STEEL SHIP CONSTRUCTION FROM A MANAGEMENT VIEWPOINT. 



' By Creighton Churchill, Esq., Member. 



[Read at the twenty-seventh general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held 



in New York, November 13 and 14, 1919.] 



A matter of intense interest to the shipbuilding industry of the country is its 

 abihty to compete with foreign yards during and after the period necessary to pro- 

 vide tonnage to make up for war losses and the normal increase during the period 

 of the war. 



Published records show 21,800,000 deadweight tons of shipping lost since the 

 beginning of the war, during which time 15,700,000 tons were constructed, making 

 a net loss of 6,100,000 deadweight tons. The rate of construction for five years 

 prior to the war was 2,300,000 tons per year, which, it is anticipated, will become 

 about 5,000,000 tons per year until 1924 or 1925, when the rate of construction will 

 become a matter of replacement and natural increase due to trade expansion, prob- 

 ably somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000,000 tons a year. Naturally a very 

 large percentage of this will be steel construction. ' 



As of April, 1919, there were sixty-seven yards in this country with 425 ways 

 capable of building steel ships of over 3,000 deadweight tons. There were under 

 construction at these yards 637 steel vessels aggregating 4,225,000 deadweight 

 tons, and 591 vessels, aggregating 4,200,000 deadweight tons, yet to be constructed. 

 In this country alone, therefore, provision has been made to add some 8,425,000 

 tons to the world's shipping with a total yearly output of approximately 3,000,000 

 to 4,000,000 tons, depending on the type of ship. It is apparent, therefore, that it 

 will take about two years to complete the present program, provided it was spread 

 over the entire industry. This, however, is not the case, and it is estimated that at 

 the close of the present year from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of the country's 

 capacity will be available for contracts for private account. In other words, a ca- 

 pacity of from 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 tons a year will be released, and it is ton- 

 nage to this amount that must be built to meet immediate demands and at the pres- 

 ent prices of material and labor. If this business can be secured, it is the writer's 

 firm belief that the shipbuilders of this country will find the means to develop the 

 industry along modern lines such that its future will be assured. 



During the war, time was the very essence of all contracts, with expense a 

 less than secondary consideration. With conditions reversed and a reasonable time 

 to adjust themselves on a strictly economical basis, shipbuilder's will continue in 

 business only so long as they pay strict attention to factors under their control. It 

 v/as hardly to be expected that any great degree of man efficiency would be shown 

 as a result of construction during war time. In some few cases — those of old- 



