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BEN MOREELL
1892-1978
BY RICHARD H. TATLOW III
BEN MOREELL Admiral of the Navy and Chairman of the Board,
President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of [ones &
Laughlin Steel Corporation, died in Pittsburgh at the age of
eighty-five, on July 30, 1978, after a brief illness.
"The Chief," as he was respectfully and fondly known, retired in
1958, but he remained a Director until 1964 and through retire-
ment was active in political and professional affairs.
Admiral Moreell was a distinguished engineering leader and
organizer, master of innovative design and construction, creator of
the SeaBees, proven industrialist, and a great citizen.
Born on September 14, 1892, in Salt Lake City, Admiral Moreell
received in 1913 his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering
and in 1943 his first honorary degree, Doctor of Engineering, from
the Washington University in St. Louis. He was later awarded nine
other honorary degrees four in engineering, three in science, and
two in law.
Admiral Moreell had an excellent theoretical foundation as a
civil engineer and subsequently acquired great practical knowledge
and experience as a constructor and an administrator of engineer-
ing and construction projects. While a lieutenant commander, he
was responsible for writing what turned out to be the U.S. Navy's
excellent concrete manual. He was most conscious of the quality of
design and detail, was progressive and innovative, and, as Chief of
the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks and as Head of its Civil
Engineering Corps, he gave the fullest support to those who came
219
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up with new ideas. He took pride in elegant engineering solutions
executed under his command, sometimes overruling the more
conventional and conservative engineers on his staff'. It was excit-
ing to work for him. Admiral Moreell was a man who got things
done and done well.
The SeaBees, organized by Moreell, grew from an initial au-
thorization of 3,300 officers and men on December 28, 1941, to an
organization of more than 10,000 officers and 240,000 men. More
than three-fourths of these were active on overseas duty at the end
of World War II. These were construction men who were trained
in combat. They replaced the pre-Pearl Harbor civilian construc-
tion workers formerly employed by the Navy. The fate of the
latter at Wake, Guam, and
Cavite strengthened Admiral
Moreell's conviction that the Navy needed men who could both
build and fight. By the war's end, Admiral Moreell had directed a
$10 billion construction program in building up the shore estab-
lishment needed to support the fleet. During the war the SeaBees
and civilian construction forces worked at more than 900 naval
bases and stations, including 300 new advance bases, some ol'which
were as large as Peoria, Illinois, or Columbia, South Carolina.
The total worth of these bases was I'il'teen times the value of' all
naval shore establishments existing before the war. Moreell was the
American engineer who probably made the greatest number of'
engineering contributions toward winning World War II.
In October 1945, President Truman placed Admiral Moreell in
charge of the major portion of' the nation's petroleum industry,
which had been seized by the Government as the result of' a
nationwide strike.
In May 1946, the strike-bound nation's bituminous coal industry
was seized by the Government, and President Truman designated
Admiral Moreell to be Coal Mines Administrator.
Admiral Moreell became Chairman and Chiel' Executive Ol'licer
of the`lones & Laughlin Steel Corporation in early 1947. During
the ensuing years, until he retired, Jones & Laughlin embarked on
a prodigious expansion program conceived and directed by Ben
Moreell, during which time it established clear leadership among
the largest steel companies in this country as the first such company
to pioneer basic oxygen steelmaking on a large scale. This decision
220
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on the part of Ben Moreell called for a combination of engineering
judgment, business intuition, and industrial fortitude. In any
group of engineers turned senior executive of a large American
corporation, Ben Moreell's career would stand out for his technical
and administrative leadership. At the same time, anyone who
knows him would identify him as a great natural leader of men.
Under his leadership, the Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation
launched a $500 million expansion program that added impetus to
plans for the redevelopment of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When
the decision was made to build a new $70 million open hearth shop
in a blighted area on Pittsburgh's South Side, Ben Moreell saw to it
that the company, working with the union and with the city
government, found homes for the 296 families that had to be
moved from the area.
In addition to his official duties, he established himself as one of
the nation's authorities on concrete and reinforced concrete. In
1929, he wrote "Standard of Design for Concrete," which received
much favorable notice from the engineering world. He also has
published other papers on the design and construction of concrete
structures and on cements.
Admiral Moreell served as Chairman of the Task Force on Water
Resources and Power of the Second Hoover Commission, directing
a twenty-six-man committee from November 1953 through June
1955. Former President Herbert Hoover called the work of this
Task Force "the most far-reaching and penetrating inquiry into
our water problems ever made in our history."
Admiral Moreell served as Member of the Board of Visitors, U.S.
Naval Academy, in 1953-55 (Chairman in 1955~. He also was a
Member of the Board of Trustees of the Thomas Alva Edison
Foundation.
The doors of Presidents of the United Statcs were open to
Admiral Moreell, and men such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry
Truman, and Herbert Hoover looked to him for advice.
Admiral Ben Moreell was elected to membership in the National
Academy of Engineering in March of 1976. Memberships and
honors are too numerous to record in this memorial; he belonged
to all engineers and was a frequent writer and speaker in support
of his views on individualism and constitutional government
221
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