The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-01
Navy 'DraftS" MiIIionaireS' Yachts And Luxury Liners As Floating Bases
CONVERTING PEACETnE SHIPS TO WAR USE IS COSTLY PROCESS
BY MILToN BRoNNER

NEA Service Staff Correspondent
 Washington, Crack luxury liners, goldplated nillionaires' yachts, stur- dy freighters-these are some of the salt water vessels that are being talk en from their peaceful pursuits these days, extensively and expen- sively overhauled, and added to the U. s. Navy as an auxiliary part of the fighting fleets.
 And that's the new drama of the Sea-the drama of naval prepared ness that takes the greatest home built passenger liner like the Amer ica" and makes of 1t a transport for soldiers and marines. Or takes Harold Varderbilt,s yacht "Vara," converted into 8 submarine chaser. It's 8 drama that is costing hun- dreds of millions of dollars on top of what is being spent for the fighting vessels of the expanding American navy.
 These converted ships are called by the humble name of "auxiliaries," but no navy could survive for long F at sea if 1t were not for those same auxiliaries. When a battle fleet is at its home station, it gets all its supplies from the naval base. But when the fleet is at sea, the auxil- iaries form what is virtually a float ing naval base for the fighting ships.
 They carry almost everything the latter will need. Transports carry soldiers and marines for landing parties. Hospital ships are ready to care for the sick and wounded. The tankers, officially called "oilers," carry fuel oil for the boilers of the warships, Diesel oil for submarines, lubricating oils for the machinery, and gasoline for the fleet air arm.
 One-time freight vessels, chang ed so their former owners would hardly know them, have become am- munition and store ships, seaplane tenders, submarine tenders and de- stroyer tenders. Yachts are now submarine chasers or dispatch boats. Fishing trawlers have become mine sweepers. Other smaller, swifter vessels, like the yachts, have been converted into submarine chasers. TENDERS VITAL
 TO NAVY'S ARMS
 A seaplane tender is designed to serve as 8 mobile base for 24 large naval patrol seaplanes which may be either bombers or scouting planes. It permits the patrol planes to ac- company the fleet wherever it goes. They are, however. not carried by the tender, but the ship is equipped to hoist plane on deck for repairs and also to pick up damaged planes. It has barracks for the crews of the planes and also carries supplies of gasoline, bombs and spare parts.
 Destroyers are comparatively small vessels with a considerable part of the interior devoted to engines and boilers. They carry 8 large arma- ment of guns and torpedoes which necessitate operation by 8 compar- atively large crew. There is, there- fore, small room for adequate quar- ters for the men and for the stor- age of necessary food and other things. That is where the destroyer tender comes in. It is the mother ship" where extra supplies are kept and where the officers and crew can have better bathing and sleep ing quarters.
 What is true of the destroyers is even more true of submarines. Hence the submarine tender which takes care of supplies and also has resting quarters for the parts of the crews who alternate in going aboard her. Sea-going fleet tugs are used when the fleet goes through narrow straits or narrow entrances to har- bors. The freighters, converted into ammunition or general store ships,