Evening star., 1918-02-24
How the Navy Is Making Big Gums for the New Baleshps
1918. by Frank C. c.rpenter)

Copyright, 1918, by Frank G. Carpenter.)
SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA, 1918.
7 HAVE headed this letter Some
where in America I might just
il Just as well head it Everywhere
q in America" for the work of which
write is going on in two score or
more of industrial centers all over the
United States. That work is the max
ing of guns. munitions and supplies for
the United States Navy. Under the
promise of secrecy as to the character
details, I have been able to visit some
of these factories. Everywhere the
machinery is being speeded to highest
tension, and tens of thousands of ex-
pert employees are at work day and
night. The product goes forth in
priority orders, crowding even the coal
and food to the sidetracks. Many of
the eargoes are secret. They may go
out labeled as ordinary freight or in
packages that give no idea Of their
character and under names that serve
as a camoufiage to the spies. In some
of these places they are making big
guns, in some they are turning out
torpedoes for submarines, and in some
they are making smokeless powders
and terrible explosives, the deadly
chemical compositions OF which are a
secret.
In one nest in the mountains more
than 1000 miles from any seaport, and
in country almost as wild as it was
yxyhan h,fc 7
found a dynamite plant covering acres.
1t was guarded by soldiers and sur
rounded by fences Of barbed wire
charged with electricity. and with
watch towers at every few rods It
may be located there on account Of its
proximity to certain supplies.
In the south there are plants manu-
featuring explosives which use vast
500 pounds going. it is said. into one
charge of single big gun. In every
iron smelling center they are turning out
shells or other projectiles, or the
armor plate which protects our great
ships of war. Here little factory may
make a single intricate part of some
engine or munition supply. while not
far away may be g. mighty steel works
whose furnaces are manufacturing iron
ore into the huge ingots needed for the
great guns of our battleShipS.
All this work is systematized and d.
rected by the bureau of ordnance of
the Navy Department at Washington.
The officials know just what is going
on at each plant, what supplies there
are there and how they may be taken
most quickly. to the places where they
are needed. They have vast ware
houses of easy access to the sea, con-
tanning parts of every gun and piece
of machinery used on the hundreds of
ayH@ hnC 0Y Cn q p Lr q n n
they can be sent on cable orders to
any part of the world. I went through
one establishment of that kind where
they had $4,000 different items in the
storerooms, and that factory was ship
ping an average of 1000 articles every
twenty-four hours. Moreover, every
ono Of the supply parts bears marks
was made. and the inspectors through
whose hands it has passed. If de-
feet occurs in any of the ordnance or
munitions that go to the ships. the
back to the shop where it was made
and to the very workmen who made it.
The work have seen is remarkably
efficient. Many Of the plants have been
built up on orders given by France and
England before we entered the war.
and since then they have been greatly
increased. Some of them are turning
out shells by the millions and small
They are making smoke1ess powder in
vast quantities and munitions OF all
kinds as never before. Some of the
factories cover many acres and there
thousands of employees are at work
night and day. The plant described in
this letter is under the direct charge
Of the government. It is one that
makes big guns and other equipment
for the navy. It's departments embrace
all sorts of Industries and its mackin-
cry is such that 1t can make anything
from q brass rivet to q flying machine,
from a screw Weighing small frac-
tion Of an ounce to q gun for a dread
naught SO big and SO heavy that spe-
cial freight cars will have to be built
to carry it from one place to another.
This big gun work cannot be STAN
dardized like that of a motor car fac
tory whose output Is several thousand
machines . day. It takes months to
make big gun and the metal has to
20 through Transformations which
only, time can produce, Shells and
torpedoes cannot be ground out like
grain from Q hopper. AL Of the werk