New Britain herald., 1919-05-12
GREAT LAKES YARD
 LEADS IN SHIPPING
Ninth District Produced 163 Freight Carriers During 1918

Washington May 12.-First bonors in the building of ships d,riro, IL
 war have been awarded hy the sbin- ping board to the ninth or croo+ Lakes district. Held by canal ,oc+.;.
 tons to a lighter type Of vossa1 tl,a,- ~ was built on the seaboard +bo ti' 5te trlct did not produce so n,.n- ul
 tons as other sections, but o,,+s+,.;,a1s all other districts in the n,r,Lo,, shlps. 1n one year it put into service l2o more vessels than were dn1ivorod rom all American yards in inc vasr before the United States entered +ha war. ON ''io
 At the outbreak of war cre.+ Lakes yards which had developed hlghly eh1c1ent type of cargo car r1er' were at work on 100 bottoms for lorelgh account All were reuuis- CloAeu oS lhe shipping board and the llrst snip turned over to the board un- der it's war program was the T,imooee @''oo Coh Irelghter, built at Toledo. TWenty-seVen ships were finished and put to sea before the canals froza in 1917.
 While winter gripped the Lakes new work was continued and +bo ox isting fleet, even old boats which had been laid up, were overhauled. Sum- mer saw every available craft worked and oVerWOrked as never before Keeping the stream of grain, iron ore, coal and manufactures moving toward the east, for shipment to the men in Europe. At the opening of naviga- ton, 20 ships slipped from the ways and work was carried forward at in creased speed. I'm Novem Der a total of 28 ships-nearly one a day-was put into service by Great Lakes wards
 The total for 1918 was 163 new freight carriers, all of them steel ex cept one. The smallest yard on the Lakes, having only three ways, deliv- cred 13 ships and finished a four teenth only a little late for delivery before the ice closed navigation. Be tween the end of November and the end of March, six more were launched All were 4,2O0 ton boats.
 One yard built a $500 ton ship in S4 days. Another launched a 3,40O ton hull in 28 days, a record which was clipped to 24 days by another plant soon after. That record stood but a little while, for still another yard launched a $500 ton ship in IT days after the laying of the keel and delivered it complete IA days later.
 Expansion of the yards to meet the wars demands gave the Lakes a total of 112 berths 79 for cargo ships and 33 for tugs. While the average total number of rivet gangs in the Great Lakes district is only ten per cent. of the nations total, they point proudly to a record of delivering 30 per cent. of the country's total ship tonnage.
 Additional contracts for 346 ships of 4,200 tons each have been placed in the district since the last requisi- toned ship was finished in October, the program to be completed by the 1 close of navigation this year. Since l the signing of the armistice 100000 ] tons of shipping have been delivered. ! Orders also have been placed in the l district for 25 steel sea going tugs, 13 wood sea-going tugs, two steel harbor 1 tugs and 39 wood harbor tugs.
 Completion of the building program according to officials will give the l Lakes district a record of 447 cargo ships and 79 tugs delivered to the government, the largest number of ships and the largest tonnage built in 3nv district