OCR Text |
Show FIRST MILLION T j OF SKDBMED Total of 159 Vessels Put Upon High Seas to Help Defeat Autocracy. WASHINGTON. May 14.-The first million tons of ships completed and delivered de-livered to' the United States government under the direction of the shipping board have been put on the high seaa to help defeat Germany. A total of 159 vessels of 1.10S.621 tons was completed up to May 11, according to statistics compiled by experts of "the shipping board. Since January 1 more than half of the total tonnage, 6GT,S9ti. has been delivered, and the monthly totals have shown a steady increase. Most of the ships delivered were requisitioned on the ways or in contract form when the United States entered the war. Virtually all are of steel construction. construc-tion. None of the ships of the great wood programme has been delivered, although forty-six have been launched, due to delay de-lay in obtaining boilers and other machinery. ma-chinery. The first completed wood ship built on contract for the government now is undergoing speed trials off the Pacific coast. Deliveries of ships made last week were made at Seattle, Sparrow's Point, Md. ; Chicago ; Ecorse, Mich. ; Wilmington, Wilming-ton, Del., and New York. The steel deliveries included one refrigerator re-frigerator ship, two tankers and five cargo vessels. The state of Maine during the week turned out its first wooden ship for the government, the Andra, a 3500-ton vessel built at Portland. Eight steel ships, totaling 48450. tons, were completed during the seven days ending May 11. Fourteen vessels were launched with a total tonnage of 57.100. of which eleven were steel with a total capacity of 32,100 tons. It was said tonight at the shipping board that boilers for about half the wooden hulls have been delivered and are awaiting installation. The board's policy of expanding old and efficient yards, instead of establishing new ones or increasing the capacity of those recently re-cently organized, which was announced several weeks ago, was said to be due to the growing necessity for more transports and tank steamers. The higher class of workmanship needed for passenger and tank vessels makes it virtually impossible impos-sible to build them satisfactorily in new yards. In the rush of putting the cargo ship programme under way, the specialized types of vessel were given scant consideration, con-sideration, but nfuture contracts will include in-clude a greater percentage of them. |