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Show THE 38,000 ACRE FARM THAT WENT TO SEA 2- , . , What It Takes in Farm Acreage to Put a Cruiser In Uncle Sam's Service That 10,000 ton cruiser stalwart member of Uncle Sam's great fleet took a lot of farming before she rolled off the ways bound for ocean duty. Ten thousand men spent a solid year building her. Food from 38,000 :acres about 10,000 tons . helped 'them maintain top speed and efficiency. ef-ficiency. Over 250,000 pounds of . cotton cot-ton and 25,000 pounds of wool went ;into clothes for those workers say (1,200 acres of cotton, and wool from 3,000 sheep. Another 250 acres grew Itobacco for 3 million packs of cigarettes. On the job, the shipbuilders laid some 207 acres of soybeans on that cruiser in the form of oil for paint to make her shipshape. Before she started on her first shift of ocean duty, more farm acres did their share in outfitting ship and crew. Now she's carrying about 125 tons of food, a year's production from some 425 acres. Almost 3,000 sheep are represented in the blankets under which the crew sleep. Many acres of cotton cot-ton went into the making of mattress mat-tress ticking, bunting and canvas, can-vas, and more cotton helped outfit out-fit the crew. So did lots of wool from lots of sheep. Ropes and hawsers so essential to her efficient operation were woven from American-grown hemp. When her guns fire their thunderous thunder-ous salvos they draw on her stores of some 120 tons of explosive powder. pow-der. That powder required 176,000 pounds of cotton linters and alcohol made from 530 acres of wheat, or instead, perhaps, from 70 acres of sugar cane. Yes, it took a lot of farming and a lot of farmers along with the welders and riveters and carpenters and engineers. Today she's one of Uncle Sam's watchdogs of the ocean lanes, that 10,000 ton cruiser. She's 38,000 acres of might and fight. She's the farm that went to sea. v r ": ; . JHC- " 1 I ' f" . " I J .r. v; rr r rif. ivg?Kggl5rZstti . - , j Is ) ;u urr-- -i : : pjXft1' Ut"-' ,!--4!'c Lff' ill ' ' " X" That sleek, swift 10,000 ton cruiser whose eight Inch guns will speak so loudly for victory takes a heap of farming to put it on the high seas. Story at left gives interesting details. |