The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1917-08-16
NAVAL AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE VISITS
NAVAL STATION

The advantages of establishing a
shipbuildIng and a ship repairing
plant at the Algiers Naval Station by
digging a Lawton non-silt basin were
explained to eight congressman, mem
bers of the naval affairs committee.
Friday morning was devoted TO Wis
il to the Naval Station. Commodore
V. S. Nelson, commandant, entertain
ed the party at luncheon on board
the L. S. S. Dolphin, anchored just
off the Naval Station dock. The par
ty were the guests of the officers on
/ the Dolphin at dinner also.
| The committee is composed of the
| following congressman: L. P. Pad
| gett, Tennessee. chairman; w. L.
Hensley, Missouri; j. R. Connolly,
| Kansas; w. B. Oliver, Alabama; ].
/ C. Wilson, Texas; W. j. Browning,
New Jersey; J. r. Farr. Pennsylva-
mia; F. c. Hicks, New York, and w.
L. Padgett, clerk of the committee.
The committee then took up with
our local people for several hours
the probabilities OF basin for ship
building and ship repairing at the
/ Naavl Station.
4 w. P. Ross. Peter Lawton and
. Crawford II. Ellis were the speakers
presenting the suggestions of basin
IN an informal manner. Mr.. Ross
told of the investigation which had
been made by the local committee in
an effort to determine whether it
would be feasible to have a shipbuild-
ing plant on the Mississippi river,
and of the development of the silt
preventing basin idea by Peter F.
Lawton.
Mr.. Lawton submitted sketches of
it and also explained it in detail. The
advantage of the basin would be that
it would be open day and night and
at every stage of the water, he told
the committee.
The obstacle to be overcome in
the establishing of a shipbuilding ba-
sin on a river, and especially one of
the greatness of the Mississippi, is
that big ships must be sent into the
river parallel with the current" he
said. This eliminates the idea of
locks. The largest lock on the river
big ships of the navy they should be
double that width. 1t would be i'm
practicable to send a big ship through
locks into the river, as the current
would sweep it around and either the
locks or the ship would be destroyed.
This has been overcome in the
proposition of building a basin with
the level of the river at all stages.
The construction of a slip paralleling
the current of the river will allow of
ship being drawn into it. At its
upper end the slip will form a juno
ton with another slip running at
right angles back into the basin. The
construction of the wall or leg of the
slip adjoining the river to a point
beyond the entrance of the basin will
be such that silt cannot collect in the
basin, but instead will be carried on
down the river. The basin will be
still water, its only change being with
the rise and fall of the river.
Low Dredging Cost.
The basin may be dug to any
depth desired and can easily be made
to accommodate the largest ship
afloat"
Chairman Padgett questioned Mr..
Lawton as to the size of the area
proposed to be dredged 1T will be
about 1900 feet square," Mr.. Padgett
shook his head negatively. What is
the estimated COST" he asked. at
has not been figured exactly, but ex'
cavating for it could be done at Is
cents a yard, where it costs 30 cents
in the East; the work would cost
about three million dollars" Mr..
Padgett shook his head even more
decisively in the negative.
Mr.. Lawton added that shipbuilding
plants were being put up all around
the coast and that it seemed strange
that a port of the importance of New
Orleans was being overlooked, and of
the necessity of big dry docks here.
He asserted the government had in
vested a million dollars in its dry
dock here, but it was not operating
to half its efficiency because of its
inability to handle big ships in low
water.
Mr.. Ellis told of the need of a bic