The Nenana daily news., 1919-02-04
EAGLE PROGRAM 0f FORD PLANT
 NOT CURTA|LtD

part or US total lenSth or iZO4 teSt, and declared to be capable If crush
 ing any submarine such .s the Eagle, built by Hetry Ford and de- signed originally to help rid the seas of the menace of the German U-boats.
 Contrary to popular belief, the Eagle is \ot a motor boat, but an oil-burning, steam turbine-driven craft, with a cruising radious of 5000 miles. The Eagle is not a thing of beauty; beauty was not contemplated in it's construction. It is a long, gaunt weapon of war, of all-steel construction with the eX- ception of the concrete nose
 Another popular impression that has been shattered is an idea that the Eagle boat is equipped with torpedo tubes. The submarine chaser was not intended to combat the major instrument of German ruthlessness with it's own weapons. It was designed to depend rather upon it's manoeuvering qualities, it's powerful light guns, and , a new American invention for directing it's fire at unseen objects.
 It's crew including operating and fighting complement numbers ap- proXimately 80 men.
 To the observer, the first impress sion of the Eagle boat is one of wonder that craft so narrow can possess buoyancy sufficient to keep it upright in heavy seas. Despite it's length of more than an average city block, the craft has a beam of only 25 feet, and draws when fully equipped less than ten feet of water.
 Its sea worthiness, has been demonstrated in the official trials, according to reports to the navy de- partment.
 While it is admitted that the Eagle does not make the speed of the average destroyer, it is claimed that it can outdistance most sub- marines and the razor-like edge of the bow, silently, but eloquently tells what would have happened had 1t come in contact with the Ger man undersea pirate.
 Built with utility as it's prime purpose, seemingly not an inch of space wasted in the fitting of the vessel, and not an ounce of super- flous weight enters it's construction. When dropped into the water ready for the installation of it's engines, etc, less than 200 tons of material have been riveted together to shape the Eagle boat.
 The plates that form the shell of the submarine-chasers vary in thick ness from IA to 3-S inch, and not single forging or rolled beam en- ters their makeup. Everything is pressed from sheet metal, cold. by means of machinery that cuts every piece to an exact pattern, punches rlvet holes, and bends the interior part to required shape. Amidships rises the deck-house topped by the pilot house, with radio quarters, and above all the coming tower with the crows nest at the highest point. Except for this superstructure, the deck of the Eagle carries always the Stripped for action" appearance
 The first Eagle boat was launched July II, 1918, and when the armis- tice ended hostilities, early in Mo- vember, eight had been completed and twenty-one others were under construction in various stages of completion. Some of these have arrived at Atlantic coast ports. Although the sudden cessation of hostilities deprived the Eagle boats of an opportunity to test their prowess against the German under sea terror, they are nevertheless to become part of the American navy, the government having an- nounced it's intention to use. them as gun-boats in coast patrol work, and possibly in insular waters.
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