Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-16
HOG island power
!. FAILS, 75OO IDLE
work ON Half Of SO Ships on
Ways Stopped by
Breakdown
SECOND TlE-UP IN 2 WEEKS

..o,t ZOO of the %, 900 shipbuilders
=. ,bc Hog Island yard are idle today
nooonse ~ on of The sudden cutting off of cleo
~ nower. due to breakdown at the
Christian street plant of the Philadel-
.Lio Electric Co. Work on half of the
.hirty.six ships on the ways has
stopped. -. :, .
r,oeks caused by power shortage. The
sh;nyard was shut down for two days
on The other occasion because Of n
breakdown in an electric plant.
Officers of the American International
sbinbuilding Corporation say that the
cbinyard will be running with full force
Wednesday.
Ar fine Christian street plant of the
philadelphia Electric Co. 12,OOO 'kilo-
,ratt INIT is out of order. making it
necessary to reduce the $4,000 kilowatts
If electricity usually supplied daily to
the shipyard.
Part Of Yard to Work
While the power shortage continues,
forces will be kept at work at half of
tbo ways. in the shops, on the fitting
ont of piers and in the offices.
During the war. although the cleo
tric company furnished the ship yard
with from 10000 to 10000 kilowatts of
electricity daily, there was no inter
rnption of service.
&. At present there are on the ways
twenty eight steel cargo carriers and
eight troop transports.
The American International Ship
building Corporation will turn over Hog
Island to the Government by September
at the very latest. This announce
ment was made by officials of the COM
pauy. There are at present thirty six
sbips on the ways and fifteen in the wet
basin partially outfitted. Every one of
these will be ready for sea by Septem-
ber 1.
Launch Ships. in June
The ships now on the ways will all
be launched by the middle of June. In
side of six weeks from that date they
will all be outfitted and ready for sea
service. TO date Hog Island has de-
ivered TO the government seventy one
ships By September it will have de =
livered 100, including 10 cargo carriers
and twelve troopships. Eleven of the
latter are for the army and one for the
navy,
Meanwhile speculation is rife as to
. the ultimate destiny of the great yard,
More than % 900 employees are vitally
interested. They will all be out of
work bye September ! unless the ac-
tiyities of the yard are continued in
some other form.
There is little question but that the
yard will be offered for public or pri :
vate sale. 1t is urged that it be annexed
TO Philadelphia for use as port ter
minal or taken over by some private
corporation of the responsibility and
magnitude of the Bethlehem Steel Co.
the United States Steel Corporation, the
du Pont company or a group of the big
railroads.
81 manxious to findLa way of keep
Ing the $4,000 Hog Island shipyard
workers employed, but at present | dc
not sec clearly what can be done with
the plant
Governor Sproul. discussing the
future of Hog Island today, suggested
that some big corporation might be best
fitted 10 handle the great plant created
# there for the building Of freighters and
transports. Il am afraid it would not
ming as a shipyard," said the Governor.
times. There would not be n sufficient
demand for ships to use Hog Island's
full shipbuilding capacity.
1T would seem that the best use to
which Hog Island could be put would
be to establish great terminus there
ike the Bush terminal in New York. II
would be an expensive undertaking
which perhaps the railroads or some
great corporation could best handle. l,
must be remembered that the buildings
nov at Hog Island are only temporary
and of frame construction. They. woulc
have to be replaced in few years
Whoever buys Hog Island will have tc
be prepared to spend a lot of money
on it.
81 am interested in the outcome, ant
have given lot of thought to tn,
matter. 7 expect to continue to do so
and hope that 1t will be possible to ar.
ri,.n III