dadanaly A SCENE AT HOG ISLAND WHIEN SNOW AND ICE PRESENTED ALMOST INSUPERABLE HANDICAPS TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF 50 SHIPWAYS 30,000 men. BEFORE IT WAS POSSIBLE TO PROCEED WITH EXCAVATION WORK AT HOG ISLAND LAST WINTER, IT WAS NECESSARY TO THAW THE GROUND WITH LIVE STEAM At any other time and in almost any other place it would have been logical to wait for the weather to moderate, but with the Huns marshaling their forces preparatory to launching their great spring drive, all America was spurred to the limit of its capabilities in hurrying the construction of a great cargo and transport fleet. responding multiplication in the demand for tonnage, perhaps we have reason to feel that we are doing more than we anticipated when the original war shipbuilding program was laid down. But tomorrow we will do better. THE COST OF SHIPBUILDING AFTER THE WAR Now that new, modern steel steamers are being delivered to the Shipping Board, it is possible to look ahead a year and see increased efficiency in our ocean supply service. We shall have big transports running at good speeds, with beef ships, tank ships, and steel freighters. A large proportion of these vessels will be oil-burning, with turbines, comfortable quarters for crews, and other improvements. It will then be possible to standardize operation and increase turn-around at ports, serving the American soldier in France with less tonnage. Cost of building ships in American yards after the war should compare favorably with costs in other countries. We shall have great yards for fabricated ships and quantity production. These will put the industry on a sound footing, an entirely new basis, and we shall do on the ocean what we are already doing on the Great Lakes-build and operate ships more economically than any other nation in the world. Moreover, we will have enough shipbuilding business so that all our yards can specialize on one or two classes of ships, as is done abroad. In the past our few merchant shipyards built almost anything that was ordered, from a tug to a floating dry-dock. That was a fundamental handicap in cost, due to our small volume of shipbuilding. OVERLOOKING HOG ISLAND AFTER THE WORK OF CONSTRUCTION WAS FULLY LAUNCHED There are almost enough miles of railway within the limits of this shipyard to construct a double track between Washington and Baltimore THE 50 SHIPWAYS AT HOG ISLAND, EXTENDING A MILE AND A HALF ALONG THE WATERFRONT It will require 70,000 freight cars-a train 550 miles long-to convey the material which will enter into the construction of the 180 ships to be built for the United States Shipping Board at this gigantic shipyard THE WOODEN BARRACKS FOR WORKMEN AT HOG ISLAND RESEMBLE THOSE OF AN ARMY CANTONMENT At no other shipyard was the housing problem so serious as at Hog Island, owing, primarily, to the fact that the plant was located on an inaccessible site some miles outside of Philadelphia. Railway and strect-car lines had to be built before any large group of men could be set to work erecting temporary living quarters. |