Victor Shepheard

Sir Victor George Shepheard KCB (21 March 1893 – 8 December 1989) was a British naval architect. He served as Director of Naval Construction at the Admiralty from 1951 to 1958.

Biography

Shepheard trained in ship building and design at the Dockyard School, Devonport and the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. After graduating in 1915, he joined the Royal Navy as an Engineer Lieutenant and in 1916 was present at the Battle of Jutland.^[1][2]

Returning to the Admiralty as a civilian in 1919, he was involved in ship design, and was Professor of Naval Architecture at Greenwich from 1934 to 1939. From 1942 he served as assistant director of Naval Construction, with promotion to deputy director in 1947 and Director in 1951.^[1]

After retiring as Director of Naval Construction in 1958, he served as a director of a number of companies involved in ship design and building. He was president of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers in 1976. He died on 8 December 1989 aged 96.^[2]

Awards and honours

In 1947, Shepheard was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur^[2] for his wartime work on the Mulberry harbour design.^[1] He was admitted to the Order of the Bath as a Companion in 1950,^[3] and advanced to Knight Commander in 1954.^[4]