Philip Watts (naval architect)

Sir Philip Watts, KCB FRS (30 May 1846 – 15 March 1926) was a British naval architect, famous for his design of the revolutionary Elswick cruiser and the HMS Dreadnought.

Early life
Philip Watts was born in Deptford, Kent and educated at the Dockyard School in Portsmouth and the Royal School of Naval Architecture in South Kensington, London.

Career
Watts became a constructor to the Admiralty from 1870 to 1885. From 1885 to 1901 he was director of the War Shipping department of Armstrong, Whitworth & Co. at Elswick (subsequently returning as a director of the company in 1912); but in 1902 he was appointed Director of Naval Construction at the Admiralty. This post he held until 1912, when he was succeeded by Sir Eustace Tennyson d'Eyncourt and became Adviser to the Admiralty on Naval Construction. In this capacity he played an important part when the World War I came.

Being the designer of the first dreadnought battleship, it was now up to him to see the use that was made of the fleet which he had brought into being in previous years. He was a member of the royal commission on the Supply and Storage of Liquid Fuel (1912).

In June 1900 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and was Vice-president in 1915-1916. He was created KCB in 1905.

Ships designed

 * HMS Dreadnought (1906)
 * s
 * Lord Nelson-class battleships
 * Chilean cruiser Esmerelda
 * Chilean cruiser Esmerelda

Later life
Watts died in 1926 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery.