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July, 1918 problem. To describe this phase of the proposition by merely saying that 75 miles of standard-gage railroad track have been laid in the yard on which 14 locomotives, 50 box cars and 400 flat cars are operated is entirely in- adequate. At Hog Island, railroading is second in importance only to actual ship construction. This phase of the work is in. charge of E. C. Macey, general superintendent of transporta- tion, an experienced railroad officer. The trunk-line railroads deliver their carloads of fabricated steel, en- gines, boilers, pumps, condensers, etc., to the inbound interchange yard, clearly shown at the south end of the property in Fig. 2. Here the incom- ing trains’ are broken up and. the cars regrouped according to the material .with which they are loaded. They are then switched over to one of the two material storage yards. All material for the 7500-ton, 400-foot, 11%-knot steel cargo . carriers.’ is delivered to ma- terial storage yard No. 1. Material for the 8000-ton, 450-foot, 15-knot combined troop and cargo. car- riers, is delivered to storage yard Nope: confusion in ' This avoids any the distribution of materials for the two. .standard types of vessels now being built at Hog Island. The original contract called only for 7500- ton boats and the original plans provided for only one material storage yard. When the new contract for fifty 8000- ton vessels was signed on Oct. 23, 1917, a complete rearrangement of the railroad switching facilities be- came necessary. This is only one of the factors which multiplied the dif- ficulties with which the officials of the American International Shipbuild- ing Corp. were confronted during the worst weather last winter. The materials are unloaded in the storage yards according to a care- fully prearranged plan which: insures all parts of the-‘same kind being grouped in one place. Locomotive cranes of the standard type, built. by’ the Industrial Works, Bay City, Mich., the McMyler-Inter- state. Co., Bedford, O., and: the Browning Co., Cleveland, are em- FIG. 4—EIGHT SWINGING has all been THE MARINE REVIEW ployed for unloading and loading cars in the material storage yard. About 40 of these cranes are on hand at present, and it is planned eventually to have 63 in operation throughout the plant. As the steel and other materials are unloaded, the cars are returned to the outbound interchange yard and made up into trains for the trunk-line railroads. In other words, the cars from the main line go no further than the material storage yards. From these points to _ the shipways all of the material is han- dled exclusively on equipment owned by the American International Ship- building Corp. Every day the superintendent at each group of ways makes out a bill of material for the steel, etc., he will need for the second day following. These requisitions go through the of- fice of the superintendent of trans- portation and the designated material is’ loaded, usually onto flat cars. These cars to the group of ways to which they are consigned. The trains at the close of the day are then delivered to the holding yard at the north end of the property where they ‘remain over night. In the morning switch en- gines pick them up and deliver the ¢ars to the actual points where the steel is to be used. By this system each set of ways gets the material it needs for the day’s work the first thing every morning and continuously throughout the day. The material ordered beforehand in accordance with the needs of the. sit- uation and by means of the holding yard and the classification of cars DERRICKS SERVE EACH: SHIP are classified according 2/9 into proper trains it is. delivered where it is wanted when it is wanted. Therefore, there is no congestion at the ways nor should there be any de- lay due to nonreceipt of steel. - In case operations at any _ particular point are held up by accident or other cause, the cars billed to that point can. simply be held in the hold- ing yard until they are needed, and the requisitions issued by the superin- tendents of the ways modified ac- cordingly. : By referring to Fig. 2 it will be noted that a spur track extends out under the derricks between each set of ways. Every ship under construc- tion, therefore, is served by tracks on both sides. Considerable material, mostly from local points of produc- tion is handled by motor trucks. Seventy. trucks are now employed and t= 1s) eke pected that even- _ tually 150 will be needed. Over 15 miles of substan- tial roadway have been built through- out the yard for hauling with mo- tor trucks... For handling the steel at the ways, wooden, _ stiff-leg, electrically oper- ated <dver ticks mounted on steel towers are ployed. Thereare four derrick tow- ers on each side of each slip with two derricks on each tower. [Each ship, therefore, is served by eight derricks. In addition a ninth derrick is situated on the ground at the head end of each way. The arrangement of the derrick towers and of the ways is shown in detail in Fig. 3. The ways for the 400-foot ships are 448 feet long, 68 feet wide, and are spaced on _ 105-foot centers. The slope of the keel blocks is 11-16-inch per foot. The ways for the 450-foot, 8000-ton ships are 541 feet long. The derrick towers are 47x26 feet. The inner columns for each pair of towers are set 20 feet apart. In the case of the 400-foot ships the distance be- tween the after and the forward groups of derricks is 116 feet. In or- der to obviate interference by the derrick booms, and to compensate for the slope of the keel blocks, the derrick towers are of varying heights ranging from 53 to 66 feet. The (Concluded on Page 313.) Sin-