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Lewis Nixon (born April 7, 1861 in Leesburg, Virginia, United States died September 23, 1940) was a shipbuilding executive, naval architect, and political activist.

Nixon graduated first in his class from the US Naval Academy in 1882 and was sent to study naval architecture at the Royal Naval College where, again, he graduated first in the class in 1885. During his time at the Royal Naval College he was appointed an assistant naval constructor with the rank of lieutenant. On his return he was assigned to the John Roach & Sons shipyard in Chester, Pennsylvania. which the US Navy had commandeered in order to finish three protected ships of the new steel navy: USS Atlanta (1884), USS Boston (1884) and USS Chicago (1885). In 1890 with help from assistant naval constructor David W. Taylor he designed the Indiana class battleships which included USS Indiana (BB-1), USS Massachusetts (BB-2) and USS Oregon (BB-3). Soon after the contracts for the battleships were awarded he resigned from the Navy to go to work for the shipyard that won the lead contract, William Cramp and Sons Shipbuilding Company, as Superintendent of Construction. He started his own business in 1895 by leasing the Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, New Jersey. Under Nixon this yard built many vessels including USS Florida (BM-9) and USS Annapolis (PG-10) which were Navy designs.

Nixon's expertise was called on in the aftermath of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.^[1] Nixon's yard, The Crescent Shipyard was where America's first submarines were built beginning in December of 1896. The famous USS Holland (SS-1) was one of the creations of that shipyard and is a very significant achievement in naval technology. These submarines also gave birth to a new company that was founded by John Philip Holland on 7 February 1899. His company was [then] known as The Holland Torpedo Boat Company and became The Electric Boat Company. [1].

In 1937 Nixon was president of the Nixon Nitration Works.

He was also active in Democratic Party politics. He was leader of Tammany Hall in 1901-1902, and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention seven times.

Nixon married Sally Lewis Wood of Washington in 1891. She died 15 Jun 1937 ^[2] Their son was Stanhope Wood Nixon. Mrs. Nixon, originally a resident of Washington, was a descendant of General Andrew Lewis of Colonial Virginia.

Nixon was the grandfather of Lewis Nixon (1918 - 1995), an officer in the 101st Airborne Division during WWII, who was made famous by the miniseries Band of Brothers.

This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

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