Hugh Clausen (1888-1972)
1972 Obituary [1]
Hugh Clausen, OBE, ISO (Fellow) of London died on Jan 19. Born in 1888, he studied engineering at the Regent Street Polytechnic and the City and Guilds Engineering College. After an engineering apprenticeship and some design experience at Siemens Brothers, he joined the RNVFi in 1914 and spent the Great War in the Grand Fleet being awarded the OBE in 1918 for improvements in the gunnery fire control gear in ships. In 1920 he joined a newly formed section of the Admiralty dealing with low power electrical systems in ships. He was in general charge of the design of all Naval gunnery surface fire control gear until the Second World War and was responsible for the invention and development of many improvements. The Floating Rolling Platform for testing guided missiles at Aberporth in which he was actively engaged, was named after him as a tribute to his 40 years' work for the Royal Navy.
Hugh Clausen went into retirement in later years acting as an Engineering Design Consultant, and was a frequent contributor to the Technical Press, and in particular the CME. He performed great services to both professional and technician engineers in stressing the importance of design and in showing how these problems can be tackled.