The Semi-weekly leader., 1922-08-12
ARMY OF men
SCRAP WARSHIP
New Industry Supplants Building
Of Fighting Vessels Along
the Delaware River.
MANY AWAITING DISMANTLING
Philadelphia, Birthplace Of Many
Vessels, AIsO to BE 1craveyard"
Of fNavy's Fighting Ships That
Have Become Obsolete.

Philadelphia.-A new industry
scrapping of old warships-has sprung
up along the Delaware river, where
not SO long ago more than 100000 men
were working feverishly to help build
a bridge OF ships" across the Allan
tic to check the progress of Germany
in the World war.
Philadelphia, the birthplace of many
of the vessels, also is to be the grave
yard" Of a number of the navy's fight
ing craft, discarded because they have
become obsolete. Later, when the
scrapping program of the arms con-
ference becomes effective. many more
ships will be added to the list. Hun
dreds Of men are engaged in turning
the steel from the discarded ships
into materials for the construction
of buildings, tools, locomotives, auto
mobiles and other peace-time uses.
Many Await .DismantIing.
In one Delaware river shipyard
alone there are awaiting dismantling
the battleships Maine, Missouri and
Wisconsin, the once proud first-class
cruiser Columbia, the monitors Ozark,
Monterey and Tonopah and countless
destroyers, Eagle boats and smaller
craft.
Powerful oxyacetylene torches
welded by masked workmen are be-
ing used to cut through the 11-inch
steel turret armor of the Maine, while
125-ton crane was used to take out
its 12-inch guns.
Further along the yard little obso-
lete submarines with paper thickness
shells are being ripped apart with
prosaic chisels to the accompaniment
..-of the gatling gunlike staccato Of
compressed air hammers. The mon
itor Monterey, an improved edition Of
Ericsson's gallant Monitor of Civil
war fame, with its surface flush deck.
rapidly is being converted into billets.
It's 10. and 12-inch rifles, however, still
appear menacingly through the tur-
rets of Its squatty superstructure as
they did In the early '90s when the
vessel was one Of the most powerful
battle craft afloat.
"Grandfather" of Submarines.
A little submarine, Al Plunger,
grandfather" of the modern subma-
rine cruiser Sal, Is awaiting scrap
ping. Creature Of the brain of ]. p.
Holland, the early trials of the Al
were the subject of almost as much
ridicule and scof1ng as marked the
first efforts Of Robert Fulton and his
steamboat on the Hudson river.
The most precious "junk" obtained
from the ships Is the copper, gun
metal, navy brass, manganese bronze.
lead and zinc. Complete destruction
is not necessary in the case of all
the craft. The hulls of some of the
torpedo boats will undergo trans
formation to adapt them to peaceful
pursuits. This already has been done
with the destroyers Truxton, Worden
and Whipple, which will ply between
the United States and Central Ameri-
ca carrying cargoes Of fruit.
Engined with kerosene OIL burners,
they will be large cargo carriers and
of such light draft that they can navi-
gate shallow rivers on high tide and
lay off plantations for loading, there
by eliminating lighterage cost. Their
clean lines give them great speed,
which makes unnecessary the expen-
sive refrigerating system used in
slower fruit boats.