New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1918-04-03

based on the Faith and would not have
been affected had that ship been a
failure. His decision as well as that
OF all his associates is the inevitable
conclusion of exhaustive investigation s,
calculations, operations and expert
ments that really began in the Bureau
OF Standards two years ago, Mr.. Wig
and L. r. Ferguson, the formers as
sistant, having come to the Shippirp
Board from that bureau.
Nor does Mr. Wig stand alone.
Ills statement that his department
mas designed concrete ship that is
structurally equal to steel ship is
Endorsed by the experts of Llovds'. of
the Department Of Commerce and bv
Messrs. j. L. Bates and F.. B. Webster
naval architects of the Bureau of Con-
struction and Repair of the NAVY De-
partment, who are said to be among
the best authorities in America on
ship stresses. All of these authorities
have watched the progress of the de-
sign from day to day and month to
month.
Working on the design within the
department are such engineers Of
recognized standing as E. Z. Parker,
5. c. Hollister. r. W. Boyd, W. A.
Slater W. c. Spiker, J. A. Glaetti. ir..
G. A. Nancy and F. R. Mcmillan.
There IS no appeal from their de-
cision.
~ do not hesitate to say" said Mr..
Wig to-day, that there is no longer
any question of the adaptability of
ferro concrete to the construction of
oceangolng cargo vessels. We have de-
signed a ship that will stand every
structural test. As to durability, only
time can tell, but the durability is as
suredly long enough to justify TIE
building Of concrete ships in this pres
ent great emergency We cannot now
assert that the life of concrete shin
Will be more than ten years, but if it
were only five. or two, or three, it
would be worth building to win the
war
The. problem of preventing corro-
sion OF the reinforcing steel. and the
possible gradual disintegration Of the
are working on that problem. # we
find the solution, there is no telling
how long the life of concrete ship
may be. We do know that it will last
long enough for the purposes of this
war. Those purposes are the reason
OF our shipbuilding programme. There
tore, can see no reason why we
should not Immediately embark on an
extensive programme of concrete ship
construction. Having perfected the
smaller ship, we shall now turn our
attention TO designing a 75OO-ton ship.
II might wish that we had worked
out large ship at the start, but there
Will probably be more available power
at an early date for the smaller ship
than Tor the larger one.
AS to the practical questions of
construction some advantages of the
concrete ship are that only inexpen-
slve yard equipment is necessary. that
/ 1T IS CORES p0ndingIy quietly assem-
bled and that. with the exception of
t ways, it is portable With the ex-
penditure OF 900 to $4,000 you are
ready to build a concrete ship any
where on deep water
You have TO spend about $500. 900
on your yard and equipment before YOU
can start to build steel ship. The
concrete ship cannot be built faster
than the best time in steel shipbuild
ing, contrary to the popular impras-
sion. but it will be cheaper and mere
susceptible Of quantity productions
Finally, we have a great argum INT
for concrete ships in that they consti-
tute new source of ships and that
neither IN labor nor materials do they
compete with the steel or wood ships
BY using them we can greatly increase
our shipbulldlng capacity, and that very
rapidly, without any additional ind IS