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Se h ipyards End of War Spurs Emergency Fleet Crpporation to Shift Program-- To Concentrate on Larger Steel Vessels force some time ago. With its passing the emergency tonnage shortage was met by new con- struction not only in American but in yards all over the world. Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria withdrew from the war; Germany, accepting the ar- mistice terms dictated by the allies, had to cease fighting. These rapid events on the battle- field provide the urgency for changes in the plans of shipbuilding by the Emergency Fleet corporation. Peace promises to find the United States possessed of a large fleet of wooden and small steel ships. A deficiency in large steel vessels and in the me- dium sized steel ships of approxi- mately 15,000 deadweight tons has to be faced. That deficiency must be eliminated if the United States is to assume a prominence in the peace trade of the world. These conditions have prompted the shipping board to undertake a revi- sion of the entire shipbuilding pro- gram. "This revision will affect not only the wooden ships," declared Charles Piez, vice president of the 'Emergency Fleet corporation, "but the steel and concrete vessels as well. It is brought about partly be- cause of the enormous expense which shipbuilding has placed on the nation and partly because the original pro- gfam has been found not to be adjusted to the needs of the Wale" Need More Big Ships It is said that the shipping board has found use for but one-half the wooden ships built and under con- G erce some warfare lost 'its 'struction, and it was possible to put many of them in trades in but a makeshift fashion. English -- ship- builders, it is reported at Washing- ton, even during the most intense emergency gave chief attention to the building of 13,000-ton ships and larger. Vessels of this size have been recognized as the British stand- ard for new construction during the inasmuch as report war, operators that with everything considered a ship of this size can be operated with most economy. No surprise has therefore 'been occasioned 'by the report that the shipping board is about convinced that even the 7500 and 8000-ton fabricated vessels build- ing at the big Hog Island yard may be too small to prove economical of Operation in the peace trade. A revision of all shipbuilding contracts to specify steel ships exclusively and more ships of not less than 12,000 to 14,000 'tons deadweight capacity is the program for which American builders should be preparing them- selves. : _ Officials in Washington have ini- tiated alterations in plans which may be taken as a forerunner of these prospective changes. This change was forewarned by Charles M. Schwab, director general of the Emergency Fleet corporation, in a _ public ad- dress in Milwaukee several weeks in time. 'course, advance and has been talked of privately in Washington for some The immediate change means rather the curtailment of yard con- struction than the curtailment ot shipbuilding itself. The largest pro- ject so far affected is known as the Alameda, Cal., yards where construc- tion had started and heavy contracts for machine tools hdd been let. This yard was to build 12,000-ton troop- ships. It was to be constructed for the government by the Bethlehem Steel 'Corp, acting as, agent. It is estimated that adjustments in this particular case will run to $8,000,000 to $10,000,000. Other projects abandoned inciude the main boiler plant which was to be erected near Perth Amboy,.N. J., by the Barber Asphalt Paving Co. as a government agent and big exten- sions to the yards of the New York Siipputidine Co, Camden, N. J... It will tbe noted that these were all plant contracts and were chiefly gov- ernment enterprises. 'Teast: April," explained E..N. Hur- ley, chairman of the shipping board, "the military program was so ma- terially enlarged that the war depart- ment called on the Emergency Fleet corporation for the construction of 94 transports, totalling over 1,100,000 deadweight tons. The troopship pro- gram which the Fleet corporation at that time had undertaken was but a little more than one-half of that total tonnage. A careful survey was made immediately in order to deter- mine which of the old yards could undertake additional construction of this type of ship. It was realized, of that these' fast' and compli- PB. A. (8S. FRANKLIN Chairman of Shipping Control Committee, United States Shipping Board, Who Directs. the Opera- tion of Government Merchant Sh'ps. 526 cated vessels could be constructed only under experienced management and the choice of yards necessarily was. confined, therefore, to those which already had built vessels of a similar type. "The Fore River yard, the yard of the Wm. Cramp & Son Ship & En- gine Building Co., and the yard of the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., were so completely loaded up with navy work that they were unavailable for the execution of this - additional program. It was, there- fore, decided that construction should be undertaken by the New York Shipbuilding Co., the Bethlehem Ship- building Co. at Sparrows © Point, Md, and a' new plant to 'be eon- structed adjacent to the Bethlehem shipbuilding yard at Alameda, Cal. The Sparrows Point yard already haa been enlarged for the purpose of undertaking construction of vessels of the larger type, and enlargements at the yard of the New York Ship- building Co. were authorized so that this plant might undertake a portion, at least, of the additional program. Government Was to Finance Yard "The new yard at Alameda was to be created wholly out of govern- ment:.funds, to be owned by the Emergency Fleet corporation, and to be turned over for operation to the Bethlehem company, acting as the superintendent for the Fleet corpora- tion. Contracts were let for the con- struction of the yard and work begun early in July. Delivery of the vessels from the new yard was expected to begin in 1920. "Since then, however, the for the military campaign have been so intensified that it was realized that no ships which could 10t be produced in 1919 would be .of any particular value in. the _prose- cution of our war program. It also was realized that the construction of the yard at Alameda might tempo- rarily, at least, reduce the output of the several large producing yards in that district and it was thought best, after conference with Director Gen- eral Schwab, that work on the Lib- erty. plant, as the new Alameda yard was to be called, should stop and that all contracts concluded in con- nection therewith*should be reassigned or cancelled. Orders to this effect were issued by Mr. Schwab, and the Fleet corporation now is engaged in carrying out this order. At the same time, certain reduc- tions in the facilities, originally planned in connection with the ex- tensions to the New York Shipbuild- ing Co.'s yard at Camden, were ordered, and this order is now being plans abroad carried out. _ The' need for cargo vessels at this time is so great and so insistent that it was deemed wise in the interest of speedy production for this vessel to curtail all new facilities so that the material and labor released through this curtailment might be type of 1