The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-10-16
fBy Associated Press,

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. Oct. 16.-I
New ship ways. towering trestles.
spreading shops. field Of steel and the
incessant clamor, day and night, OF
automatic riveters, great steam ham,
mers and whirring machinery are the
symbols of wartime shipbuilding here
where deep sea craft have been turned
out since the sos.
In this great plant 10000 men and
women are working at top speed.
Sliding quietly from the ways, with
out a semblance OF the ceremony that
attended launching in the days OF
peace. ship after ship has been built
and floated only to lose itself In the
maze Of commerce at this gateway to
the Atlantic and to the fields OF
France
When the wartime history of the
Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry
Dock company is written, it will be an
interesting chapter in the romance OF
the destroyer. It will tell how farmer
boys from the rolling plains OF the
west, who had never seen ship, and
women whose only experience with
metals had been in the handling OF
pots and pans, answered the call or
! their country to build many OF the de-
stroyers which steadily are removing
| the menace of the submarine ana
keeping open the lanes through which
J the millions of American soldiers are
| going to the western front.
How we'll these men and women
have done their work under the guld-
ance of skilled workers, Is demon
| strated by the fact that every destroy
er turned out has more than met the
express-train speed required under
the navy contract. And 1t is no Sc
cret at least not here, that the flnisn-
ed ships which have gone into the
/ war zone have given good account
of themselves even as the RAINING
and other pre-war products of this
| ward have added new laurels to Amer
lean naval records
While all possible energy is going
into the bridge of ships" to France
and their guardians, the expansion OF
this plant into one of the worlds
greatest shipyards is planned for after
the war needs as we'll as tnose loi
the present. Shop after shop has been
built and cranes and other labor say
ing devices are installed so that when
peace comes foreign yards may DC
met in the great race that is inevitable
or the restoration of destroyed ton
mage.
Even now, there are in the building
i. two of the largest shipways In Amer
ica Here, after the war, will be lalt
, down two of the monster battle cruis
, ers congress- authorized in 1916, des
ignated as the fastest and most pow
erful ships of thir type on the sea
Nearby these new ways, four emer
gency ways have been thrown up OF
ground made" within the year. o.
these emergency ways naval vessels
, are building and more will follow
, when these are launched. A few hun
dred Yards away more fighting ship
are building, two and three, to on
I set of ways On still other stocks
!; merchant ships and other craft ar
l being put together.
f Turbines largely have supplante'
. the old reciprocal drive engine and
t is on these that women have bee
;. pressed into service, performing tn
a delicate work of finishing the myria
1 brass paddles against which the steam
l strikes to revolve the turbine drum
e much as water runs a mill wheel.
n In the yard dispensary, where me,
9 who are injured are treated, nurse
!. and doctors are constantly on duty
d A band gives concerts in the var
}. each non.
Il Housing has been the greatest prof.
d lem. Two miles beyond the city o
|. a high bluff overlooking the river
l. raising a new city to be peopled e!
K clusively by shipyard workers. Hig
y wages are the rule as at other yard:
f. with riveters, many of them negroe!
= making as high as s25 and $50 da,
/ Loyalty is preached in season and GU
3 In peace times this yard complete
7. merchant ships in six months and les