HOG ISLAND, TFIE GREATEST SHIPYARD IN THE WORLD. 247 



per way could be built each year. The conclusion, therefore, was reached that fifty 

 ways, operated in ten groups of five ways each, would be adequate and workable. 



The experience of the New York Shipbuilding Corporation indicated that it 

 required only about half as long to outfit a boat as to get it ready for launching — 

 this ratio of course being more or less flexible — so that to have ample room for 

 outfitting, a wet basin with seven piers, each i,ooo feet long and accommodating 

 four ships, or a total of twenty-eight, was planned and a general utility pier be- 

 tween the ways and the outfitting piers was decided to be advisable. 



It was expected at the outset that Hog Island would build a vessel of only one 

 type, this being the 7,500-ton, ii^^-knot cargo ship, 400 feet long and 54 feet wide, 

 and the original plans and estimates were made on this basis, but the second order 

 for ships given the corporation was for an 8,000-ton, 15-knot combined troop and 

 cargo ship, 450 feet long, 58 feet wide. This change made many alterations in 

 plans necessar}^, added much to the cost, and prolonged the time of completion of 

 the yard. 



Looking at the plan of the yard as it is now being constructed, the track lay- 

 out excites interest, and a study of it shows its simplicity. As ships were to be 

 manufactured in quantity rather than built singly, it was evident that adequate 

 storage space must be provided for piling up plates, sections and other parts so 

 that they would be ready for immediate use. The plan of storage adopted was 

 that of piling together all plates of the same kind or number, and it was hoped 

 that material for twenty-five boats might always be "in stock" so that the manu- 

 facture of ships might go on uninterruptedly, and the storage space was laid out 

 on this basis. Unfortunately, however, this ideal has never been reached, for while 

 there are sizeable piles of some material, the stock of other shapes is still small. 



The loaded freight cars come in on a branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad at 

 the northwestern end of the yard from one of the three trunk lines, and enter the 

 main classification yard, where they are sorted out. These cars then discharge the 

 steel in one of the two main storage yards, that for the "A" or 7,500-ton boats goes 

 to the "A" yard and that for the "B" or 8,000-ton boats goes to the "B" yard. 

 Each shipway, it will be noticed, has a track running down its full length, and each 

 outfitting pier has two tracks on it. Tracks are also carried to each of the ware- 

 houses and to all the shops. Then there are also two smaller yards, called the 

 "C" and "D" yards, which are primarily for the storage of material other than 

 steel. The total standard gauge track within the shipyard aggregates 80 miles, 

 and the company operates 450 of its own cars, as well as 20 locomotives and 70 

 locomotive cranes. 



A casual observer of the plan of the track layout might criticise the "neck of 

 the bottle" which appears between the "A" and "B" yards. The answer to this 

 criticism is that, while provision has been made for additional tracks at this point, 

 the actual operation thus far shows that they are not needed. It will also be noted 

 that each warehouse and each outfitting pier has a roadway on which materials 



