Edward L. Cochrane

Vice Admiral Edward Lull "Ned" Cochrane (March 18, 1892 – November 14, 1959) was a United States Navy officer and naval architect who served as Chief of the Bureau of Ships during World War II. In this capacity, he was directly responsible for the Navy's massive shipbuilding and maintenance program from November 1942 until November 1946.

Naval career

The son of retired Marine Brigadier General Henry Clay Cochrane (1842–1913), Edward Lull Cochrane was born at Mare Island, California in 1892. His family eventually settled in Chester, Pennsylvania. From 1909 to 1910, Cochrane attended the University of Pennsylvania.

During World War I, he served at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and transferred to the Navy's Construction Corps. He graduated in 1920 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with a Master of Science degree in Naval Architecture.

Between the World Wars, Cochrane served in various positions related to shipbuilding, including in the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair, predecessor to the Bureau of Ships. He attended the Naval War College in 1939 and was promoted to captain on July 1, 1940. Cochrane then served as assistant naval attaché at the U.S. Embassy in London. From January 1941 until assuming command of the bureau, Cochrane served as the Assistant Head of the Design Division. From 1946 to 1947, Cochrane served as Chief of the Material Division, Department of the Navy. and from 1952 to 1954 as head of the School of Engineering.

From 1950 to 1952, Cochrane interrupted his academic career to serve as chairman of the Federal Maritime Board and head of the Maritime Administration for President Harry S. Truman. After attending a meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers in New York City, he suffered a heart attack during his train ride back to Boston and was taken to Grace–New Haven Hospital for treatment. Cochrane was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Many of Vice Admiral Cochrane's papers are held at the Naval Historical Center at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. The papers include documents pertaining to the reorganization of the Bureau of Ships during World War II as well as transcripts of official speeches given by Admiral Cochrane during his term as head of that Bureau. Additionally, there are many personal papers and photographs relating to the Admiral's close association with civilian Naval Architecture and engineering organizations.

A small amount of related papers, focusing on his student years at MIT, are also available at the MIT Institute Archives and Special Collections.

Awards and honors Cochrane received many awards and honors for his contributions to naval architecture, including the David W. Taylor Medal, and in 1953 received honorary membership in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Cochrane was also awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, and was an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

The , a Charles F. Adams-class guided missile armed destroyer, was named in his honor.

Admiral Cochrane Drive in Annapolis was named in his honor. His two sons, Richard Lull Cochrane (March 7, 1917 – January 9, 1997) and Edward Lull Cochrane Jr. (July 17, 1922 – December 19, 2024), were also Naval Academy graduates who retired as Navy captains.