Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1922-06-16

re,t work I'm the naval disarmament
nrogram ia being started In earnest.
The conference itself is history ana
the men who reduced 10 writing the
agreements are engaged In other al
fairs. The actual scrapping OF tho
ships Of war, il just beginning. IL is
a. lob which is making the United
States the seat Of the biggest Junk In
dustry the world ever has known.
Disrnantiing n battleiiiip II task
second only to building ono. battle
ship is designed 10 Withstand destruc-
ton. In war It is it's function to en- |
dure the pounding OF the heaviest |
shells which the ingenuity OF man has
invented, 10 soy nothing OF the pound |
ing Of the seas. And now, under the
disarmament treaties. a whole feet Is
TO be destroyed.
Practically all Of the work is TO be |
done in private yards Of junk men or
shipbunders. a Philadelphia firm
made the government a proposal TO
take over the entire fleet scrapped by
the treaty, but az a matter OF public
policy It was decided not 70 give the en-
| tire fob 10 ono company. However,
/ this company has obtained the job OF
rcrapping several battleships and
number OF smaller vessels. Among
! the important warships 10 be scrapped
ut Philadelphia are the battleships
Missouri. Wisconsin. and Maine. the
cruiser Columbia. the cruiser Raleigh.
which was with Admiral Dewey at
Manila Bay. and the monitor
Monterey. Tho junk company's yard
IN on the waterfront and IL now Is
Gdredging a channel deep enough 10
receive these great ships.
The most useful implement in tho
destruction Of an armor-ciad battle
ship IS the oxy-acetylene torch. This
is a device which shoots a fame OF
extremely high temperature into a
mass Of steel and cuts II as knife
cuts bread. These torches are used
Is cutting the huge arinor plates into
commercial shapes and sizes. The
pneumatic drill and the chisel are used
in the Remembering OF lighter parts.
and a pcnderous Misunderstanding
? between a trip-hammer. and A pile
drivers used 10 crush and break up
? large blocks Of metal into smaller.
Material For Automobiles.
. Battieships are made Of the best
quality Of material and therefore have
J., a large value as junk Arnor plate
Ia made OF the finest nickel steel. This
q IS cut into billets and sold to auto
, mobile manufacturers who renake
, the material into engines. springs and
o other parts requiring great strength
The heavy machinery used in operat-
8 ing gun currents is sold TO raanufac-
@ turcrs CT farming implements or 70
|. iron foundries. There is much copper
- brass. gun-metal. bronze. lead, zinc
and manganese on a battleship. These
s are all used in shipbuiding as we'll as
i" in other lines Of manufacturing. Wher
3, taken from the battleship they are
q sorted and sold TO dealers or direct &C
:, manufacturers
All the material Is as carefully sor.
o ed and graded as now metal r q
stacked IN neat piles and classiHe,
l. by shapes and sizes. Experience ma.
n taught the junknan the best form
VI into which 70 convert their material
1t 70 attract buyers and the big noderi
junkyard looks moro like a depart
le nent store than the ordinary back
4, yard junk piles OF small dealers. T
Ut make the required sizes, crocodil
shears are used. These have Jaw
which cut with a ten-ton presslr
Also, tangled fragments OF lighter ne
terias are pressed into blocks in
-, eort Of mould on which an enornor
pressure Is exerted.
While great fighting ships OF u
Navy Will be reduced absolutely
| scrap some od the lesser craft will
disnlantled only so far as hghtiY
- equipment IS concerned. This hulLs w
be used for merchant ships, new !,
terror arrangements being effected
be make them suitable FOR the carrying
cargo. Three old destroyers. the Tru
ton, the Worden. and the Whip
he which were retired some time ag
have been rebuilt as merchant shit
and now ply in the fruit trade b
ay tween the United States and tropic
America. Many of The destroyers a
fast, oI-burning ships and are easi
rs. susceptible Of conversion into passe
ger or cargo ships.
A modern battleship costs $4,000
" 600 or more, as junk it brings n
more than one one-hundredth pa
Of that sum. The battleship Maine W
bid in as junk for s4S, 1000. There a
not many persons or companies w
'eo are in the market for second ha
ley battleshsps and the buyer must
IT'S, sard rs part Of the price he pays {
be enormous cost Of the wrecking. VIII
,lic the seller OF the second hand flghtt
ships gets little in proportion to origin
cost. the ultimate cost 10 the junkm
is many times what ne pays for :
n complete vessel, Almost as many m
are required 70 take a ship apart
10 put one together.
Il More than half a million tons Of {
II American Navy are being scrapr
y under the disarmament treaty and 7
junk Is TO be handled in such a W
that many people will ride in auton
hiles. sail in ships, Use electrical q
planes and use tools which forme
II constituted parts Of the great ships
Other Junking Enterprises.
Il Is the greatest and most spect,
ular junking enterprise which I
followed the war but there are ma
others. The Government bought
II tremendous quantity of material