GM changed the name in 1938 to the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division of General Motors Corporation.

Winton Engine Corporation embarked on a sustained research and development effort in partnership with the General Motors Research Division to develop diesel engines with improved power-to-weight ratios and output flexibility.

[1] That effort produced the first practical two-stroke diesel engines in the 400 to 1,200 hp (300 to 900 kW) range.

They powered early Electro-Motive Corporation (another GM subsidiary) diesel locomotives and U.S. Navy submarines.

Locomotive engines were moved to the authority of GM's Electro-Motive Division in a January 1941 reorganization.

Further changes and increases in cylinder displacements resulted in the Model 278, and 278A during World War II.

[4] Cleveland diesel engines were used widely by the U.S. Navy in World War II, powering submarines, destroyer escorts, and numerous auxiliaries.

[2] The plant was expanded in 1941, producing an estimated 70% of the diesel engines used in U.S. Navy's submarines during World War II.

The development and production of nuclear powered submarines in the U.S. Navy during the 1950s reduced the need for Cleveland Diesels and in 1962 General Motors closed the Cleveland plants, moving their remaining production to the Electro-Motive Division facility in LaGrange, Illinois.

In early World War Two it was redesigned again for increased cylinder displacement and horsepower resulting in the Model 278A with steel pistons.

Cleveland diesel installations since early World War II were Model 16-278A engines.

Both models were connected to electric generators which charged the main batteries and/or powered the main propulsion motors which drove the ship’s propellers via reduction gears (Elliott Company, General Electric, or Allis-Chalmers) The Cleveland Diesel Model 268 inline diesel was used as an auxiliary engine in many fleet submarines and as emergency backup generators on larger warships.