Tombstone epitaph., 1918-07-21

ship out Of the way and with force Of care
fully chosen workmen, the keel OF the collier was
laid and assembling rushed
The men We're keen to make good ana they
abored with uiSia .ging zeal Not only that but
they worked in three shifts and speeded up the
building continuously night and day. There
fore they were able at the end of p days To put
the craft overheard.
This makes it plain why in ordinary times
three or four months required TO advance
ship far enough 10 warSant launching and why
it took two or three months to install her
gines and boilers and to get her otherwise out
fitted and finished for active service In the
case Of the Tuckahoe her builders found IL pos
>be to accumulate all Of the materials needed
and once she was started TO forge ahead her as
sernbling without a hitch.
But even though the pace SET by the West
Lianga and the Tuckahoe cannot be maintained
generally by odline shipbuiIdng plants still
most of these in a position today 10 produce
faster than heretofore because Of mechanical aids
AT their disposal. And what done at
Camden in turning out the TuCkahoe is dollbly
interesting because the practice there may be
likened in a to what Is termed the
fabricated ship.
The fabricated ship offered as solution Of
very vexatious situation that had number
of angles. First. for ship construction 1t
needful 70 draw upon steel workers and allied
labor who We're quite unfamiliar with ship
DuilllnS NeX. IL was essential that steel
plants that were capable of producing the ma
terials for bridges the framework of great office
buildings and the steel parts Of other land struc-
lures should be made available and their ton
mage utilized in the construction of the manifold
parts for oceangoing cargo carriers Finally. con
venient points deep water had to be chosen
for the assembling Of these elements which were
manufactured far and wide and delivered at the
places Of building in or less advanced
stage Of fabrication
The fabricated ship is not, strictly speaking,
a type of vessel but rather 3 standardized order
construction which depends primarily upon
measure Of advanced preparatory work done
at plants remote from the shipyard and done
well and accurately that similar parts are iden-
teal and can be put in any Of group OF
type hulis Of corresponding dimensions Inter
changeab.!:ty is the paramount requirement.
The three distinctive fabncatng yards the
Atlantic seaboard the Newark bay plant
Of the Submarine Boat corporation, the Hog Is
land plant of the American International corpor-
alton, and the yard of the Merchants Shipbuild-
ing corporation at Bristol. Pa. Because Of the
way In which these establishments laid out
and because they receive their MATERIALS ninety
odd per cent ready for erection and assembling
and therefore need proportonately fewer men
the spot per ship than otherwise would be
quired. ii is practicable for them to handle at
time unusually large number Of vessels.
While the materials manufactured at some
score Of different steel mills they true
TO dimensions. thanks to drawings of excep-
tional accuracy and fulness of detail and pat
terms that exact in every particular that the
independent concerns can be relied upon to fur
nish just what is wanted.
Chairman Hurley of the Emergency Fleet
poration has told that should be able to
turn out annually quite 100000 tons of wooden
craft. This means not only exceptional indus
try on our part, but it represents the surmount-
ing Of seemingly mountainous obstacles. But
his confidence is so far justified In the scores of
our old and new timber plants that he has re-
Gently ordervd approximately 200 additional