The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1919-05-09
BRITAIN BUILT
ONLY 1,245 SHIPS
IN LAST Year
7ecord for 1918 Far Below That
of 1918.
FEW Liners ARE LAID DOWN

lrtW LIVEuO HNI LHlD OVWV
Tonnage for 1918 Was 1,s76,411' az
Compared With 2,2es,s33 for 1913
Wonder Work OF the War Period
Il Found In Naval Engineering
Build Wonder Warship Capable OF
outrunnino and outsunning Any
thing Ahoat
Some remarkable figures are now
available Of war work In the British
shipbuilding yards. No records are
broken In regard to shipbuilding as
q whole. In that respect the COM
prehensive statistics given only con-
arm knowledge of the slow progress
which is being made In replacing the
losses Of the war period.
The total output Of the United
Kingdom during 1918-naval as well
as mercantile-is given as 1,245 YES
sells of 1,S76,411 tons and 4,349, 26O 1.
b. p. The tonnage is disappointingly
low after all that had been heard of
speeding up processes, the Inaugural
ton and organization Of government
programs of construction, arrange
ments for supplying materials for the
yards and for obtaining skilled arti-
sans from the fighting services, and
all of the advantages in the way of
expediting output which were to fol-
low the introduction Of standardized
and fabricated and assembled ships.
The fact is, of course, that no Of
fetal programs can be carried out
without man-power, and the man.
power Of the shipyards of the United
Kingdom Is not capable of maintaining
and increasing the effective strength of
the British navy-as 1t had to be main
tanned so long as Germany was a
naval power which had to be reckoned
with-and at the same time Of in
creasing mercantile output at the ex-
ceptional rate which would have been
necessary to cope with the German
submarine menace In its work in its
most virulent form.
Far Behind 1888 Record.
The figures now published show that
the work of the United Kingdom
shipyards In 1918 was far behind that
Of 1913, which was the record year
and also the last complete pre-war
year. In those twelve months the
total consisted of 1,474 vessels, Of
2,26S, 1888 tons and 2,661 ,26O 1. h. D.,
30 that while there was the extraordi-
nary increase over the previous United
Kingdoms best Of some 100000 horse
power, there were decreases of 200
In number of vessels and of 367,522
tons In measurement of vessels
launched.
The increase In horse power Is ex-
planned, Of course, by the relatively
higher power of the machinery in
stalled In war vessels, especially in
destrOyers, as compared with merchant
vessels. and by the fact that a very
large number Of destroyers were built;
but the explanation of the lower tom
mage Ia to be found In another direc-
ton altogether-in the fact that it
has not been found possible to divert
from naval work, and especially from
naval overhauling and repairing, and
from the reconstruction Of those YES
sells which were salved after being tor
ped0ed or mined, sufficient number
Of men and sufficient amount of ma
terials to enable work on new mer-
chant vessels to make satisfactory
progress.
For II Is merchant vessels-really
tramp steamers-which make up in
normal times the great bulk of the
new British tonnage each year, and
although there were built in 1918 many
war" steamers Of standard types to
the order of the shipping controller.
the aggregate Of these was low In
| comparison with that Of merchant YES
sells In good years before the war.
Few Liners Launched.
Practically no large first class liners
were launched. This work was al
most wholly confined to the Belfast
and Clyde yards of Messrs. Harland
and Wolff. where five such vessels
were turned out. But of these the
largest were only of 1921 tons, which
Is not large when Il is compared with
the big Cunard, White Star Hamburg.
American, and other vessels which fig
ured In shipbuilding records In pre-
war years. The contribution of liner
tonnage to the 1918 total was, indeed,
almost negligible. while, Of coasting
vessels and other special service mer.
chant steamers there were remarkably
few.
The hopes Of large output rested
solely on the standard shipbuIldIng
program, and the war did not last
long enough to give It the chance for
which Lord Pirrie was preparing-the
chance Of proving that British ship
building could and would rise to the
height Of the great occasion. Whether
1t would ultimately have done so is
now only matter of academic dis
cussion. Certainly, so far as avail
able figures show, 1t did not seem,
when the armistice was signed, that
It was likely to do SO in the then near
future.