Evening star., 1918-07-07

that a sO0-pound hog could crawl
through them. The work went on 80
rapidly that within several months
space equal to ten large city eioSks BLOCKS
the swamp. All this was done IN me
heart of the winter and a part OF the
time the thermometer was FAR below
zero.
tion the buildings were growing up IN
the midst OF the mud and she art.
Victory village was built for housing
the workmen, and thousands OF piles
We're driven down to make the
Restaurants were established and an
industrial city with its telephone. tele-
graph, post office and modern sanitary
improvements sprang into being. The
main office building. three-story
fourth of an acre. was put up within
sixteen days, and the great fabricat-
ing plant for the destroyers, which
includes the ways for ten Of these
ships. sprang into being.
The latter is the largest steel
structure have ever seen under one
roof. 1t covers more than seventeen
acres, and II is ninety feet high. New
ertheless the whole is but one story
ana there are no platforms between
some idea of the immensity Of this
building to know that there Is so
much glass in it that II the panes
were fitted closely together they
would make solid sheet covering
eight acres. and also that 1t took l20
tons of putty to fasten that glass to
the steel frames. Load the putty on
two-horse wagons, and at forty feet
to the team the train required to haul
1t would be almost mile long.
In this great building you may fol-
low the making of destroyer from i
beginning to end ! started in with
the nold-loft. where the patterns of
the ship are cut out OF great boards.
Just as you cut the pattern OF a dress
Each pattern is cut to the exact
size and shape of the part Of
the vessel~i represents, and upon
1t is marked every notch and angle
and every rivet and joint. The wood
shops. and from them are made the
steel plates. ribs and other parts
which form the great vessels. This 10
done by gigantic machinery. by great
furnaces and steel rollers. and by
careful handwork on the part Of ex-
pert mechanics.
- Il
Some Of the parts require great
deal Of welding and cutting. and the
cutting is done with acetylene hame
so bright that 1t would blind the I
eyes Of the workmen did they not
wear masks Of blue <glass between
their eyes and the fame. The weld
ing is done by electricity; 1t takes
several thousand ribbed parts to go
into the frame Of each ship. and the
red hot iron is nodded 80 rapidly that
I saw one rib thirty feet long shaped
to its place In the hull In just two
minutes by my watch.
All Of the delicate parts Of the de-
stroyer are manufactured in this
building. and almost every process
Of ita construction goes on. includ-
fng the riveting Of the plates. by
pneumatic machines. through which
a gang drives several thousand rivets
a day, to the galvanizing Of the
plates Of the vessel which are below
the water line. In the galvanixing
department l saw one tank In which
$4,000 worth of zinc was boiling and
seething. AS looked a crane lifted
a steel plate twenty five feet long and
five feet wide and gently dropped II
into that tank. A moment later 1t
was raised, and as 1t came out 1t
looked like mirror. 1t was the COLI
or of silver. 1t did not take one min
ute to GOAT 1t with zinc. -.
Passing on from one department to
another, 1 finally reached the ways
where the parts OF the destroyers
made in the shop were in course of
assembling. There were Ave vessels
under construction. and the keels
of fve others were ready for use.
In the front Of each great ship
were sliding doors, each thirty feet
wide and forty feet high. SO arranged
that they could be moved back and
the vessels launched into the sea.
The whole work of construction Is
under roof. and after the launching
great building adjoining. where they
are fitted with their boilers, guns and
other equipment. This building Is
now almost completed. 1t is 500 feet
square and covers more than four
acres. 1t will have six docks under
roof. being equipped with huge
cranes which will lift the boilers into
But l might fill this paper with a
description of mechanical wonders
going on In these Fore River yards,
and still not tell the whole story.
The machinery Is all Of the latest in
vention, and everything Is planned for
efficient and speedy construction. The
force of men Is rapidly growing.
Squantum Is now taking on 800 new
this letter is published there should
be 5000 or 1000 men there making
destroyers.
Before the war It took twenty four
months to build one of these ships,