The Wilmington morning star., 1946-01-24
KIWANIANS HEAR
SHIPYARD STORY

AS a rule, figures are cold and
colorless to the average citizen,
/ but members of the Wilmington
Kiwanis club yesterday found that
the facts and figures on the work
of the North Carolina Shipbuilding
company were not only enlighten'
ing, but highly interesting as well
W. S. Mcmahon, assistant to the
general manager of the company,
was guest speaker at the regular
weekly luncheon meeting of the
club at the Friendly cafateria and
during the course of an instructive
talk, he presented resume OF the
work at the yard from the day the
first shovel of earth was turned
until the present time when the
company is engaged in turning out
a quota of six passenger-frelght
ships for the Grace Line.
At the outset of his talk, Nc
Mahon traced the merchant ship
ping situation as it was in 1889;
of efforts made by the government
to get supplies to Allied nations
and of subsequent adoption OF q
modified design of an ocean-type
vessel approved and paid for by
the British. Initial orders for this
type of ship totaled 60 with 90
being built in New England yards
and the rest in Canada. Mcmahon
said.
The stabilized design of ship
having been agreed upon, the
Maritime Commission besieged
shipbuilders of the nation for in
creased production. The Newport
News Ship Building company,
parent of the North Carolina COM
pany, at the time was wholly COM
mitted to production for the Navy,
but finally agreed to establish an
other yard and in September 1910,
Wilmington was selected as the
ideal location for the new yard.
Mr.. Mcmahon then went on to
tell of the awarding of the first
contract here, that for the building
of the yard which was received
along with an order for Is Liberty
ships. This first contract was
awarded to the company on Feb.
4, 1941 and on Dec. 6 Of the same
year, the first ship to be built
here was launched. Five more
were behind that in construction
and enlargement of the yards and
building of ships went hand in
hand.
Construction Of the first IS ships
built here, the speaker said, was
slow but steady. Production was
gradually stepped up and the rate
of deliveries increased until in
May, 1943, II ships were turned
out complete. Three piers were
placed in operation and nine ship
ways constructed, enabling the
company, Mcmahon said, to in
crease their building program by
some so per cent.
By following automotive assem-
bly-line methods, the company
reached a point of production
whereby only 80 days was required
from the time of keel laying until
the ship was sailing under her own
operating crew.
With the turning point Of the
war in sight, the government turn
ed attention to a more permanent
type of vessel and the yard here
subsequently received a contract
for a large number of these dry
cargo ships which required altera-
tons to the yard. The first con-
tract for CPS was received late
in 1943 and some weeks later, the
first of four, 1.-THE Storm King"
was taken over by her crew here.
The Navy took four of these
ships, then four more.
Preparations were then made
for the building of AK-A's, a spec
ial type ship.
Turning to more recent produc-
ton results at the yard, the
speaker pointed out that the CO
type vessel built here, has proved