Evening star., 1940-06-23
Edwin Lsviek

This workers skill builds ships
On WASHINGTON. men sit over maps and
blueprints and lists Of figures showing
= plant capacities. These are the men who
hold the responsibility in the greatest hurry
up surge of defense building of American
peacetime history. America must have guns,
and bullets, and tanks. and airplanes. and -
ships. More ships Ships that cannot be built
unless there are shipyards ready and'equipped
to build them.
In the little city of Bath Maine, a ruggedly
built, baldish man named William S. Newell
walks through the shipyard of which he is the
president. The yards are a hive of activity.
Weders, joiners, shiptitters, carpenters - all
are busy turning out destroyers for Uncle
Sans Navy. William S. Newell goes back to
his office, jots down figures on piece of
paper The figures represent men and mate
rias. but they add up to ships, and more
ships.
Ever since colonial days, the city of Bath
has been building ships. Bath-built craft have
sailed the seven seas almost since the time the
first ship built by white men in America was
launched "A Bath-built ship is good ship,
has been saying among seagoing men for
generations. But, strangely enough, there is
only one reason why Bath today is building
ships. and is ready for her supreme effort in
behalf of American defense. That reason is
William S. Newell.
You can't toss ship together on the spur
of the moment You must have tools and
equipment tuned up to a perfect working
pitch You must have trained and able
organization of workers. And only few years
ago Bath had none of these things. She had
died as shipbuilding town. Her tools and
equipment had been junked, her organization
disbanded. her skilled workmen dispersed.
America had lost one of her Oldest and trusti-
est sources of ships And America, busy in
peaceful work. didn't give it second thought.
But William S. Newell wouldn't let Bath stay
dead. Almost snglehanded, he brought her
back to life.
Pete" Newell started as young engineer
in the old Bath Iron Works in 1902, during
summer vacation from the Massachusetts,
Institute of Technology. He rose through the
years to the job of works manager. That was
his lob in 1925, when the Bath Iron Works
gave up and closed its doors.
1t was bleak day for Bath. One by one.
the other shipyards of the town had gone out
of business - yards that only few years
before, during the rush of World War naval
building, had been so frantically busy that
the population had increased fifty per cent
almost overnight But now no more naval
vessels were wanted And American harbors
were cluttered with surplus merchant ton
mage. Shipbuding seemed a doomed business.
A Losing Fight
In 1922, for the first time within the men,
ory of the oldest inhabitant, not vessel was
launched in Bath. In 1923 and 1924, a trickle
of work "a couple of barges, few light
ships some small yachts kept the Iron
Works, alone of all the Bath yards, in exis-
tence But it was losing fight. In 1925 the
creditors foreclosed.
Bath without shipyard! To Newell to
all Bath, it seemed almost incredible. Rumors
spread through the town that some New York
people planned to buy the plant for junk -
the fine equipment that had turned out some
4 L. "a 0-kh dir