Evening star., 1941-10-23
Big Shipyard Trains
Apprentices in Strict
And Thorough School
Newport News Plant
Conducts 4-Yeur Course
For 700 Chosen Youths
BY DON WHITEHEAD,
The Stars Special News Service.

Youth and age have teamed up on
the big job of building Americas
greatest battle fleet.
Fuzzy checked youngsters fresh
from the farms and small-town
main streets work shoulder to
shoulder with the gray-haired vet
Grams in this teeming shipyard
which has been building ships for
more than half a century.
They are lads like slender Mitchell
Willis who came up from Anderson,
S. c., three months ago to take his
first job-and oldsters like Jimmy
Linkous, a shipwright with 43 years
experience.
Most of them come from Virginia
and the hills of North Carolina but
many are from distant States.
Hitch -hiked from Montana.
One hot June day a youngster
trudged into the Newport News
Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. plant.
He had hitch-hiked from Montana.
Overshoes covered the holes III the
soles of his shoes. He had slept in a
hayrack the night before. He was
fiat broke-and hadn't eaten for "a
hours.
But he was determined to get a
Job building ships. And so ne was
taken into the plants apprentice
school,a unique institution for train
ing young men in the ancient trade.
More than TOO boys now are en-
rolled in the Apprentice School
where they are paid while they learn
to be shipwrights, electricians, cop
persmiths. ship riggerS, craftsmen,
machinists or any one of many other
trades.
They go to work the day they are
enrolled and for four wears they
work side by side with the veterans
to learn the business or actual ship
building Those with special apti-
tudes may take an additional years
training and emerge an engineer.
so Apply in Week.
Guy Via, 1910 graduate at Vir-
ginia Polytechnic Institute, is ST.
pervisor of the training. He receives
some so applications a week from
youths wanting to enter the school,
but the requirements are strict and
students are chosen with care.
Once the shipbuilders came from
yards on the Hudson, from Phila-
port News had to depend on So
called suitcase mechanics who were
here today and gone tomorrow.
I'VE could see no reason why the
boys of this section couldn't be
taught to build as good ships as any,
where" Mr.. Via said.
He has devised charts of progress
which experience has proved, he
says. will show, whether a boy will
be good engineer, a good fore
man, a supervisor-or a failure.
The students must be between the
ages of II and 81, unmarried. in
good health, and have high school
education including full credits in
algebra and plane geometry. Fam
lily background and character are
considered, too.
Wage Rises Each Year.
During the first six months the
apprentice boys receive 81 cents an
hour for an 8-hour day, and each
succeeding year the wage rises 10
cents an hour until the fourth year
they receive "a cents an hour. They
are paid time and half for any
overtime.
This enables the boys to earn
enough money to live in comfort
able, decent surroundings" Mr.. Via
says. 1--WE try to give them as good
living conditions as they would have
at home, or better
These budding shipbuilders are on
probation during the first six
months while the instructors deter
mine whether they are mentally and
physically equipped to succeed in
the trades chosen.
They must conform to company
rules and regulations, be diligent
properly inside and outside the ship
yards. never use intoxicants. and
remain unmarried during appren-
ticeship.
In the first three years they at
tend schoolroom classes, studying
mathematics. English, industrial &C.
onomics, mechanical drawing, prac-
tical shipbuilding, mechanics of
materials and other subjects related
to the shipbuilding industry. A
passing grade of go per cent is re-
quired.
Sports Program Organized.
Their outside activities are super
vised and they are encouraged to
take part in the community social
and religious life. They have an
organized sports program and after
work hours the football team prac-
tices on the gridiron just outside
the plant fence. The coach is
Frank Dobson, one-time University
Of Richmond and Maryland football
skipper.
The school has a 50-piece band
which lends collegiate atmosphere.
There's an excellent gymnasium,
and a 100000 dormitory will be
completed soon to house out-of-
town students.
AS a result Of the Apprentice
Schools training program. the sud-
den expansion of shipbuilding did
not catch the Newport News plant
with a lack of trained craftsmen.
The school has graduated more than
1900 students and they hold many
of the responsible positions in the
yard.
Il figure we've got ample manage
rial talent trained for the next 20
years. said Homer L. Ferguson,
president of the shipbuilding COM
pany. THE school is one of the