Urban Jacob Rasmus Børresen

Urban Jacob Rasmus Børresen (June 2, 1857 – January 18, 1943) was a Norwegian rear admiral and industry leader.

Børresen was born in Drammen to the shipowner Otto Mejlænder Børresen (1828–1880) and Martha Christine Lyng (1825–1890). He attended the military college from 1882 to 1883 and the technical college in Charlottenburg. In 1884 he married Louise Levick (1859–1921) in Philadelphia.

Børresen was made commander of the gunboat Vale in 1894. From 1894 to 1896 he was manager of the nautical school in Kristiania, from 1896 to 1898 a duty officer for the naval command general staff, and in 1897 commander of the torpedo boat destroyer Valkyrjen and the torpedo boat division. In 1898 he became commander of the gunboat Sleipner, and from 1898 to 1900 he was a department head with the naval command general staff. He became a rear admiral with the naval general staff in 1899 and in 1905 a member of the admiralty staff, where he served until 1910. He was a temporary commanding admiral in 1900 and 1901, and became commander of the Skagerrak squadron in 1905.

In addition to his naval career, from 1890 to 1895 Børresen edited the Norsk Tidsskrift for Sjøvesenet (Norwegian Journal of Nautical Affairs). His publications included Tordenskjold (1901),Den russisk-japanske krig (The Russo-Japanese War; three vols., 1904–1905),Fra dekksgutt til officer (From Deckhand to Officer; 1929), En verdensdame i orienten (A Woman of the World in the Orient; 1931), and the memoirs I storm og solgangsvær (In Storm and Diurnal Wind; 1936). In addition to these titles, he published a number of other books on various topics.

Børresen became known internationally for a number of inventions, including an orograph (a sighting instrument for coastal artillery), a torpedo virator (a guidance system for torpedoes), and work on a tactical system for armored ships. His tactical system was studied by navies in the UK, France, and Germany, and under Børresen's supervision was tested for use in the Swedish navy during patrol exercises in the Baltic Sea in 1903. Børresen claimed that Japanese Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō used his tactical system when he defeated the Russian Navy in the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

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