The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-03-27
Chairman Hurley Tells of
Program % Per Cent on
Way to Completion
BRITAIN'S INDUSTRY
TOBE FAR OUTDONE
There Were 81 Steel Shipyards at the
Time of Our Entrance into the War
81 Additional Yards Added and IL


Expanded.
NEW YORK, March 27.-Ameriea 5
whose full menace has Just been re-
vealed in British admiralty figures on
siukings OF ships, was outlined here last
night by Chairman Hurley OF the ship
ping board, in q frank statement set /
ting forth the shipbuilding situation |
in the United States. /
! Before the National Marine league,
| AIR. Hurley disclosed that despite de-
! lays, the country soon viii have $50
steel and wooden ways turning out
ships and that the government S mann
moth steel shipbuilding program OF
5000 900 tons on March l was 2S per
cent on its way to completion. This
does not mean that 2S per cent are IN
the water, but that construction as
whole had advanced that far. Eight
per cent of the vessels actually have
been put into service, Mr., Hurley said.
The three government fabricating
yards near Philadelphia, when in full
Operation, will be able to produce, Mr..
Hurley said. more ships in a year than
Ill the yards OF England, heretofore
the greatest shipbuilding country in
the world
/ The high point in the curve Of pro
duction has been delayed, Mr.. Hurley
pointed out, BY a number of causes.
ho1 b.
declared, and before many months the
. peak will have been reached
, when the high point OF the curve
finally has been reached and the magni-
tude of America ; shipbuilding pro-
gram has been realized he said, lit
viii be a continuous performance of
production and launching
: II wish 10 remind you gentlemen
that ships are not built oyernigh
when we took 6holri 6f th7s i6rJ of ship
building we found there was no ship
yard in existence with which we could
place an order. The old yards were
filled to capacity. We were faced with
I the necessity of creating an entirely
new industry. We had to establish the
y, yards first, get the shipbuilders to take
charge Of them and train the men TO
build the ships.
i ''There were 81 steel shipyards in
: America at the time Of our entrance
:. into the war We have located 81 ad-
t. ditional steel and wood yards, while IS
|, ! other yards have been expanded We
/, are building in the new and expanded
IT steel yards 235 new steel shipwavs, or
e 20 more than at present exist i'll all
e the shipyards of England. If we had
been content with doing the job in a
5 small way, we might have built few
y more yards and added a little to our
capacity A few ships might have been
T finished more quickly; but was the
spirit and will of America to do the
= JOB in a big way, and the Judgment
of the country will be vindicated BY
: the results when all these new ways
20 are completed and are turning out
4. ships. Many OF these ways have actual
L. been finished. The new industry
,h we have created will make America
the greatest maritime nation in the his
tory of the world.
nv ''There are two methods for comput
ing the construction Of tonnage to show
or what is accomplished. One is by show
ing the tonnage in the water; the othe
no is by showing the tonnage under con
tstmction. But when a great man,
od ships are put under construction at tn
same time, the question that should b
asked is, how they are all progressing
I'M how near completion is the vast pre-
gram Here is the answer:
~ 1.-The total amount of our steel cor
eel struction program on March wa
s,205,70s dead weight tons This
made up of 5,l6O,300 dead weight ton
under contract with the emergenc
Id fleet corporation and 3,045,40s dea
weight tons of requisition vessels
'tOf this total steel construction
'ed 2,l2l.56S dead weight tons, or appro,
Sa- imately % per cent has been complete
ate That means that in addition to u
IN building Of our big new yards, we hay
ro- also been building ships. That is, Il
elr program for steel ships has advance
the % per cent toward completion. {
ca that amount of steel ships under co
tract and under requisition, G55 4:
the dead weight tons, or approximately,
I'M per cent, were actually completed al
re- in service on March l of this yea
ties nearly 4 month ago. This amount
lon floating tonnage exceeds our total OF
atl- put in 1916, including steel, wooden al
sailing vessels, by approximately
u per cent.
res - At the outset, the 81 old steel var
the began increasing their capacity, I'm
edly they now have 1875 ways, as against l
cote eight months ago. Other parts Of tn,
on plants have increased in proporti,
We then made provision for additic
al steel yards, some of viii
have been given financial asst
tiI ance. Thirty additional new steel sh
yards are thus being erected, with
Jerk. total Of 203 shipbuilding ways. tt
we now have in the aggregate 81 st
our shipyards either wholly or partly
gagged in feet corporation work. TIL
yards will have a total of 39S st
has building ways. OF these, 35 yal
led with 258 ways. are on the Atlantic 6
s-reert & sn, 4srs sssasss Nineteen yards, with