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James Dodgen 1921–2010
Jim Dodgen, born in Anniston, Alabama, graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1943, whereupon he entered the U.S. Navy. Lieutenant Dodgen was assigned to the Air Force, Pacific Fleet, managing ordnance from 1943 until March 1945 in the Marshall Islands. Jim married Charlene Ward in 1945 and they have two sons, James Jr. and Charles. From 1945 until 1946, he had assignments pertaining to bomb- and torpedo-handling equipment for the Bureau of Ordnance, and then distributing aviation armaments with the Bureau of Aeronautics. From 1946 to 1951, Jim worked as a senior engineer for Pennsalt, where he designed chemical plants, while staying in the military as a reservist. In 1951, he was called back to military service. From 1955 to 1958, Jim was head of the propellants, explosives, chemicals, and pyrotechnic section of the Bureau of Ordnance. He then worked at the Naval Propellant plant at Indian Head in Maryland, serving as director from 1959 to 1962. During this time he worked on propellant units for multiple systems including Talos, Sidewinder, Sparrow, and Hawk. In 1962 he served as the representative of the Bureau of Naval Weapons at Hercules in Utah, where he was responsible for engineering and inspection of the second stage of Polaris. In 1965 he was transferred to the Naval Torpedo Station in Washington, working on Mark torpedoes. He retired from the Navy with the rank of Commander in 1968 and worked briefly at Lockheed, Olin, Aerojet Solid Propulsion Co., and Cordova Chemical Co. Charlene died in 1969. He remarried Virginia Britten in 1972 and became a wonderful father to her three daughters. In 1974, Jim started Dodgen Engineering Company, a one-man operation. He then consulted with many companies involved in the manufacture of propellants, explosives, and chemicals up until his death in 2010. ix In Chemistry, Process Design, and Safety for the Nitration Industry; Guggenheim, T.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2013.
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In 2003, the editor, working at General Electric at the time, got to work with Jim when we started up a large-scale mixed acid nitration plant. Jim was one of several consultants hired to oversee the engineering and safety aspects of the process. He possessed the essential elements required when designing and operating a plant that handles energetic material — namely, deep practical experience and technical training. The plant started up and ran without incident; and his insight and ability to teach others lent confidence to those who ran the operation. When a condenser failed in another nitration plant (one can read about this in one of the chapters of this book), Jim was consulted. He had data in his files on trinitromethane (the suspected culprit in the failure) that was not in the public domain. This data proved very useful, resulting in the safe redesign of the failed unit. Commander James Dodgen was a model technologist and wonderful coworker.
x In Chemistry, Process Design, and Safety for the Nitration Industry; Guggenheim, T.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2013.
