an Englishman who had settled in Rhode Island by 1639.
Education
Earle entered Worcester Polytechnic Institute in January 1892 but later in the same year received a coveted appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, from which he was graduated in 1896, sixth in a class of thirty-eight.
Career
Earle saw action against the Spaniards at Manzanillo during his five months as navigator of the Hornet.
Earle's career soon assumed the so-called "Gun Club" pattern of regular line duties afloat, alternating with ordnance assignments ashore. His real distinction arose from his appointment, on December 23, 1916, as chief of the Bureau of Ordnance; at forty-two, he was the youngest officer to hold that post, which carried with it the temporary rank of rear admiral.
The entry of the United States into World War I brought novel and pressing problems. The restricted role of the United States Navy in the war meant less emphasis than usual upon big guns, heavy ammunition, torpedoes, and armor, the usual major ordnance priorities. The acute menace of the U-boat activities, on the other hand, meant immediate, urgent need for lighter guns to arm merchantmen and for the new depth charges. Earle took the technically illegal but highly useful step of arranging for gun procurement in advance of appropriation.
As early as June 12, 1917, Earle presented the bureau's tentative plans to the Chief of Naval Operations. These called for the development of a new type of mine and anchor and also for rapid manufacturing and assembly. To lose no time, he arranged in mid-October to proceed with the procurement of 100, 000 mines even before the skeptical British gave their final approval to the project. The first mine field was laid in the North Sea on June 8, 1918.
By the end of October 56 American mines had been laid, out of a total of 85, 000 shipped overseas. Another major ordnance achievement arose from Earle's suggestion to the Chief of Naval Operations on November 12, 1917, that 14-inch naval guns be used in railroad batteries on the Western Front. The guns themselves were easily available, but it was necessary to design and develop heavy railroad equipment for their use. The heaviest mobile artillery on the Western Front, five of these guns were used with effect during the fall of 1918, hurling 1400-pound projectiles as much as twenty-five miles against German objectives.
In 1919 Earle reverted to his permanent rank of captain and received command of the pre-dreadnought Connecticut. His final duty was in command of the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport. He retired in 1925 and became rear admiral on the retired list in 1930. His retirement at the age of fifty-one was to assume the presidency of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in his native city. During Earle's fourteen-year tenure, the student body increased from around 500 to 700, while the endowment rose from $2, 500, 000 to $4, 300, 000. He was particularly interested in expanding the physical plant. Overexertion in launching a new drive for funds was held responsible for his collapse with a brain hemorrhage while addressing the students in chapel.
He died at his home shortly afterwards. Himself an Episcopalian, he was buried in the Friends Burial Ground at nearby Leicester, alongside eight generations of ancestors.
Achievements
Personality
Earle was below normal height; Rear Admiral Reginald R. Belknap, who laid Earle's mines in the North Sea, has written that he was "slender, demeanor on the side of reserve; but he was readily approachable and agreeable and easy in intercourse. He had the mannerism, intended to be ingratiating, of a forced smile at the end, often in the middle of a sentence, especially when talking persuasively.
Connections
On September 29, 1898, he married Janet Turner Schenck, daughter of a navy paymaster. His son, Ralph, also became a rear admiral, while his daughter, Mary Janet, married a regular naval officer, John F. Hines, Jr.