Arizona republican., 1919-01-08
EAGLE BOATS BUILT
 BY FORD PROVE A
 FORMIDABLE WEAPON

DETROIT, Jan. IA long. narrow wedge, with q steel-encased nose of solid concrete tapered to a knife-like edge. forming considerable part of it's total length of 204 feet, and declared to be capable of crushing any submarine such is the Eagle. built by Henry Ford and designed originally to help rid the seas of the menace of the German U-boatS
 Contrary to popular belief the Eagle is not motor boat, but an oil-burning, steam turbine driven craft, with q cruising radius of 5000 miles The Eagle is not a thing of beauty; beauty was not contemplated in its construc- tion. It is q long. guant 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 its own weapons. It was designed to depend rather upon it's maneuvering qualities. its powerful light guns. and a new American invention foP directing it's fire at unseen objects.
 Its crew including operating and fighting complement numbers approXi- mately 80 men
 To the observer, the first impression of the Eagle boat is one of wonder that craft so narrow can possess buoyancy sufficient to keep it upright in heavy , seas. Despite its length Of more than an average city block, the craft has . beam of only 25 feet, and draws when fully equipped less than ten feet ol water.
 It's seawoTthiness, has been demon strated in the official trials, according to reports to the navy department. | While it is admitted the Eagle does l not make the speed of the average de | stroyer, it is claimed that it can out ! distance most submarines and the "a | zorlike edge of the bow silently but | eloquently tells what would have hap l pened had it come in contact with the German undersea pirate. Built with utility as it's prime pur- pose, seemingly not an inch of space | is wasted in the fitting of the vesse and not an ounce of superfluous weigh enters its construction. When dropped into the water ready for the installation of its engines, guns, etc, less than POI tons Of material have been riveted to- 1 gether to shape the Eagle boat.
 The plates that form the shell of thu submarine chaser vary in thickness from one fourth to three -eighths inch ' and not a single forging or rolled bean enters their makeup. Everything i pressed from sheet metal, cold, b! means of machinery that cuts ever. piece to an exact pattern, punche rivet holes and bends the interior par to required shape.
 Amidships rises the deckhouse topped by the pilothouse, with radi quarters, and above all the connin tower with the crows nest at the high est point. Except for this superstruc ture. the deck of the Eagle carries al ways the stripped for action" appear ance.
 Tha> first Eagle boat was launche July II, 1918, and when the armistic ended hostilities early in November eighthad been completed and twenty one others were under construction i various stages of completion. Some c i these have arrived at Atlantic coas ports.
 Although the sudden cessation c
 hostilities deprived the Eagle boat
 of an opportunity to test their proves , against the German undersea terro , they are nevertheless become a pal
 of the American navy, the governmer
 having announced it's intention to us
 them as gunboats in coast patrol wor , and possibly in insular waters. The contract for the construction (
 the Eagle boats, which the governmer
 has announced will be carried out, cal for 100 of the vessels for the Unite States government and twelve for til :. French navy.
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