BEHIND THE FLEET

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 90, 9 January 1918, Page 7

BEHIND THE FLEET

WHERE FIGHTING SHIPS ARE BORN

VISIT TO THE CLYDE

(Sydney "Sun" Special Correspondent.) The Clyde. Travelling down to the Clyde-, in the company ot a naval guide kindly furnished by the ,Admiralty, 1 havo had a unique opportunity of seeing tho press of work behind the tlect, and bcJiind all -those other thousands of smaller vessels that patrol tho seas, transport armies and supplies. The difficulty is that so many are the secrets here that one cannot record facts, but only impressions. . No slip is empty, no slip is occupied longer than necessary. Keels are being prepared and plates forged for ships far abead in tlie scheme of construction. Tho Clyde took up the submarine's challengo as soou as uttered, and here on its countless slips is proof of its fighting capacity. I can only hint at what wo are building. Naval ships, of course, of every kind, some different from anything atloat, others improvements on the last of their type. Looking at them, you would say that the Hying submarine will como some day, and tho Clyde will be tho first into the. ocean with it. And a mass of merchantmen —standardised and other types, all faster than pre-war types, and better fitted for war conditions. One sees bore some fast beauties that would look well in Australian ports, with a stomach full of Australian wheat and moat. We shall see some of them, after tho war. Busy Workers. Difficulties nro merely those of physical capacities. A limit is reached in men's and women's endurance, and in supply of material. Within that limit shipbuilding has been organised at a rate which if tho war goes long enougii will some day outdo any efforts that the submarines can make. It is true that this great ocean-goer on this slip here, tucked away between seven other new ships on seven other slips, may be sunk on its first voyage, with its holds full and its engine-bearings still showing their initial coating of oil. tie Clyde is truly a place-of tragedy-tho work of six months disappears in six minutes. But on the law ot averages the Clyde beats the submarine. From a launch on the , river workers fashioning and riveting the hard steel are mere dehumanised instruments of the nation But ins.de the yards they are m full truth human -stocky, strong-thinking, Prf d >. s „'; ed male mechanics, and pretty thougn smudgy unskilled women workers m overall trousers and blouses, all wit the sweat and grease of labour on them, but all eager and satisfied. So far there is no shortage of materials. Much in future depends on our success in maintaining ore tra&c and metal supplies, for most of these come a long way by sea through submarine zones. We have reserves, and sound systems, and should get through. As for labour, there is-never enough of it. More workers would mean a larger output. The Clyde could use alhthe skilled workers it can get, and many thousands of unskilled also. There is no 'serfage -of women volunteers here, for the women like work, they liko to earn their thirty shillings or two pounds weekly, and they like to help in war; The question of male labour is the ceaseless question of conflict between-Army-needs and internal needs. ~ , Most of the men are -working ten or eleven hours a day, with occasional holidays and with Sundays oft, except for riveters. Are. the-.hours too long.'' All concerned regard them from the point of view of efficiency, and ask rather, Would we get a : greater output by shorter hours? Certainly tho labourers look jaded, as though the taskwere indeed heavy. But the steel must be fashioned and tho rivets driven home. ■ . . Of the industrial unrest which has become a nightmare to many, in London, I could see no sign here. Men and women aro earning more, than enough for life arid comfort, though increased costs are eating up their increased wages. They havo willingly abandoned many of their cherished privileges. For many months they have been content to be tied by law. to their set tasks, unable to go elsewhere even to better-paid positions. They do not talk or think revolution, but read the war news, and hope for victory, and for the safety and triumph of' their families and friends in the battlefields. These workers will go more than half-way to meet their industrial masters to win tho war. Stories of high earnings are mostly fabulous. Most aro on piecework. Riveters earn from £5 to £10 weekly, but many skilled workers, with the war bonus of 10s. or 155., do not excocd £3 a week.

I found little appreciation amongst employers of Australia's efforts to provide labour. Considering the smallnoss of anything Australia can do, and the cost and difficulties of transport, it seems that'the'present system of sending labour here Las largely failed.' tf it is to be continued, there should be insistence upon the definite provision of work for all the men so that they may become husy in useful jobs as soon as -they arrive.

Submersible Anti-submarines. A word may be said about the fight with explosives against tlio Huns at sea. The tight with dockyards, as expressed Here m the building of many ships to replace those sunk, has its excitements, its failures, and its successes. .The fight with explosives ■is even more tense and arduous.

1 do not think that anyone in authority amongst the Allies will claim that we are sinking more submarines than Germany is building. The figures would probably show that for the time being the German dockyards are turning out more submarines than we can sink, and-that the U-boat licet gradually increases. Yet the submarine is already losing its power. The worst days of the sinking of merchantmen seem to have passed. Why ? Because we hurry and torment tiio Huns, keoping thorn under water, defeating their torpedoes, cliasino- always on their tracks, making their existence- a perfect misery. British submariners would tako more sporting risks than the Germans do, and would probably hold up the world s tnllic But the German commander is a 'cautious, nervous chap, and he hates what a young British submariner, fresh from the vigorous school ot the Grand Fleet, would call a "sporting chance. In this tormenting of submarines w.i 11S e many strange ships. Strangest ot all are our own submarines, now formj„„ nearly as imposing a fleet of subJncrsibles as the great TJ-boat fleet of Germany.