U.S. Naval Research Labs Director, Harold Bowen

In The Hesperus Prophecy, U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Harold Bowen is also Commander of the Clypeate. When he relinquishes the title to focus on his new position as Director of the U.S. Naval Research Labs, Harold Bowen remains an invaluable Clypeate member. He orchestrates the SS Valencia’s mission to Antarctica while keeping tabs on the U.S. military’s response, working to fulfill the last Hesperus prophecy, finding the chosen Declan.

As the new Director of the U.S. Naval Research Labs, he has access to classified materials, a productive intelligence team, and technological resources. Threading the line between patriot and traitor, he ensures the U.S. government remains unaware of the Clypeate’s technology, tools, and strategy for protecting democracy and freedom.

By training Director Bowen was a mechanical engineer, serving as Chief of the Bureau of Engineering from 1935 to 1939. Harold Bowen was promoted to Director of the U.S. Naval Research Labs in 1939, and while the Naval Research Labs did not directly work on the Manhattan Project, their work on the thermal separation of uranium isotopes was used while building the atomic bomb.

Perhaps that’s why Leslie Groves, Jr., the Manhattan Project’s leader, visits Harold Bowen, or maybe it’s just to give James Fischer a useful bit of information on how to get out of Lincoln’s Tunnel.