Evening star., 1935-09-11
$500 NAVY YARD
CIVILIAN WORKERS
ASSURED Of STAY
Ordnance Required for 23
New Warships Means
Jobs Until 1899.
LIGHT CRUISER BIDS
TO BE READVERTISED
Number of Employees to Vary
According to Needs, but Pro-
gram Assures Big List

The jobs Of most Of the $500 civilian
workers at the Washington Navy Yard
are insured until about the middle OF
1899, according to the present set-up
Secretary of the Navy Swanson
made awards for % new warships
Monday and announced bids would be
readvertised for a light cruiser, with
an award to follow shortly after early
October if the figures are satisfactory
Thus the workers here secured a new
lease on their jobs, for guns and other
ordnance equipment for the warships
are constructed at the Naval Gun Fac
tory in the Washington Navy Yard.
officials close to Rear Admiral
Joseph r. Defrees, commandant of the
navy yard, explained that the present
program Of ordnance construction for
the new vessels already contracted for
would continue about two years. With
the ordering of "a additional ships,
however, the work program here will
be continued about a year and half
beyond that-bringing the close Of
present work in sight to around the
middle Of 1889.
$500 Employment Figures.
The employment figure here is ex-
pected to be stabilized around the
$500 mark, it was said. There will
be variation of a few hundred up or
down, as different stages of gun con-
struction are reached in the program,
they explained. For instance, after the
toolmakers have made the tools for
carrying the work forward, there will
naturally be dropping of in the
employment of this craft, they said.
Preliminary work for the new "a
ship program is expected to start
shortly on designing ordnance for the
vessels. This will be dovetailed in
with the present program Of ship con-
struction, which is keeping three
shifts busy "a hours a day at the
Washington Navy Yard. Different
types of craftsmen are needed as the
work proceeds and the officials at the
Washington Navy Yard arrange their
program so as to have the guns ready
for the new ships when the con-
tractors are prepared to install them
| aboard the vessels.
80 WarShips Under Way.
At present 80 warshipS are being
constructed in private ship yards and
80 in navy yards. They are in vary
ing stages Of completion. The Of
flcials estimate there are $4,000 now
employed in the private yards and
$4,000 in the navy yards
Actual construction of the "a new
ships is looked for early next year.
In the interim construction materials
will be assembled from the various
subcontractors at the ship yards and
everything made ready for the keel
layings. Where ships are being COM
pleted and jobs were running out,
| workers in some of the yards will
be employed on the new construction.
AS the building Of the ships proceeds,
various types of workers are needed,
just as IS the case in the Washington
Navy Yard on gun construction, where
the craftsmen and toolmakerS get
first shot at the job and then other
skilled workers follow along to bring
the work to completion.
Full Treaty Navy by l942.
The ordering Of the "a new war
ships is in line with the administra-
tion's desire to have a full treaty
Navy by 1912. A striking Illustration
Of this will be seen on Saturday at
the Boston Navy Yard, when for the
first time in Is years a double launch
ing will take place. The two new
! deStroyerS are the 1,500-ton sister
ships, Case and Conyngham.
Miss Muriel Rodgers Case Of South
Orange, N. j., great-granddaughter of
Rear Admiral Augustus Ludlow Case,
will christen the Case, while Mrs. Alice
Conyngham Clifford johnson of Sc
dalia, Colo, will sponsor the vessel
to be named in honor of her great
yreat-grandfather. Capt. Gustavu
Conyngham.