Bureau of Ordnance

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The Bureau of Ordnance (BuOrd) was the U.S. Navy's organization responsible for the procurement, storage, and deployment of all naval ordnance, between the years 1862 and 1959.

1 History
2 Chiefs of the Bureau of Ordnance
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Congress established the Bureau in the Department of the Navy by an act of July 5, 1862 (12 Stat. 510), which transferred the hydrographic functions of the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography (1842-1862) to the newly-established Bureau of Navigation.

During the early 20th century, BuOrd became involved in the development of aerial weapons. This often led to friction with the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer), which had responsibility for the development of Naval aircraft. BuAer's work on "pilotless aircraft," or drones, conflicted with BuOrd's development of guided missiles. After World War II, the Navy examined ways to improve coordination between the two bureaus; ultimately, the decision was made to merge the two organizations into a new bureau, to be known as the Bureau of Naval Weapons (BuWeps).

BuOrd was disestablished by Congress by an act of August 18, 1959 (73 Stat. 395), and its functions were transferred to the newly-established Bureau of Naval Weapons. BuWeps, in turn, was disestablished in 1966 when the Navy overhauled its material organization, and was replaced with the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).

[edit] Chiefs of the Bureau of Ordnance

The following is an incomplete list of the officers who served as Chief of the Bureau:

Augustus Case, 1869–1873
William Nicholson Jeffers, 1873–1881
Montgomery Sicard, 1881–1890
William T. Sampson, 1893–1897
George A. Converse, circa 1905
Harold Rainsford Stark, 1934-1937
William H. P. Blandy, 1941–1943
Paul D. Stroop, 1958-1959

Recently, by order of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen, Capt. Gerard O’Regan, commanding officer of Naval Weapons Station Yorktown and Atlantic Ordnance Command, established the Navy Munitions Command at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, June 8, 2007.

The new Navy Munitions Command is designed to align all ashore ordnance support operations in the United States and Asia into one worldwide unit and consolidate 2,100 personnel under three divisions: CONUS (Continental United States) East Division, CONUS West Division and East Asia Division.

Specifically, Navy Munitions Command will standardize policies related to ashore ordnance support, consolidate resource requirements and serve as the advocate for ordnance funding requirements.

“When a Sailor or a ship needs their ordnance, they don’t care where it comes from, what command it comes from, what station it comes through. What they want is the right ordnance at the right time in the right place," said O’Regan. "This construct will better enable us to do that."