The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-02-28
Sixteen Plants Which the
Navy Department Could
Call Upon.
Five Men=of=War Are Now Under
Construction, but the Work
on Them Has Been
Delayed.

The strained relations with Spain,
which may or may not eliminate in
hTvar, will naturally direct public atten-
} ton to the size and condition of our
navy, and also to the resources We
possess for further expansion and
making good the losses which naval
war will necessitate. Owing to the de-
cline Of our foreign shipping and the
Sslow growth of the coasting trade
fthere has been but a slight incentive
flor organized capital or individuals to
engage in building, and but for
the building of the new navy there
would have been no shipyards nor ma
,rine engine establishments at the pres
ent time at which war vessels of mod
ern design could be built.
. The one hundred and odd millions OF
dollars expended in the construction or
the new navy during the last twelve
years have created two armor plants, a
national naval gun foundry, encour-
aged the establishment Of shipyards,
developed and increased the facilities
of iron and steel plants in the manu-
facture of plates and other material
required in ship-building and kept
manufacturers of prOjectiles and small
ordnance busy.
When bids were invited in December,
1855 for the construction of the cruis-
-prs Newark, Charleston and Baltimore
only three firms responded; namely,
Harlan & HollingSworth, cramps anu
the Union Iron Works. For the gun
boats Yorktown and Petrol two other
bidders: Columbian Iron WORKS at
Baltimore and Reeders, also In Balu-
more. responded These five ship
building firms represented practically
the private resources of the country
for turning out ships-Of-war. Not one
of the navy-yards had the facilities to
b,1ild a cruiser. much less an armored
vessel but now the Brooklyn yaro,
Norfolk and Mare Island yards are
provided with tools and other appH-
ances for ship and engine oulldlns'
and at Brooklyn and Norfolk two pat
tle-ships and two 9200-ton cruisers
have been built.
That the firms which undertook
building the first cruisers and gunboats
made much money out of the transac-
ton is not believed. On the contrary,
they~paid for the experience, and the
Government got good vessels at cost
which would have been doubled in the
navy yards. Meanwhile more SHIPS
were to be contracted for and other
firms came to the front, lured by the
apparently. liberal compensation and
the credit and standing it would give
as builders of warships.
Two wears after the first batch OF
contracts four more firms appeared in
the field, namely, Palmers, successors
to John Roach, Bath Iron Works,
Moore of Elizabethport and Lcring &
Harrison of South Boston. And so with
the business created by the Govern
ment and the consequent competition
of builders the private establishments
have multiplied until there are now six
teen firms to which the Government
can give contracts for vessels with a
reasonable assurance Of non-fatlure.
During this period of twelve years two
firms have gone to the wall unable TO
fulfill their contracts except at losses
which swamped the concerns.
The following list shows the ships
and engine building establishments on
the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Those
marked with q star have facilities for
building armored vessels, cruisers and
torpedo boats; those indicated by a
dagger have facilities for cruisers and
torpedo boats the others are as yet
only on the torpedo-boat list. None of
those who have made bids without hav-
ing the means of carrying out a con-
tract are included in the list.
PRIVATE. sHIPBUILDING ESTABLISH
MENTS.
Name of Firm Location
Newport News Co... Newport News, Va.
'Wm. Cramp & Sons. Philadelphia, Pa
Union Iron Works.. San Francisco. Cal
bath Iron Works. Bath. Ne.
columbian Iron Works Baltimore, Md
worth ............. Wilmington, Del.
tNeaflc & Levi ......... Philadelphia, Pa.
tLewis Nixon. .-....... lElizabethport N j.
IN. F.. Palmer Co... IChester. Pa.
IL H. Dialogue & Sons Camden, N. J.
Chas. Millman CO.. Philadelphia. Pa.
Herreshoff Co... Bristol, r. l.
Fulton Iron Works.. San Francisco. Cal
Moran Bros ............ Seattle, Wash.
Wolff & wicker. Portland, Or.
Seabury Co............. New York, N. Y.
Sparrows Point, Baltimore, has re-
Gently closed down for want of work.
The establishment has turned out good
work, and has excellent facilities for
cruisers and small craft. In case of
necessity this yard would undoubtedly
be re-opened and prove of great value
to the Government.
While the above list indicates a pref
ty fair resource for the supply of war
ships, their ability to turn out work
with the rapidity demanded during war
yet remains to be tested. Only about
one-half of the establishments emu
merated have furnished vessels. The
others still carry untitled contracts At
tractors took work for terms and time
limits which not even the experienced
builders in Great Britain would have
attempted, with the result that the
time limit has always been extended
and, although the contracts stipulated
penalties for delivery on time and
shortage in power and speed, the Gov
eminent very wisely refrained from
collecting the penalties which would
have swamped the builders. AS to the
> causes of delay in delivering ships .on
time, these may be summarized as fol-
lows: Lack of experience and facilities
on the part Of the builders, failure OF
rolling mills to supply material and the
multitude of changes and alterations
made by officials of the Navy Depart
ment.
The latter cause, with that of nom
delivery of ordnance, has been the
greatest factor In causing long delays,
and still remains. Left ito carry out
rNla