Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-16
Mightiest Shipydrd
for Delaware RiUer
Continued from Page One


After the war the plant will be used for
the building Of ships for the American mer-
chant marine. thus bringing the Government
nearer to realization Of the ambition TO
make the United states the foremost mari
time nation Of the world.
The plant here. like the other one planned
by the Government, will be Government
owned. but will be operated by private
capitaI under direction of the Government
The National City Company has long been
contemplating the building Of a huge snip
plant on the Delaware. Through interests
in other shlpyards It is thoroughly ac-
ouainted with shipbuildng and is in posi-
tion to put engineers and operating experts
AT work Immediately the plant is ready for
use
The Government plant will be compile
mented by the new yards building above
Bristol for Carl w. Hamilton, president of
the chester Shipbulding Company. Other
great Yards now in operation are the Tray
lor Yards at Cornwels, Cramps, the New
York Shipbuildng Company, the rejuvenat-
ed chester Shipbuilding Company. the Sun
Sh.pbuilding Company and Worth Brothers
az Chester; Harlan & Holingsworth, at
wilmington and many others of less size
but still important
WILL BUILD STANDARDIZED SHIPS
The vessels built during the war will
conform to the plans of the Emergency
Fleet Corporation, which General Goethals
directs They will be constructed on stan
dardzed patterns. thereby facilitating con-
struction to a maximum. The parts will be
made In score or more of shops and
auxiliary buildings and rushed to the ways,
where they will be wrought into ships as
fast as men can work them. The vessels
will be of various sizes, but of few types.
Time will be the essence of the Building.
Everything that can be sacrificed reasonably
will be sacrificed for speed in construction
and for utility.
|. All curves not absolutely necessary will
be eliminated Instead of being inclined in
ward at the tops, so that the deck beams
are less than the beams three feet down
the hulls will rise straight from the water
line. Even the sterns will be vertical ex-
cept for the curves required to accommodate
prepellers.
The peculiar shape Of the vessels will
be concession to speed in construction
and concession to beauty, but will be no
concession to utility or service. An or
dinary hull is built with the sides cIrving
slightly inward toward the top, so that a
transverse section looks like " with the
tops bent a little toward each other. These
section will look exactly like V.
The result will be topheavy appear
ance, but 1t will be only appearance. The
ships will not he actually topheavy. They
will, in short, be exactly as good, as serv-
iceable as satisfactory as any ship, but
not as pretty. 1t will take longer to build
a pretty ship and the Government at this
time is not considering ships from an ar
tistc standpoint but from a standpoint Of
service.
The decks also will be fat instead of cam
bered. cambered deck Is high in the
center and slopes gently downward to the
edges just as n good street pavement is
higher in the middle and slopes gently down
ward toward the gutter. The fiat deck will
be as serviceable and can be made more
speedily.
None of the ships will have tonnage of
less than 5000.
With the standardized building policy in
full operation and all the fifty ways in
use as many as possible both day and
night, 100000 tons Of shipping will be
under construction at all times when the
yard is in full operation.
The site of the Government yards has
long been looked upon by experts as the
most ideal location on the Delaware for a
large marine terminal and industrial de-
velopments. Plans for its development by
private financial interests were well ad-
vanced when the Government saw and de-
termined to meet the emergency created
by the submarine campaign of the Germans
Owing to the exigencies of the present
situation-wth sites for shipyards of such
magnitude difficult TO find and difficult to
obtain-the former plans were abandoned
and the property was turned over for the
Governments use.