244 HOG ISLAND, THE GREATEST SHIPYARD IN THE WORLD. 



In May, 19 17, General Goethals, who was then general manager of the Emer- 

 gency Fleet Corporation, discussed with the officers of the American International 

 Corporation of New York the program then laid down by him of utilizing to their 

 maximum all of the" existing shipbuilding yards and, in addition to this, the con- 

 struction of new shipyards in which several million tons of ships could be manu- 

 factured faster than they had ever been produced. 



For several years prior to the war, the total output of all the yards of the 

 United States only once exceeded 500,000 deadweight tons per annum, but it was 

 believed that these yards could be crowded up to produce 2,000,000 tons. Still, this 

 was not nearly enough, as it was figured that we needed at least 5,000,000 tons 

 simply to maintain an army of 1,000,000 men in France, to say nothing of getting 

 them over or of increasing the size of this expeditionary force. In other words, 

 it seemed that we must have, simply to supply our own immediate needs, some 

 3,000,000 tons at the very least, over and above the amount which the established 

 shipyards could produce in a year, and the question was how this tonnage should be 

 secured. 



It was admitted that the old methods of construction were inadequate to sup- 

 ply the unprecedented demand, and it seemed that the only way to make good the 

 deficiency was to build a standardized fabricated ship which could be made in quan- 

 tity. This method of construction contemplated the utilization of going shops all 

 over the country, in which the various parts and pieces of apparatus could be made 

 and the shipyard itself could give its entire attention to the assembling of these parts 

 or units. 



It was not until June 30, 19 17, on which date the Urgent Deficiencies Act was 

 approved, that the Emergency Fleet Corporation was in a position to act upon the 

 tentative plan submitted by the American International Corporation, and, due to 

 changes in the personnel of the Emergency Fleet Corporation and for various other 

 reasons, the execution of this contract was deferred until September 13, 1917. 



The plan, as it had been outlined by the officials of the American International 

 Corporation, was the construction of a mammoth ship assembling yard and the build- 

 ing of numerous ships, all of the same design. In other words, the scheme was to 

 build a very large manufacturing plant and then to undertake the quantity or "mass 

 production," as our English friends call it, of one type of standardized, fabricated 

 ships. 



This meant the design of a simple ship, one in which the plates, sections, 

 angles, etc., could be punched and fashioned in the structural steel and bridge shops, 

 for these were the only steel working plants available. The "fabricated ship" was not 

 a new idea, nor was it developed over night, but, as a matter of fact, the germ lay 

 in embryo form for years and only the national crisis caused it to be hatched full 

 fledged to meet the sudden exigency. 



Many of the old shipbuilders ridiculed the plan of the American International 

 Corporation, saying that the scheme was impracticable, that the shipyard was too 

 large and that the plates punched and bent in so many different shops would not fit. 



