Daily Post - 30.09.1943, Blaðsíða 3

DAILY POST
3
D. S. Sbipbulding Goals For 1943
War Shorts
Washington:—Acting with
Presidental Roosevelt’s appro-
val, Senator Millard Tydings of
Maryland, has introduced a re-
solution in Congress to give the
Phillipine Islands their full in-
dependence. This measure is
planned to forestall Japanese
plans to give the Islands bogus
independence. The measure
would alter the original act
which would have given the
Phillippines freedom in 1946.
❖ ❖ *
London,—United States war
industry will soon be producing
one military plane every five
minutes, Donald M. Nelson, war
production board chairman,
said at a dinner given for him
by the British government. —
American war output in 1943
will be at least one and a half
times that of Germany and Ja-
pan combined, Nelson declared.
* * *
New York City.—ArchBishop
Francis J. Spellman, asserting
that Pope Pius 12th is a prison-
er of the Germans, asked for
prayers that the Church be sa-
ved from further persecution,
and that the Pontiff will be ab-
le to perform his duties. “He
is not free to communicate with
his archbishops and dioceses
throughout the world,” Spell-
man said. “We have prayed for
the Holy Father because his po-
sition is most difficult, and like
St. Peter of old, and like other
Popes of the Church, he is a
prisoner. While we have no
positive or concrete way of
helping him, we can remem-
ber him frequently and fervent-
ly in our prayers that the Lord
will bless him and enable him
to guide the church; and that
through Gold’s blessing the
Church may be spared further
persecution and further harm.”
Overseas reports by radio had
hinted that the Pope was suff-
ering restrictions at the hands
o fthe Nazis.
4: >1:
San Francisco.—Mrs. Eleanor
Roosevelt told reporters after
her return from the southwest
Pacific that enemy planes rai-
ded Guadalcanal on twó nights
before her visit. “I returned,”
said the President’s wife, “with
great respect for this young
American generation because of
its unparralled accomplish-
ments.
With 8,090,800 deadweight
tons of ocean-going cargo ships
built and placed in service dur-
ing 1942, the U. S. Maritime
Commission has scheduled the
construction of 18,890,000 tons
for 1943—a record-breaking ad
dition to the huge merchant
fleets which are building up for
the invasion of Nazi-held Eur-
ope. With the addition of mili-
tary and minor craft, the total
scheduling for 1943 goes a little
over 20 million tons. Such fi-
gures make the roaring Amert-
can shipyards one of the do-
minating factors in the war at
sea.
More than a year ago, at the
beginning of 194.2, deliveriess
from American shipyards aver-
aged four ships a week. By the
end of the year, they had rea-
ched the incredible rate of four
a day. By May end of the year,
they were approaehing six a
day. In the first five months of
1943, a total of 711 ships were
delivered, not many short of
the outpuc for the whole of
ij 1942. These tremendous gains
• in production were due largely
to co'icentration on ships of the
10,5U(J-ton I.iberty type, the
principal etnergency type for
this war. This simpúfi.ed and
standardized ship, extensively
prefabricated and assemb'cd in
large sections, representad a-
bout 80 percent of lasí year s
production.
May deliveries were 175
ships, totalling 1,782,000 dead-
can.e tnto product oo during
1942, and the lernaining íive
early in 19 G. C'uc oi the totai
of 60 yards which are building
merchant tonnage in the United
States, these 17 yards ere ori-
ginally reserved exclusively to
the Liberty-ship program. But
the production of Libertys has
been enormously speeded up.
It took an average of about 8
months to build the first Liber-
tys from keel-laying to delive-
ry. By January 1943, the aver-
age had been reduced to the
remarkable time of 521é days.
Because the Liberty program
can now be carried out with
weight tons Oí tliese. 12u were
Libirty ships. produced by i7
yards with a total ol 15-' buiid-
ing wavf Most of these 17
yards aro net'7 Oi.Iy two of
them delívered thei' first ships
before January 1942 Tcn more
fewer building ways, two of the
c 17 yards are being diverted to
tanker construction, and some
of the ways at two other yards
have for some tiihe been occu-
pied by special craft for the ar-
med forces. Even so, the ways
still reserved to Liberty-ship
construction will produce the
full quota of 1,300 Libertys
this year. Five himdred ships of
other types are also scheduled
for delivery this year. These
will be about equally divided
between the Maritime Com-
mission’s tanker types and C-
types. The tankers average a-
bout 16,500 deadweight tons,
with speeds of from 15 to 18
knots. The C-types are dry-car-
go carriers ranging up to 12,-
500 deadweight tons, with
speeds of between 14 and 16 Vi
knots.
Standardized Types
These are all standardized
types, oil-fired and turbine-dri-
ven, with duplicate generators
and pumps, gun emplacements,
and built-in degaussing belts
for protection against magnetic
mines; and the C-types are fitt
ed with electrically driven car-
go winches, extra large hatches
with two -or 10-ton cargo der-
ricks to each hatch, and forced
ventilation of the cargo holds
to eliminate the dangers of fire
and “sweating” on tropical
runs. All these types were de-
signed before the war for regul-
ar peacetime trading.
The Liberty, on the other
hand, is a wartime ship, design
ed for fast building my mass-
production methods. It is a sing
le-screw ship, with an over-all
length of 441 feet and a gener-
al cargo capacity of 9,146 tons.
Its hull is allwelded and its
construction is of the same
high standard as the C-types,
but it has been stripped of ev-
ery refinement of design that
might slow up production. To
by-pass a bottleneck in turbine
production, the Liberty was de-
signed for reciprocating engin-
es, and its speed is accordingly
10 or 11 knots.
Thirteen hundred Libertys,
together with 500 tankers and
C-types, add up to the total of
1,800 large cargo ships, aggre-
gating 18,890,000 deadweight
tons, which are scheduled for
delivery this year. In addition,
several hundred tugs, barges,
coastal vessels and other craft
will come off the ways this ye-
ar. Next year production will
be pushed up another notch.
Present plans call for the deli-
very of 2,100 large cargo ships
in 1944, of which about 1,700
will be emergency-type vessels.
It is probable that 700 of the
1,700 will be built to the fami-
liar Liberty design, and the re-
maining 1,000 to the larger, fas-
ter, and generally more effici-
ent Victory design which will
eventually supplant the Liber-
ty-
Convoy Experience Produces
Victory-Type
A great amount of con’voy
experience has been gained sin
ce the Liberty design came off
the drawing boards. It met the
demand for a type of ship
which could be mass-produced
in a hurry, and in fact some
astounding records have been
made in building Libertys. One
Pacific coast shipyard last No-
vember built the Liberty ship
Robert E. Peary from keel tp
delivery in the incredible time
of 7 days 1414 hours, a record
which has never been approac-
hed outside of Liberty ship con
struction and is hardly likely
to be.
But the original Liberty de-
sign did not allow for the
weight of guns and other protec
tive devices with which the Li-
bertys have since been equip-
ped. The result was an added
top hamper which necessitat-
ed a moderate increase in ball-
ast. Also the engine situation
is easier than it was when the
Libertys were designed. At
that time the Navy was taking
the high-speed marine power
plants for its own ships, and
the Libertys had to take a slo-
wer type of engine. The Vict-
orys will use a special type of
high-power compound steam
engine, giving a speed of be-
tween 15 and 17 knots. Beside
the extra margin of safety
which the higher speed will
provide, the Victorys will be
able to make more voyages per
year.
Fifty Million Tons by End of
1944
When the Maritime Commis-
sion took •over the job of rebu-
ildin gthe U. S. merchant mar-
ine in 1937, there were but 10
privately-owned shipyards in
the country, with only 46 ship-
ways capable of building ships
(Continued on page 4.)