The herald. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1905-1953, 1918-11-14

DRY DOCK TO BE MOVED
Work at our naval station. is 10 be
on a much greater scale and of a
nature that will add importance to
this section for construction work ac-
cOrding TO Industrial Manager f. G.
Hammer, Jr, through whose efforts our
station was taken out of its infancy
and transformed into Il full grown
and well developed naval construction
station.
In speaking of the work at the sta
ton and giving advice to the EN-
ployees Mr.. Hammer said in part
We are just beginning a new era
Of ship construction for this Station.
this construction being steel vessels
and every source of the Station will
be taxed to it's utmost. One of the
difficulties which presents itself in
making this larger Yard is the lack
of skilled workmen, and the Industrial
Manager looks TO the Shop Commit
tees to help him out in obtaining
much needed addition men. The next
difficulty is the lack Of equipment,
the most needed being small machines.
and the Industrial Manager will make
every effort to procure them. If men
and machines can be obtained, the
working forces of this Yard can be
materially increased, particularly as
we have had large amount of money
approved for expenditure on the
water front.
The improvement OF the water front
will consist in shifting the dry dock
so as to give more berthing space for
vessels and improving and enlarging
the building ways. With these i'm
provements there will be more work
tor many additional men in practic-
ally all trades, and the Industrial
Manager is very anxious to see this
Yard grow and become a permanent
fixture in New Orleans. Every man
in this Yard can help towards this
end by saying a good word about
working conditions at the Naval Sta .
tion and the steady employment
provided. This will go long way to-
wards making desirable men apply for
work at this Station. and until we can
increase the working force there is
no use for the management at this
Yard to attempt to obtain a greater
amount of work. With the interest
"HiCu the SupcINlSOTy lOTCeS anu lHe
workmen of this Yard have always
shown whenever anything came up
which tended towards the betterment
Of this Station, the Industrial Man
ager believes that il will not be a
particularly difficult job to enlarge
this plant, and if each one put his
shoulders to the wheel it can certainly
be done.
Improvements in the Yard are con-
tinuously going on, and we are now
beginning to move into the new
Joiner Shop, which will realize ad- |
ditional room for sheetmetal work |
The new Joiner Shop will contain, |
in addition to all joiner work, the |
sail loft, and the woodworking depart |
ment should be much improved by |
this addition, as this will be one of
the best woodworking shops in the |
South.
The Industrial Manager wishes to |
impress on all mechanics at this Yard |
the necessity of each man studying |
up the theory of his trade as well as |
the practice, If he wishes to rise to |
the supervisory force. With open ex-
aminations for leadingmen, every man
is giving a chance, providing he ap
plies himself and puts in a certain
amount of study outside of working
hours. 1t is absolutely essential for
a man to know the theory of his work
and be able to put it on paper if he
expects to rise in the supervisory /
force because large part of the duty
CT any supervisor is the ability to
make sketches, estimates and do other
necessary paper work, so that the
men under him may know what they
do.
Many mistakes in the shipbuilding
business are made from supervisors
not knowing Standard Practices in
Ship Construction, which means that
the individual supervisor does not
know the Standard Practices of his
trade. Pamphlets covering practically
all Standard Practices are issued by ;
the Navy Department and embodying
the best methods known in ship build
ing. These pamphlets are available,
and any man who takes enough inter
est in his work to try to elevate him.
self can obtain one of these pamphlets
by applying to the Shop Superin-
tendent, and if the pamphlets are not /,
on hand we will endeavor to get an
additional supply from the Navy De
partment in Washington.
The Yard at the present time has
as much work as We can comfortably
undertake. So many men have been
sick with influenza recently that
naturally the working forces and
supervisory forces have been most
seriously Handicapped and practically
all work on the Yard as a result has
been set back a certain amount.
Epidemics such as this will happen.
and work packs up to such an extent
that those Of us who are not sick are ,
required to do more work in order to
keep things going. This, so far as |
know, has been cheerfuIly done by !
the Yard workmen, supervisory forces
and officers of the Industrial Depart. ]
nent.
Z. c. Hammer. Jr