The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1918-03-31
MAKING SHIPS FOR UNCLE SAM-By Frank c. Carpenter

large factory, and the electric cur
rent required 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 outfitted before it
leaves for it's 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 10000
sheets: and it's restaurants were equip
ped with dishes and other supplies suf-
ficient to: feed 500 people every half
hour.
During my stay in the shops got the
story of a ship from beginning to end.
The order having been received, the
plans and specified tions have to b.
made, much the same as you would go
about building house. Every part
of the prospective ship is first drawn on
paper. This is the work of the naval
architects who have large draughting
rooms connected with the establish
ment. After the drawings are completed
they are given over to the shipbuilder
they show him just how the vessel win
appear when she Is completed He does
not work from these plans. however.
They are taken to the mold loft which
has a floor like an enormous black :
board Upon this the plans are repro
duced. SO that they correspond to tha
exact dimensions of the ship. Every
plate. girder and rib is drawn out to
its full size, and every measurement
is verified and checked SO that there
cannot possibly be a mistake After
this there is third drawing on what
is known as the "scrive board" This
board has all the lines, full size, sunk
In the wood. and 1t is from this board
, that the shipbuilder works.
In building the ship it is necessary first
to form the skeleton or bones. The
Keel Is laid down on blocks four or
hve feet apart. along line which stones
toward the water, so that the hull will
glide down into it when the ship has to
be launched. The stern Of the shin
goes frst into the water and the ship
Is built with its prov toward the land
The keel runs from one end of the shin
bottom to the other 1t is a great plate
of steel which is built up like an enor-
nous 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 of the vessel
and 1t is to them that the plates which
form the skin of steel that keeps out the
\
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 heat, into the exact lines of the
drawings shown by the serve board.
They are punched with many holes for
the rivets. and are marked so that the
builders know just where the bands
stringers and deck beams are to fit in.
When the skeleton is completed you can
see through it from one end to the other
1t has been described as like a great
wicker basket the willows representing
the network of steel.
In the fabricating yards now being
made by the government, the plates will
come marked and each will be bent
and curved so that it will fit exactly
into its own place in the side of the
ship This will be done in the fabricating
factories over the country. In big
steamship yard of the old STYLE the
plates are bent in its own shops as I
have described They are then carried
out to the ways upon which the skeleton
of the ship stands and lifted up by
great cranes so that they rest against
the sides of the ship. They are riveted
| to the skeleton with red hot rivets by
| tools which work by compressed air,
| fitting the steel so tightly that the water
cannot get in Some of these plates are
| OF enormous size and they vary In thlck-
ness and weight according to their place
| in the vessel. Some Of the plates on the
| Lusitania measured 4S feet in length
| and weighed as much as 10000 pounds
each They were fastened together and
| to the skeleton by rivets which were more
than an inch thick, and by the time the
vessel was completed more than 100000
rivets had to be driven and clinched
| into place. The ships we are now max
| ing are, of course, very much smaller,
| but some Of the plates are Of enormous