The Washington times., 1919-10-20
War Time Ship Repairs /
Displayed Engineering
Feats Most Marvellous

| NEW YORK, Oct. 20.-While ship
eonstruction, because of its import
ance as war measure, was given
great prominence, little was said of
most important feature Of II. This
was the repair work. AS. soon as a
ship was completed her movements
were shrouded in secrecy and her up
keep was salient story. Yet this
/ work was one of the big industries,
and large part of IL was carried on
right here In New York Bay, where
ship repair yards mushroomed almost
over night and grew to the very day
| OF the armistice. Now these yards
| were jammed with the work of over
| hauling the war-strained ships and
rehtting those that were in war serv-
Ice for commercial trade.
Emergency measures naturally pro
| duced many interesting engineering
feats, and one which stood out was
the building of a new stern on the
British freighter Lord DufYerin, which
! was rammed by the Aquitania in the
] harbor here. The freighter's stern
was completely cut on by the sharp
prov of the Cunarder and she sank.
She was raised and towed to the
South Brooklyn yard of the Robins
Dry Dock and Repair Company. whefe
In eighteen and one-half days new
stern piece, sixty-four feet long and
weighing twelve and one-half tons.
was placed on her and she put TO sea
again She was sold to the Canada
Steamship Lines after repairs were
made. and on her first trip from Mon
/ trezl to Havre steamed knot better
than she had ever done before.
Marine engineering experts all over
the world were interested In the
4 - - - t.s-
ssel. 1t was an achievement that at
4 tracted worid-wide interest. Naval
experts were daily visitors at the
yard where the work was carried on.
! three engineers from Japan being
| among those who observed IL. With
! the scarcity of tonnage and its con-
sequent value the feat was one Of
exceptional importance.
As guides in their work the re-
builders only had a small scale out
! line of the vessel, deck plan and
photograph-pretty meagre infor-
nation. And yet when the freighter
came of the dock the new section
had been so skillfully built on that
the water lines and sheer lines, van
ished into the old portion of the
hull SO perfectly that no one could
detect that 20 per cent of the hull
had beeh renewed
Cut In Two BY ASuitsniaL
The Lord Dufrerin while at anchor,
| was rammed by the Aquitsnia, inbound
with returning troops. The razor
like stem of the big liner cut the
freighter completely in two at .
point about twelve feet forward of
the poop deck and just aft of cargo
hatch No. 8. The after portion of
the vessel including rudder, stern
frome, propeller, tail-shaft, stern
tube, two lengths of intermediste
shaft and machinery and fittings in
the section, was lost. The work of
salvage was promptly begun by the
Merritt Chapman Company, the
, vessel successfully raised and, with
the aid of pontoons, towed TO Erie
Basin and placed in thes craving
| dock. Survey showed that about
sixty-four feet had been cut of and
| as IL was assumed thatsthe missing
| section would be probably in good
enough condition TO put back in
place, efforts were made to salvage it
Divers explored the harbor bed for
a considerable area, but after their
| several attempts were unsuccessful IL
was decided to abandon the original
section and fabricate a new one.
Three molds were taken Of the sound
portion of the hull. at equal distances,
just forward Of the cut New lines
were then run for the new stern and
faired up to the satisfaction of the
owner and surveyors. Molds were
then made of all frames. beams. floors,
keelsons, stringers, tanks, tunnel re-
cess, bulkheads and deep-plating. A
few days later this material had all
been fabricated and was ready to be
put In position
Task OF RecsnstFucfion.
The task OF erecting the otter por-
ton of the vessel was then COM
menced. Meantime. the stern frame
had been manufactured and was set in
place Immediately after the vessel had
been placed In dry dock a second
time. 1t may be mentioned that the
entire stern overh&ng of the vessel.
from and including the transome
frame aft, had been assembled and
riveted together on shore and after
being hoisted in place was secured on
stays. The counter OF the ship weighed
about twelve and one-half tons, while
| the stern-post weighed approximately
eleven and one-half tons.
While this work of reconstruction
was under way the propeller tail
shift stern tube. intermediate shafts,
! bearings. hand steering gear, rudder,
fittings, winches and accommodations
| were being rushed to completion so
that there would be no delay in their
installation as soon as the work on
the hull had advanced far enough
to receive them. Following the erec-
tion Of frames, floors, beams and
stringers, templates were made of
| the shell plating. This was immedi-
ately fabricated, hung on the ship
and riveted in place, the entire Job
being completed in eighteen and a
half working days, Sundays and holi-
days excluded.
Helped to Win the War.
During the period that the United
States was at war the Todd Shipyards
Corporation. in it's repair yards in
New York harbor, handled the tre-
mendous total OF 1000 900 tons OF
shipping. Its contributions TO the
war-winning resources OF the country
were of unusual value. --...
The first convoy of transports to
carry mon of the American Expedi-
| tionary Force 70 France Included rner-