Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-04-21

N A shipz Of stone .oa oceans III great
" Sandba gging the submarine
with clubs of reinforced con-
crete,
Carrying supplies by the thousands of
tons to our troops and our allies in ves-
SEES made of sand and cement tied to-
gether with steel:
This is one OF the live experiments
that the Emergency Fleet Corporation
has now under way. 1t is an expert
ment that promises much for its sue
cess. for it may create new fleet that
will rank side by side with our vessels
of steel and wood in gaining the vic
tory over the Germans. A branch of
concrete shipbui,ding has Just been
created under the direction of Mr.. Ru-
dolph j. Wig. the scientific expert in
concrete of the bureau of standards.
and force of marine craftsmen and of
men skilled in the handling and testing
of concrete construction is already at
work. Tentative contracts have been
let for the building of several such
ships, subject to full payment-on the
part of the government only upon their
proving safe and successful for all the
@purposes for which they are planned
The carrying out of these contracts is
now under way, and If they succeed a
large shipbuilding program will be in
augurated in many of the ports along
our SeacoaSt
* <
The ships contracted for range in size
from 5000 to 1900 tons. and they are
to be built after specifications and plans
furnished by the United States gov
eminent. The companies engaged in
such construction are in the three cities
of Boston. New York and San Fran
cisco. The contract with each provides
that the government shall pay only
one-half the cost of building the vessel
IL IT fails to come up to all the require
ments when tested in all sorts of
weather and under various other condi-
lions. In short, Uncle Sam pays only
one-half the cost of the experiment If it
should fail to work
But before I write more of the gov
eminent plans let me tell you what
has been done and is being done in con-
crete shipbuildng in other parts of the
world. The stone ship is not novelty.
Away back in 1919. ten years before the
world was afflicted with the birth of the
Kaiser, FrenchmaD ma med I.ambot
made a small boat of reinforced con-
crete. and this was shown six years
later at the world fair in Paris. 1t
was a success on the water, and as late
class condition
The Dutch began to build barges of
reinforced concrete thirty-one years
ago. and there are now barGes of fifty
nve tons on the Holland canals The
Italians have been using concrete
barSes for more than twelve years and
there is one eighty feet long and TWEEN
ty-four feet wide which has been en-
ptoyed on the Weliand canal since 1910.
1t is used for carrying sand and gravel
and heavy loads of stone.
We have been using concrete barges
on the Panama canal for eight or nine
years, and they have been making great
poutoonS there for landing stages of
the same material. There are several
concrete scows on the Chesapeake Bay.
and there is a concrete pontoon of 1873
tons in tie harbor of Sydney. Australia.
There are concrete boats on the Man
chester ship canal. and a concrete
barge was built for use on the Paris
ship canal only last year.
Today one of the chief concrete ship
building cAnters is Norway. The Foug-
ner Steel Concrete Shipbuilding Com
pany there is making ships varying in
size from 200 tons to 3 900 tons, and these
are INTENDED to carry coal in the open
season. So far one of 500 tons>has gone
to sea. and it is said to Withstand the
storms of the ocean. / have before me
catalogue issued by the Fougner
eeaworthy ships of 200 tons, dead
weight. within three or four months
and states that it will have some ships
Of 1000 and 1000 tons ready for deliy
cry this year. The Germans have also
done something in concrete shipbuild-
ing. but no statistics as to their prog
ress are. for obvious reasons available
Just now.
~,
Last. year concrete ship construction
was going on in Denmark, France, Eng
land. Norway. Spain. Canada and the