Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-02-16

Continued From First Page
menace She is among the first of
many scores to be produced to
guard precious cargoes en- route to
1ar-flung battle fronts Soon they
will be launched at the rate of
several each week. In size. the ship
is rated between our new heavy de-
stroyers and the 173-foot sub
chasers. In fighting ability she is
about equal to destroyers of the
last war, The boats are prefabri-
Gated, built in a hurry at more than
twice the speed of destroyer con-
Struction.
Giant tank and troop landing
craft were shown that would dwarf
equipment used to launch the North
African invasion. These monsters
have wide range and have been pro-
duced by the scores. The tank
boats themselves are capable of
transporting sufficient equipment
for a good-sized battle.
The Navy unveiled the products
of three yards in this section, the
Boston Navy Yard, the New Beth
lehem yard at bingham. Mass, and
the older Fore River plant of the
same company at Quincy.
A mass production yard, Hing
ham is an impressive tribute to
American industrial genius. A year
ago the place which now is teeming
with activity was all swamp and
meadow. Already the yard has
completed program of dozens Of
landing craft and now is launched
full steam into an escort vessel pro-
gram SO large that it would cause
Hitler's most intrepid submarine
captain to seek retirement.
Quicker Than Kaiser.
The navy yard at Boston can
produce almost every type of COM
bat ship. In the category of news"
there are escorts, giant destroyers
and huge landing boats. The plant
has speed as well as versatility.
Naval officials told of speed rivaling
the miracle work of Henry j. Kaiser,
the West Coast shipbuilder. In
fact, Boston has beaten Mr.. Kaiser.
On one contract, for landing craft,
let to Boston the same day the
Kaiser company received a similar
one, they told how the navy ward
launched its first boat three DAYS
ahead. The craft was commits
stoned % days before Mr.. Kaiser's
first.
Fore River, one of Americas finest
privately-oWned shipyards, right now
is the birthplace of giant aircraft
carriers, In addition to the Lexing-
ton, soon to join The feet and named
for the big 'flattCp" lost last Nav
in the Coral Sea, there S the Bunker
Hill and others in various stages of
completion.
During our inspection of the
Lexington, the skipper of the sister
ship, a veteran carrier man, said:
We are building these ships so
that We can take them out, do
job and bring them back home. The
craft are far superior to anything
we have at sea so far The weakness
of our old carriers was a. tendency
to torpedo attack. In building these
ships we have taken precautiOn
against fire and torpedoeS. The
underwater structure is tougher Our
men have confidence in fire preven-
ton equipment installed"
Carriers Speedier.
The Lexington and her sister ships
are 25,000-ton boats and capable of
blowing through seas at faster clip
than any of their predecessors. The
armor is strong and the armament
impressive, especially the protection
against aircraft.
Escort vessels of the type under
construction here are the ones in
volved in Washington's battle Of
priorities." in which Rubber Director
William M letters fought the Army
and Navy for equipment to complete
his synthetic rubber program. The