The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-11-25
FIVE BATTLESH|PS'
 G0 ID SCRAP HEAP
Work Of Junking Vessels Must Begin This Month
 Under Treaty


 , tleships, once the pride of the United States navy, are now in the hands of the junkman, along with five bat tleships and battle cruisers the con- struction of which stopped when the treaty was signed Eleven more capital ships, afloat or in the ship yard are to be sold by the end of November. For the ten ships already sold the government has received $6oT, ,664, of which sum less than half is credited to the sale of the five ships afloat. The original cost of these five was between s25,000,000 and 30,000,000.
 A new era in the steel ship scrap ping industry will begin not later than December 2, when the Georgia and the Rhode Island are towed away from Mare Island navy yard and the Connecticut from the Puget Sound navy yard to the marine sham bles. where they are to be dismem- bered. It will be the busiest period the industry has known since the battleship Maine was scrapped, thir- teen years after her sinking Tn 11a- vana harbor.
 By the terms of the contract, eleven capital ships must have entered the melting furnace by January IT, l925 The scrappers have fourteen months to accomplish their task. If 1t is not then completed the government has the right to take back what Is left of the hulks and resell it.
 EauIpmen Alrendy Removed.
 The navy has already removed. or rendered useless for war purposes. such equipment as is prescribed un- der the disarfn ament treaty. and has retained all navigating Instruments, The purchasers nse required to re- move and deliver certain other equip rnent whose use on other ships is not prohibited, such equipment ip~ cluding electrca! engineering appa- ratus, guns, breech mechanisms, sec ondary mounts, small arms, turret gear. fire control geG- and torpedo material. There remains. with boil CTS engines, piping, wiring, hoists and other machinery. 8 recoverable tonnage of about two-thirds the rated displacement of the ship when in commission. The Rhode Islands normal displacement was 14,94S tons. The purchaser will derive from her 9.165 tons of salable material, of which 60 per cent will be heavy steel scrap. 10 per cent light steel scrap, and the rest brass. copper, lead, iron, aluminium, nickel, tin, zinc and wood Metal Pot To Peaceful Uses.
 As scrap the battleship will re-
 
 was poured. From that furnace she will emerge a second time as metal 10 be used in the utensils of peace In 1925 the New Jersey or the Long. Island commuter may ride to Man haitian on rails whose steel has plowed the waters of the seven seas. carried President Roosevelt to Pan- anna. and known in the ports of the world from the Golden Gate to the Golden Horn. The club car in which the banker reads of events in chaotic Europe may be made of the steel that formed part of the armor of the Delaware when she patrolled the North Sea with the British Grand Fleet in the World war. And the song of many teakettles will be echoes of full steam surging through high pressure tubes at Vera Cruz.
 fanclful suppositions, perhaps. But there is no fancy in predicting that tRe Annapolis midshipmen will view future football games from a sta dium constructed partly of the mas siYe stanehions, deck plates and gun supports originally intended for use in four battle cruisers that were to have no superiors in the world And deep down underneath a new hotel in Manhattan the boiler that once re- sponded to the call for more speed as the Georgia bucked the hurricane
 
 motive power for hoisting machinery. To Enter Industrial Ranks.
 Valves. bolts. ventilators. electric cable and it's rubber or lead sheath ing, cast-iron fittings and joints, metal doors. pumps. steam and hy draulic; miles of piping and electric wire, and tools of every description Will be enlisted in the ranks of in dustry and manufacture, of buildinc. and commerce. Much of the materisi will be sold intact to ship chandlers, who in turn will sell it for spare parts or for replacing wornout or broken parts on tramp freighters. MORE
 Most curious of the many uses to which the scrap metal will be put is one that was not in the thoughts of those who signed the treaty. That l1a Is the commercial rehabilitation ot> Germany. Shipments of copper last August from the United States to Germany were nine and one-half millions of tons. In spite of the con dtion Of German finance. that coun- try is buying copper wherever she can find it. Some of the English warships scrapped since the war were sold direct to German firms and have been broken up in Ger many under British supervision The Germans will be in the market Ipt Sucl as they can get Of the thousands of tons of copper scrap from the American war vessels.
 0 O O
 Cutting Up Tkc Ships.
 The oxyacetylene torch will do the work of cutting tip the battle ships much more economically than it could be done by the methods of a generation ago. The end of this modern tool which reminds one, in It's appearance and the angle at which it is set, of q woodpecker's head and bill. has six orifices set in a circle around hole in the center, which Is termed the cutting jet. The acetylene gas passes from tank throgh a tube into the blow pipe and is distributed so that flames of equal size and heat in tensity are projected through the six oriflces against the surface to be Va u uw<A ~