Evening star., 1918-03-31

watched them punching the holes by
forming the skin of the ship.
went through the forge shop. a vast
nue. in Boston, and many hundred feet
long. Mighty hammers were pounding
away with a force that made the very
ground tremble. and among them was
a huge hydraulic press used for the
forging of steel. That press has a ca
pacity of 100000 pounds. 1t will take
a billet of steel as big as a kitchen
stove and knead it as though it were
putty. Nevertheless 1t works so ex-
actly that you might lay your watch
case within it. and let 1t down so that
it would just kiss the crystal without
breaking the glass.
next entered great shop where
diameter. and ten or eleven feet long.
The boilers for an ordinary freighter
cost 100000, and single boilers will
weigh as much as sixty tons each. This
week. 1t made seventy-five last year.
The boiler shop covers an area as large
as that of the biggest department
buildings at Washington. 1t is filled
with boilers and smokestacks in the
various stages of construction. Hun
dreds of men are working upon them,
and the noise is SO great that you can
not make yourself heard.
My days journey through the plant
included many other shops, embracing
all sorts of Industries. Fully one-half
of the shop capacity of an establish
ment like this is used to make the fit
tings, furnishings and other things out
side the steel shell and the machinery
Of the vessel There are great pipe
fitting shops which require all sorts of
skin in plumbing of one kind or an
other. There are sheet-iron shops,
where hundreds of tinsmiths are re-
qufred, and shops where the men work
only in copper and brass. There are
cabinet shops where all the ship fur
niture is made. and paint shops. where
the finishing Is done. The wiring and
electrical appliances of battleship are
more extensive than those OF a large
factory, and the electric current re-
quired to operate a vessel Of that kind
is equal to that consumed by a town
of 5000 people.
And then the furniture! The modern
steamer when completed is more finely
finished than the parlors of a million
aire, and it has to be QUILTED before it
leaves for its work on the ocean. Take
for instance the ship Congress, which
was made here and sent to the Pacific
coast. Among the supplies needed for
it's outfit were 10000 towels and 20, 900
sheets: and its restaurants were equip
ped with dishes and other supplies suf-
ficient to feed 500 people every half
hour.
In building thu ship it is necessary first
to form the skeleton OR bones. The
keel IS laid down on blocks four or
hve feet apart along a line which
slopes toward the water. SO that the
hull will glide down into it when the
ship has to be launched. The. stern of,
the ship goes first into the water and
the ship is built with its prov toward
the land. The keel runs from one end
OF the ships bottom to the other. 1t
is great plate of steel which is built
up like an enormous backbone, and to
which the steel ribs which form the
framework of the hull are fastened.
These ribs go up in great curves on
each side CT the vessel ami it is tn
them that the plates which form the
skin of steel that keeps out the water
are attached In fact. the ribs and
keel might be called the skeleton Of the
ship. the steel plates the skin or flesh
and the boilers and engines the lungs
and heart. The ribs are bent at white
neat, INTO the exact lines of the draw
ings shown by the scrive board. They
are punched with many holes for the
rivets. and are marked so that the
builders know just where the bands.
strinEers and deck beams are to At in
When the skeleton is completed Won
can see through it from one end .o The
other 1t has been described as like
great wicker basket, the willows
representing the network of steel
Ihe turbines are among the most inter-
sist Of revolving shaft on which is
keyed drum carrying projecting blades
which are turned by steam, There ia a
vast number of these blades. each of which
goes flying around at this rate The ships
are NOT intended to be greyhounds OF the
like the fastest now made There are
some turbines in which the blades 20
around at .CO feet Per second o. nearly
c stit miles a minute,