Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1918-08-02

ship out of the way and with a force of
fully chosen workmen. the keel of the collier was
laid and assembling rushed.
The men keen to make good and they
labored with unfagging 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 % days to put
the craft overheard.
This makes it plain why in ordinary times
three or four months required to advance
ship far enough to warrant launching and why
it took two three months to install her en-
gines and boilers and to get her otherwise out
fitted and finished for active service. In the
case of the TuckahOe her builders found 1t pos
sible to accumulate all of the materials needed
and once she started to forge ahead to her as
sembling without a hitch.
But even though the pace set by the West
Langa and the Tuckahoe cannot be maintained
generally by oldline shipbuildng plants. still
most of these are in position today to produce
faster than heretofore because of mechanical aids
now at their disposal. And what was done mt
Camden in turning out the Tuckahoe is doubly
interesting because the practice there may be
lkened in measure to what is now termed the
fabricated ship.
The fabricated ship offered solution Of
very vexatiOus situation that had a number
If angles First. for ship construction it was
needful to draw upon steel workers and allied
labor who were quite unfamiliar with ship
building. Next. it 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 he made available and their ton
mage utilized in the construction Of the manifold
parts for OceangOing cargo carriers. Finally con-
venient points on deep water had to be chosen
for the assembling of these elements. which were
manufactured far and wide and delivered at the
nlucpS Of m ohv pnoh
stage of fabrication.
The fabricated ship is not. strictly speaking.
a type of vessel. but rather a standardized order
or construction which depends primarily upon
a measure Of advanced preparatory work done
at plants remote from the shpyard and done so
we'll and accurately that similar parts iden.
teal and can be put in any one Of a group of
type hus of corresponding dimensions. Inter
changeability Is the paramount requirement.
The three distinctive fabrcating yards on the
Atlantic seabOard are the Newark bay plant
of the Submarine Boat corporation. the Hog Is
land plant of the American International cOrpOr-
atiOn and the yard of the Merchants Shipbud-
ing corporation ut 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 proportiOnatey fewer men on
the spot per ship than otherwise would be re-
quired. it is practicable for them to handle AT
one time unusually large number Of vessels
While the materials manufactured nj some
score of different steel mills they true
to dimensions. thanks tn drawings of exceI,-
tional accuracy and fulness of detail and pat
terms that exact in every particular that the
independent concerns can Re relied upon to fur
nish just what is wanted.
Chairman Hurley of the Emergency Fleet cor
pOration has told that should he able 4"
turn out annually quite 23OO.0N tons Of wooden
craft This means not only exceptional indus
Try part but il represents the Silrm"un-
ing of seemingly mountainous obstacles. Bu
his confidence is far justified in the scores "f
eur old and new timber plants that he has
Gently ordered approximately 200 additional