Evening star., 1941-08-11
U. 5. May GET 2-0cear
Fleet Two Years
Ahead Of Schedule
Use by 1914 Forecast
Barring Labor Trouble
Or Actual War
BY STERLING F. GREEN,
Associated Press Staff Writer.


The warship building speedup.
cutting construction time on new
men-of-wa an average of 121s per
cent for each vessel, will give United
>States its two-ocean fleet two years
earlier than originally scheduled,
Navy source said today.
Barring labor trouble or actual
war. the fleet will be substantially
ready" by 1914 to fulfill its intended
mission of defending the United
States from simultaneous attacks
in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,
a Navy spokesman said. The origi-
nally scheduled date was 1857.
Some of the II battleships author
ized, and perhaps certain other
large units will not be completed,
but by 1914 it was estimated that
the most powerful fleet the world
has ever known will be in readiness
for any possible hostile combination.
Deliveries Accelerated.
Double and sometimes triple-shift
work in navy yards and private ship
building plants, authorization of
overtime pay, and new worker-train
ing programs have begun to show
results in accelerated deliveries
which began to reach peak in June
and July. The Government is pay
ing the overtime in the IL private
plants building warships, for con-
tracts were let on the basis of a
40-hour week and 8-hour day.
In those two months, the Navy
announced, a warship keel was laid
every two days and a ship was
launched almost every week. Thirty
eight keels were put down. including
the big aircraft carrier Cabot, five
cruisers, "a destroyers and eight
submarines. In the same period
eight warships were launched, in
cluding the battleship South Dakota,
third Of the six new $4,000 tonners
to hit the water.
The optimistic forecasts were
hedged by Navy men, however, with
the proviso that no serious and
lengthy labor difficulties develop.
And it was noted that sudden in
volvement of this country in war
would disrupt the program-Secre-
tary of Navy Knox has declared
THE first thing we should do" would
be to suspend work on heavy units
to free skilled workers for produc-
tion of destroyers. submarines and
p1ona u,hicb GOULD ba y,,cI,od into
action with minimum delay.
Emphasis on Destroyers.
To some slight extent, emphasis
has already been laid on the de-
stroyer program at the expense Of
heavier ships, but progressive ac-
celeration is revealed nevertheless
in completion dates Of the three
new battleships North Carolina,
Washington and South Dakota,
built after an Is year halt in capital
shin construction.
The North Carolina, already COM
missioned and expected to join the
battle line this month, was about SO
months from keel-laying to launch
ing. The washington was on the
ways 81 months, and the South
Dakota, latest to be launched, re-
quired only "a months.
Without an attempt at stunt"
records like those achieved in the
World War, some shipbuilding per-
formances have been turned in.
The destroyer Edison was built in
10 months, compared with a NOR
NAL" two years. The Mare Island
(Calif) Navy Yard recently report
ed that the submarine fleet under
construction there was from two
months to a full year ahead of
schedule.
Navymen pointed out that the ef-
feet of each gain, however slight, is
cumulatively important in the vast
368-ship building program, for each
ship completed clears a shipway for
another vessel.