New Records in Shipbuilding

Forty-four Ships in One Month

New records in the production of ships by the United States and the United Kingdom were established during the month of May, 1918. American shipyards completed and delivered to the Shipping Board forty-three steel ships and one wooden ship, representing, in the aggregate, 263,571 deadweight tons. These figures do not refer to launchings, but to ships fully equipped and ready for service. The month's work in the United States in comparison with previous months is shown in the following table of tonnage produced:

1918. Tons.

January 88,507

February 123,625

March 172,611

April 160,286

May 263,571

The May deliveries comprised thirty-nine requisitioned steel vessels, four contract steel and one contract wooden ship. In the last six days of the month there were delivered one wooden and fourteen steel ships, totaling 82,760 tons. The best previous week was that ended May 4, when the deliveries totaled 80,180 tons.

Launchings kept pace with the number of ships completed. Among the vessels launched in May was the Agawam, the first "fabricated" ship in the world, "fabricated" being the technical term applied to ships built from numbered pieces made from patterns. Approximately 27 steel mills, 56 fabricating plants, and 200 foundries, machine, pipe, and equipment shops were engaged in the production of the parts.

On June 1 it was unofficially stated that there were in operation by the United States Government 2,200,000 deadweight tons of shipping engaged in the transportation of troops and supplies and in kindred work for the army. Reviewing the shipping situation as a whole, Edward N. Hurley, Chairman of the Shipping Board, in an address on June 10, said:

On June 1 we had increased the American-built tonnage to over 3,500,000 deadweight tons of shipping. This gives us a total of more than 1,400 ships, with an approximate total deadweight tonnage of 7,000,000 now under the control of the United States Shipping Board.

In round numbers, and from all sources, we have added to the American flag since our war against Germany began nearly 4,500,000 tons of shipping.

Our program calls for the building of 1,856 passenger, cargo, and refrigerator ships and tankers, ranging from 5,000 to 12,000 tons each, with an aggregate deadweight of 13,000,000. Exclusive of these, we have 245 commandeered vessels, taken over from foreign and domestic owners, which are being completed by the Emergency Fleet Corporation. These will aggregate a total deadweight tonnage of 1,715,000.

This makes a total of 2,101 vessels, exclusive of tugs and barges, which are being built and will be put on the seas by the Emergency Fleet Corporation in the course of carrying out the present program, with an aggregate deadweight tonnage of 14,715,000.

Five billion dollars will be required to finish our program for 1918, 1919, and 1920, but the expenditure of this enormous sum will give to the American people the greatest merchant fleet ever assembled in the history of the world, aggregating 25,000,000 tons.

American workmen have made the expansion of recent months possible, and they will make possible the successful conclusion of the whole program. From all present expectations it is likely that by 1920 we shall have close to 1,000,000 men working on American merchant ships and their equipment.

We have a total of 819 shipways in the United States. Of these, a total of 751, all of which except ninety are completed, are being utilized by the Emergency Fleet Corporation for the building of American merchant ships.

In 1919 the average tonnage of steel, wood, and concrete ships continuously building on each way should be about 6,000. If we are using 751 ways on cargo ships and can average three ships a year per way, we should turn out in one year 13,518,000 tons.

The total gross revenue of our fleet is very impressive. From the ships under the control of the Shipping Board a total gross revenue is derived of about $360,000,000.

An appropriation of $1,761,701,000 for the American merchant marine was provided in the Sundry Civil bill reported to the House on June 10 by the Appropriations Committee. The amount recommended for ships and shipping was $1,282,694,000 less than the Shipping Board requested, but Chairman Sherley explained that receipts from the operation of ships could be devoted to building charges, and that no curtailment of the building program was contemplated. Of the Shipping Board total $1,438,451,000 was for construction in this country, $55,000,000 for building American ships abroad, $87,000,000 for establishing shipyards, $60,000,000 for operating ships heretofore acquired, and $6,250,000 for recruiting and instructing ships' officers.

As the result of an agreement between the United States and Japanese Governments, twenty-three Japanese ships, aggregating 151,166 tons deadweight, have been chartered to the United States for the allied transport services. On June 4 it was announced that twelve Japanese ships, obtained either by purchase or charter, had arrived in Pacific ports and were being transferred to the Atlantic Coast.

More than 400,000 tons of ships were released to the United States and the Allies by Sweden under the terms of the commercial agreement signed at Stockholm by representatives of the two Governments. Under a modus vivendi, in effect for some months, the War Trade Board had permitted exports to Sweden in sufficient quantities to meet immediate and urgent needs.

The shipbuilding situation in the United Kingdom has shown considerable improvement, as seen in the following table of merchant vessels, in gross tons, completed in British yards and entered for service:

BRITISH SHIPBUILDING

April, 1917 69,711

May 69,773

June 109,847

July 83,073

August 102,060

September 63,150

October 148,309

November 158,826

December 112,486

January, 1918 58,568

February 100,038

March 161,674

April 111,533

May 197,274

It should be noted that the British practice is to express merchant shipbuilding statistics in "gross tons," whereas in the United States and some other countries the figures are recorded in "deadweight" tons, which is a much higher figure.

The total ships completed in the shipyards of the United Kingdom during the twelve months ended May 31, 1918, were 1,406,838 gross tons. The corresponding figures for the year ended April 30, 1917, were 1,270,337.

Raising torpedoed ships has become a considerable source of increased tonnage for the Allies. According to a report of the British Admiralty Salvage Department, made public June 17, no less than 407 ships sunk by Germans in British waters were salvaged in the years between January, 1915, and May, 1918. Up to December, 1917, 260 ships were recovered. In the first five months of 1918 the number salvaged was 147, the increased rate being due to improved methods.

Among the difficulties encountered was the danger of poisonous gases from the rotting cargoes of sunken ships, which sometimes caused the loss of lives. One salvage ship was torpedoed while working on a wreck, and sometimes the work of weeks is destroyed by one rough sea. Feats performed by the Salvage Department include the raising of a large collier sunk in twelve fathoms of water and involving a dead lift of 3,500 tons. Another vessel was raised fifteen fathoms by the use of compressed air.