SHIPBUILDING IN AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 262, 24 July 1918, Page 5

SHIPBUILDING IN AMERICA

ON THE PACIFIC COAST

STRIKING ACHIEVEMENTS

A cheering story—all too scarce these days—is rein ted iu a recent American publication by Colin V. Dytncnt, in which the writer deals with the output of shipbuilding from the yards located on the Pacific Coast of the United Stfttes. Washington, Oregon, and California, between April 1, 1917, and May 1, 1318, hunched 202 steel ships, of which 100 woro launohed in tho first four months of 1918. The total deadweight .tonnage of the 202 wns 1,332,396; of tho 100 it w as 046,316. The average tonnage was thus GS9G. The total number of workmen employed in the industry on the Pacific Coast was then 92,000; 59,000 of them were building steel ships, and 17,0119 wooden ships; 8000 were building new yards'for etccl ships, and the remaining 8000 new yards for wooden ships. When the new yards are completed the shipbuilding army of the Pacific will number moro than 100,000.

One of the most progressive firms on the Const, and' one. that was the first to set the example in speeding up to meet the .programme of the Fleet Corporation, is tjiat of the Skinner mid Eddy Com- ■ paiiy, of Seattle. This firm originally established a record by launching the Seattle (a freighter built td> the Government's standard type of steel vessel: SSOO tons deadweight, 410 ft. length, Mft. Iwiim, and 29ft. _ depth) in 74 'days after I tho keel was laid. The Seattlo was deJ li.vered to the Emergency Fleet CornoraI (ioii'in 137 days from laying of keel. This ■ record was promptly beaten by the- Co- | lumbiii Shipbuilding Company, of Van- * coiivcr, Wash., which delivered the 8800I ton steel freighter Canoga 113 days after i the laying of the keel.. The Skinner ami i Eddy Company then replied with a similar .vessel, the Ossineko, tho keel of which was laid on December 2G last; launching took place .on March 14, ■ and on April U tho big freighter was ■ delivered—Bl days ahead of eonlract. Time from laying of keel jto delivery, 109 days. The Columbia Company' renewed .the offensive, completing the Westgrove (another standard SSM-ton freighter) in 83 days. The inevitable counter-attack was instituted by the Skinner and Eddy firm. The 8800ton, freighter AVcst.Lianga left the ways 55 days after hying of keel; 6lie was completed in 67 working days, and five dnys later embarked on her first voyage. Tile West Lianga was on tho sea, with a full cargo, exactly twelve weeks after work was begun. Skinner.and Eddy's latest record at time of writing the article was a 8800-ton freighter in 55 days. Excellent as theso performances were, howevor, something like a bomVahell fell ■amongst Pacific coast shipbuilders whoa it was announced by Mr. Hurley, chairman of the Shipping, Board, that tho Nc-w- York Shipbuilding Company, of Cnniden, N.J. . had. on* the morniiis of May 'G, launched tho hull of the 5518ton steel collier Tuckahoe, 27 days after work had commenced. . Delivery was mado ten days later, which made the total time for completion only 37 days! Ihis is claimed to bo easily a world's record. It is, in : fairness, 'pointed out that there is a considerable difference in the time required to complete a 8800-ton freighter and that required for a 5548lon collier, but even so the record of 55 days of the Pacific firm for an 8800-ton 6hip, will havo to lie improved on to equal the performance put- up by tho Jiew Fork Shipbuilding Company. These achievements are all the. more striking when it is remembered that in 1916, when the United States Shipping Board was created, there was not a single shipyard in the United States in which a Government order could , be placed. Tho .thirty-seven steel yards that did exist were employed to their fullest capacity, seven-tenths of which was engaged in naval work. This record of achievement in steel construction applies also to the building of tho more humble, but not to bo despised, wooden ship, for which the Fleet Corporation bad contracted for 5W linn i b 1 of iM tons - andithe remainder, 3500 tons), and about 100 seagoing tugs