OCR Text |
Show Aeit1 Type Aircraft Carrier Launched j Alazon Bay Hits Water in West; Design Is Secret. ' VANCOUVER, WASH. The first ' aircraft carrier ever launched on j the West coast slid into the Columbia Colum-bia river carrying with it the high ,' hopes of President Roosevelt that ! the fleet of which it is the vanguard van-guard would play a vital part in the i United Nations' prosecution of the j war. Although previous reports had la- j beled this type of carrier as de- j signed chiefly for convoy duty, Hen-ry Hen-ry J. Kaiser, the builder, described the Alazon Bay as "the first of a great fleet of floating airports which may in truth carry the battle to the enemy in his own land." President Roosevelt's deep interest inter-est in this new type of carrier, most of the specifications are military secrets, se-crets, was evidenced in Mr. Kaiser's Kai-ser's speech. The ship-builder inferred in-ferred that it was at the direction of the President that the maritime commission ordered the fleet built. "In the very moment when this ship 'seems to feel the thrill of life along her keel' the materials for another will be moving up by plan and direction toward these ways. If all the channels through which flow the essential supplies are kept open, your efforts could be rewarded reward-ed from three to six times every month by a similar christening and an ancient prophecy might be fulfilled, ful-filled, that these your children of iron and steel 'will speak with the enemy at the gate.' " Mr. Kaiser's promise of "three to six" carriers a month, that is, up to one every five days, was dependent, de-pendent, associates emphasized, upon materials and manpower. The next carrier, it was indicated, would be launched late this month. |