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176 Now, that is a mere illustration of the continual conflict between the in- terests of a naval rendezvous, that is where men are assembled for dis- tribution, and recruited and trained to some extent in the performance of their duties, and where stores are kept for renewing supplies on vessels, and a place where industrial work is per- formed. If there were no other han- dicap in the way of the navy produc- ing battleships and other vessels at a cost equivalent to what can be ob- tained under contract, the cause that I have mentioned would alone prevent it. The navy has a very large invest- ment in the Brooklyn navy yard, in the way of drydocks and costly build- ings, some of which are very well adapted for the manufacturing pur- poses for which they are occupied. I venture to say that if all the features of the naval rendezvous were re- moved from the Brooklyn navy yard, that the efficiency of the yard for re- pairs and construction would be enor- mously increased, and for industrial purposes. Cutting Up a Wreck The tangled wreckage of the 1,800- ton steel freight steamer Alum Chine, which was destroyed by a dynamite explosion in the lower harbor of Balti- more, has recently been reduced to steel mill 'scrap with the aid of the oxy-acetylene cutting torch. This steamer was destroyed by an explosion of 300 tons of dynamite in its hold while loading a cargo for Panama on March 7, 1913. The violence of the explosion was so great that the en- tire forward part of the ship was blown away, the deck and _ upper THE MARINE REVIEW May, 1914 LIFTING HEAVY STERN SECTION FROM SCOW works being reduced to bits and scat- tered over the harbor and adjacent shores for a radius of several miles, while the major part of.the hull was thrown to the bottom in 33 it. of water. Pieces of steel 3 to 5 ft. long were found from 2 to 3 miles from the wreck. A survey of the site showed that the after part of the hulk, containing several hundred tons of steel, lay just outside the channel, covered by about 13 ft. clear depth of water. The entire upper works, boilers and engines were gone, and the steel beams and plates were badly bent and twisted. It was necessary to remove the wreck in or- der to protect navigation and a con- tract for this was let during the sum- mer to the Merritt-Chapman Derrick & Wrecking Co., of New York. An PILE OF WRECKAGE BEFORE DISMANTLING 80-ton steel floating derrick was de- tailed to the work. Divers were sent down to lay strings of dynamite which were exploded under the water so as to cut the hulk into pieces of a size that could be handled by the derrick. The sections were then lifted onto a scow and towed to the dock and yard of the Southern Iron & Metal Co. of Baltimore, which company purchased the steel from the wreck- ing contractors for disposal as steel furnace scrap. At the dock, the float- ing derrick laid down the 25 to 40-ton pieces of the hull in a huge pile, as shown in the accompanying views. Each large piece was a_shapeless mass, with the plates, beams and members bent and crumpled. Rivets could not be removed to good advan- tage since in many cases the flanges of angles or pieces of plate were bent over flat against them, preventing access to their heads. Most of the skin plate of the ship was 5é-in. steel, running to greater thicknesses in some portions along the bottom. The ribs and longitudinal frames were deep, built-up sections of plates and angles. The condition of the steel was such that the expense of ordinary hand cut- ting would have been prohibitive and the wreckage would have been a total loss had the oxy-acetylene process not been available. A Milburn oxy-acetylene plant mounted on a truck for portability was supplied by the Alexander Milburn Co., of Baltimore. One torch operator was employed, long lines of gas hose being provided to allow him sufficient freedom of movement about the wreckage to attack it from points of greatest convenience. As fast as the pieces of steel of suitable size for