The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-02-19
As Tons Of Grease
Used To Launch Ship
'Iowae Biggest Fighting BattIeship Ever Produced;
Took Two and a Half Years to Complete

ouch q Uruguay building Q battle
ship like the iowa, which / climbed
around IN Brooklyn Navy Yard this
week?
SO far as we know, this Is the
biggest fighting machine ever pro-
duced. It has been two and Q
half years building thus far, and
that Is at rush pace that has cut the
usual time by months. They used
As tons Of grease TO slide her down
the ways at the launching.
This q the first Of our a, OOO-ton
battle monsters. We are air minded,
but we also know that when other
nations have battleships we should
have them too. we are building six
Of these Of the Iowa type. saw
two partly finished OF Brooklyn. The
New Jersey was launched In De-
cember. The Wisconsin and Illi-
nois are building at Philadelphia,
and the Kentucky at Norfolk. AL
though the Navy has not released
any official data regarding these
ships, they are repeatedly $50 feet
long - which is 200 feet shorter
than the old Normandie. They
have nine and a half acres Of deck
and platform space. Climbing up
to the top Of the control tower Is
like climbing halfway TO the top Of
the washington Monument. Only q
nation with large industrial facil.
ties could build half a dozen Of
these titans at one time.
In construction the Iawo has been
modified time and again to take
advantage Of lessons learned In the
Pacific fighting. Nine Of the 16-inch
guns and 20 Of the 6-inch guns give
her the top heavyweight wallop.
She bristles all over with Bofors
and Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. !
remember about ten years ago going
on the shakedown cruise Of the
ARIZONA, which was sunk at Pearl
Harbor. She had Just been mod
ernized to meet demands Of air war
fare as II was then known. The
new Iowa bears little resemblance
to that modernized Job Of ten years
ago.
Two Of these $4,000 onners and
q number Of smaller ships are being
built or overhauled In Brooklyn
Navy Yard. That Is q gigantic In
duStrial community In itself, EN-.
ploying many thousand people,
filled with high buildings, and clut-
tered with enormous swinging
cranes.
You can't make 16-inch guns in
O village blacksmith shop. The
heavy armor-plate turrets, as big
as o house and filled with complI-
Gated machinery, can't be made ex-
cept In enormous steel works. The
driving machinery, the shafts and
turbines are the products Of great
industrial organizations.
1t Is the same on land. Only o
big nation can made the artillery,
the tanks, the motorized equipment
that modern armies must have. The
brave little Firms, the brave Nor
wegians, the brave Dutch, the brave
little any people are just brave little
people unless they can get the war
tools In large quantities from some
big nations.
war now can only be the busi-
ness Of a very few nations - our.
selves, Great Britain, Russia Ger
many and Japan - because those
are the only nations with the in
dustrial strength to fight modern
war. China has everything but
the industry - which Is why Nine.
Chang Kai-Shek Is here pleading
for 500 planes or whatever 1t Is she
wants.
When this war Is over, only three
nations will be capable Of waging
war - ourselves, Great Britain, and
Russia The problem Of peace Is the
problem Of these three industrial
powers with China) keeping a
monopoly Of war tools, and enlist
ing the assistance Of all other like
minded nations in using that power
to make civilization secure instead
Of destroying 1t.