The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1922-09-05
UNITED STATES KEEPS
FAITH WITH NATIONS
UNCLE SAM IS DESTROYING
HUGE NAVAL TONNAGE IN
FULFILLMENT OF TREATY.
FILL IMMENSE GRAVE YARD
Once Proud Battleships Now Broken
Up For Sale AS Junk, Including An
Old Submarine Being Dismanteled
With Other Obsolete Ships.

Old Submarine Being Dismanteled
With Other Obsolete Ships.
Just how we'll the United States is
putting into practice its part of the
four power treaty in respect to the
limitation of ornaments agreement en-
tered into at the Washington confer
ence can best be seen by visit to the
Henry A. Hitner's Sons gigantic Junk
yard in Philadelphia. Here may be
seen the progress that is being made
in the actual scrapping of large part
OF the S45, 740 warship tonnage, Amer
ica'S total allotment of vessels to be
demolished.
What is left OF this portion of the
once proud feet of battleships, cruis-
ers destroyers, submarine chaSers and
submarines ride the waves or rest IN
the mud along the Hitner waterfront
on the Delaware river, with but a
sorry semblance of former greatness.
The heavy armor plate from the pre-
dreadnought type battleship Maine has
been removed from one side of the
vessel, leaving huge, gaping scar as
though shell-torn in battle.
Mark Huge Destruction.
Powerful cranes lift the steel plates
and other heavy parts from the ship to
cars on the dock where they are re-
moved to waiting furnaces. Among
the naval craft comprising vessels pur.
chased by the Hitners are the battle
ships Wisconsin, Missouri and Maine;
cruisers, Columbia, Raleigh and De
troit; destroyers, Stewart Perry, Cam
bridge, Barry, Dale, Paul Jones, Hull,
Lawrence, Truxtin, Smith and Deca-
tur. The monitors include the Ton
apah, Monterey, Ozark Canonicus,
Manhattan, Mahopic, Catskill, Jason,
Ajax Nachant, Miantanomah and
Puritan
The dismantlement of this huge tom
mage comprising the various units of
the United States navy, ranging from
the old and tiny Al Plunger sub
marine and the monitor Monterey,
built in 1887. to the pre-dreadnOughf
Maine, is not only the beginning of
new industry in this country, but
defense greater than that of Italy at
the beginning of the world war.
By the terms of their sale to the
craft may not again sail the seas in
any but peaceful pursuit, nor can
they pass from American registry or
ownership by an American citizen or
corporation. Much of the heavy ar
NOR was retained by the navy de-
partment for tests for navy rifles and
seaplane guns, and all of the rife
cannon once mounted on their decks
are to be distempered by heat and
then sawed into ingots and fed into
open-hearted furnaces.
In addition to the other warshipS
there are eagle boats, submarine chas-
ers, and mine sweepers, as well as
two old English troop ships, H. Nj. S
Malobar and Hotspur, which now lie
in the berths where the international
cup defender Columbia and Admiral
Farragut's old flagship, the Franklin,
which, with the Santee, Jamestown,
and Keystone State, were previously
wrecked by the Hitners.
How Ships Are Junked
The first step in dismantling bat
tleship is to remove the arRor plate in
sections weighing from rs 10 40 tons.
These are swung to an upright posi-
ton in the yard where powerful oxy-
acetylene torches pierce through the
II to Is inches of solid armor that
would have turned the most powerful
projectile OF a decade ago. cutting 1t
into small pieces for the furnaces The
valuable alloy content of nickel steel
in this scrap" makes it one cd the
most desirable by-products, and when
reforged finds its principal market IN
the automobile industry
The nerve centers OF the floating
fortresses are then attacked, the ma ?
chinery which operated gun turretss
ammunition hoists, refrigerating sys-
TEN, and all other intricate mechan-
sms are broken into small pieces,
readily handled by a single workman
This small scrap is for the most part
turned over to gray iron foundries to
be used in making agricultural imple-
ments, engine bases, and other low
tensile strength iron products.
One of the most valuable by-prod
ucts is the composition navy metal,
which is made up of SO per cent cop
per, 10 per cent tin and per cent
zinc, and has tensile strength of
10000 pounds to the square inch
Other precious Junk" is the copper,
gunmetal, manganese bronze, lead.
zinc. and navy brass, all OF which are
sorted into different grades, melted
up in smelters into ingot form, and
sold to manufacturers in virtually every
branch of the metal trade.