The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1917-11-03
sHIp rtlt FoR CHARLESTON.
PLANS FOR TIL e FRE1GHTERs
NEAR MT. PLEASANT.
No Time Will be Wasted i'm the Car.
rying Forward Of the Arrange.
mentS.

houhcoieHe was Ilade last night by
: Mr.. Charles Kimmich, traffic commits
sioner, jointly representing the Chan,
ber OF Commerce and the City o.
Charleston that a large steel shin.
} building plant will be built nea,
} Mount Pleasant, on the Cooper river
and that no time will be wasted ir
getting ready to build. Steel steon
treighters Of $500 tons will be bull,
here. the material being fabricated in
the birmingham district.
Mr.. Kimmich has been in Washing.
ton Tor months in connection with this
great enterprise and was very much
eiated last night when he stated tina,
finally he was in a position to make
the of1cial announcement of the sue
cess of the negotiations. The ship
building plant will be financed by
Eastern capital. Officers of the
Southern Shipbuilding Corporation
are satisfied that labor and other con-
ditions here will be satisfactory and
that excellent progress will be made
on ships after the keels are laid.
In making the announcement Mr..
kimmich gave out the following state
ment:
| charleston Is to have a large steel
shipbuilding plant. and it will begin
its first operations with a govern
ment contract to construct a large
number Of 7,500-ton fabricated steel
freight steamers. This plant will be
located at near Mount Pleasant, and,
according to the officials of the South
ern Shipbuilding Corporation, they
will be in a position after the war
to build their type OF ship as economi-
cally and with greater speed than any
now building in this country.
charleston Tin fact, the entire
State,) is indebted to Senator B, r.
Tillnaan for his assistance in gettine
the government to recognize the ad.
vantages Of this port as a favorable
place to build ships for the govern
rnent under the war program now in
progress. His vigorous interest and
his absolute confidence in the indus
trial ability of the South to build
these ships have materially advanced
Charleston's advantages in the eyes
Of the authorities.
Congressman Whaley also mate
rally assisted in advancing the inter
est of this port from the shipbuild-
ing standpoint in connection with this
specific proposition, and did a very ef-
fective piece Of work in connection
with the matter.
Advice was received by Senator
Tillman from Washington confirming
the purpose Of the government to give
a contract for a large amount of steel
ship construction to the Southern
Shipbuilding Corporation to build the
Whittesley panel type of fabricated
steel ship. This ship will be made in
parts in the Birmingham district and
shipped to Charleston and assembled
here. The process will be in the ma
ture OF an assembly plant Of the Ford
automobile. Quick construction will
result after they once get under way.
and just as soon as conditions will
permit most Of the fabricating will
later be done at Charleston This
type of ship has been patented. and
by reason OF it's simplicity of con-
struction the question of skilled la
Dor is only an incidental one, and
practically 80 to 90 per cent. of the
help will be semi-skilled. and can be
taught the several branches Of work
in connection with the assembling of
the ships in very short time by COM
paratively few skilled men.
1T has been claimed that the
Northern yards have experienced con-
siderable difficulty in keeping or get
ting a sufficient amount of labor to
go ahead on schedule with the govern
ment shipbuilding program, but ac-
cOrding to the best estimates made OF
the situation in this section, togeth-
err with the simplicity Of the construc-
ton Of this ship, everything indicates
that the labor situation will not retard
the rapid and successful construction
Of these vessels in accordance with
the program.