Norwich bulletin., 1921-11-26
HOW THE wARsHlPs WOULD BE scRAPpED.

them apart and would be expert in the
 use of the tools or machinery to be employed. Moreover wholly aside from
 the issue presented by the arms con- II ference, it is truism, that 1T the
 United States is to have great mer-
 chant marine, necessary corollary or
 such an institution is the scrapping |
 plant.
 Getting down little into the de-
 tails of the idea, the first questions
 naturally would relate to the special
 equipment, if any, scrapping plant
 would require The first desireratum, |
 it is said is a bench, not a system of
 drydocks, as in ship repair. The ship to be destroyed is first beached in shallow water, when the superstruc- ture is taken down by means of acety- | lene torches. As the mass grows lighter 1 1t is lowed or pushed farther inshore
 until finally all has been reduced. The
 resultant is, of course, chiefly scrap | iron and steel, but in the case of Am
 erican naval vessels, steel of the best quality, which may be either remelted
 or reshaped by rolling. The pieces are
 transferred to lighters by means of l the cranes which every well-equipped lighter carries, and then taken to tine railroads for shipment or, in the most
 fortunate circumstances, to the steel plants which will make them over. The
 lighters draw very little water, conse-
 quently it is feasible to establish scrapping plants on the banks of riv-
 CTS barely deep enough to float the
 ships to the shore before they are beached. The plant naturally must not
 be located at exposed points, but all the important harbors are landlocked. It is important to this proposed un- dertaking that the scrapping plants should be near blast furnace points, : that the cost of transporting the pieces by rail be not too great-Bos- : ton, it is understood, figures in the territory which is available for loca- tions So of most of the great Atlan- tic and Pacific seaports. The prob 5. lem of using the lighters both ways l. is practical one, and in this connec- : tion the peculiar availability of a port } like Mobile the lighters would come 3 to that port. loaded with coal and iron } Or steel for export, and might retain : laden with raw material freshly deriv- l ed from the condemned vessels whfcf } are being broken up-but this is de-
 tail. The Chamber of Commerce, U S s. A., it may be said, is now engaged 3 in compiling list of the ports whicf would appear to afford suitable loca . tions for the establishment of scrap e ping plants. The Quincy, Mass, dis e trict may be cited as a case in point Il for the United States before long vii = do a huge business in the repair O : ships, and the scrapping plants ma! = be regarded as natural feeders fo s yards where vessels are constructet = or repaired.
 d It may be needless to say that onl, e steel vessels are contemplated in tn e new scrapping scheme, as not enougl e metal could be derived from woode s, vessels to pay, while the shaped woo l. entering into the construction of tn IS wooden hulls might cost too much | Is reshape. As to profits in the propose X. business, they evidently would be sat n isfactory. Steel is selling at somethin k, like .$19 ton; and the British recent IS ly sold 110 ships at an average pric = of s10 ton. From 10 to 15 per cen It must be allowed for the removal ( h certain stores or parts before the buy Id CT gets down to his salable wares; br at in one transaction already contemplai Id ed by an American concern a net pro ze l fit of 150 per cent is expected.