Benjamin Williams Crowninshield
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Benjamin Williams Crowninshield (December 27, 1772–February 3, 1851) served as the fifth United States Secretary of the Navy between 1815 and 1818, during the administrations of Presidents James Madison and James Monroe.
Crowninshield was born in Salem, Massachusetts the son of a sea captain and merchant of the Boston Brahmin Crowninshield family. He worked in the family shipping business, served at sea, and was also active in politics. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1811 and the state Senate in 1812.
Crowninshield became Secretary of the Navy in January 1815, at the end of the War of 1812, and managed the transition to a peacetime force. This included implementation of the new Board of Commissioners administrative system and the building of several ships of the line, the backbone of a much enhanced Navy. He also oversaw strategy and naval policy for the war with Algiers in 1815.
After leaving Navy office, Crowninshield returned to business and political affairs in Massachusetts, prospering in both. In addition to serving two more terms in the Massachusetts House, he was also elected to four terms the United States Congress during the 1820s.
On his passing in 1851, Benjamin Williams Crowninshield was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
USS Crowninshield (DD-134) was named in his honor.
Sources
- Template:PD-NHC
- This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
| Preceded by: William Jones | United States Secretary of the Navy 1815-1818 | Succeeded by: Smith Thompson |