The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

——_.Ke Y far the most important trans- B action in shipbuilding property in the history of the North Pacific, was consummated during May when the Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Co. sold its shipbuilding plant to the government and in turn the yard was leased from the government by the Skinner & Eddy Corp. The change be- came effective June 1. The magnitude of the deal was the sensation in Pacific coast circles of the menth. The Todd interests, which owned the Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Co., have already begun work on a large ship repair plant in Seattle and have announced that the building yards at Tacoma, Wash., will be enlarged. The consolidation of its own plant with the leased plant will give the Skinner & Eddy Corp. 11 building ways and this company now has by far the largest building yard on the Pacific. The two - yards adjoin each other and they will be turned into one immense plant.’ There has been much speculation as to the reasons for the sale. However, it is known that it fits in with the plans oi William H. Todd, who acquired the ‘ Seattle plant in July, 1916. It is re- ported in authentic circles that the government paid $3,000,000 for the plant. Skinner & Eddy’s lease runs for a term of years and with the plants merged and under one organization the output of ships will keep this immense plant prominently in‘ the public eye. Under the terms of the sale, the gcvernment bought the Seattle Construc- tion & Dry Dock plant except the dry- docks, machinery and repair tools. In other words, the owners retained the facilities for repair work and will at once establish a large repair yard, with increased docking facilities on Harbor island, a short distance from the pres- ent site. In addition to their own five ways, Skinner & Eddy acquired six additional ways but it is understood that only 10 will be utilized as a matter of econom- ical organization. The transfer includes all forward contracts but. the Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Co. will com- plete some old’ contracts. The lease, it is understood, gives the A Snappy Summary of the Voudiee Events of the Month in the Vessel Construction Field VY SSS BSS BY RoC. AIL Skinner & Eddy Corp. »the option of purchase. The combined plant covers 51 acres. As soon as announcement was made of the change, it became known that ‘ Destroyer Launched in Record Time HIPBUILDING MIhistory was made by patriotic employes when the destroyer Ward was launched June 2 at the Mare Island navy yard at Vallejo, Cal., just 16 — days and 12 hours after the laying of her keel. The riveting was com- pleted in 13 days, 10 hours.- The best previous record for the launching of a vessel of the size and type of the Warp was 65 days, and ‘when that record was made several months ago many felt that the limit in speed had been reached. The new record is all the more remarkable when it is. considered that the almost unbelievable feat was accomplished with an average crew of 195 men working an aver- age shift of only 10 hours since the keel was laid. the Skinner & Eddy Corp. had received additional contracts for 50 steel ships for the Emergency Fleet. With the contracts now on hand and the additional 50, just awarded, it is expected that this merged plant will turn out at least 65 steel carriers between now and the end of 1919.. This firm has started work on.a 14,000-ton drydock which is to become an integral part of the com- bined plants. Delays in the delivery of steel and the immense amount of repair work done by the Seattle Construction & Dry Dock Co. have retarded the progress of new construction. The re- sult has been that construction work has bunched and soon after Skinner & Eddy takes over the plant, there will 2 several launchings in succession. The Seattle Construction & Dry Dock 304 (a) 4 jipyards Are ao oe OM il I amiil i) Vv SS << Co. has had a large number of repair jobs, including the rebuilding of the burned steamer ConGress, now the Nankinc, which will soon be delivered to her new owners. A number of seized Gérman ships were overhauled and rebuilt at this plant, which has also handled a great amount of ordinary repair work. It is known that the chance to sell the construction part of the plant fitted in with Mr. Todd’s plans and now a great repair plant will be installed on Harbor island. The plant has just completed the 12,000-ton steel steamer WALTER A. LUCKENBACH, the the largest steel ship every built north of San’ Francisco; At Tacoma, the Todd interests will cencentrate construction work. Here the Todd plant already has increased its facilities from four to six ways and five more will be added in the near future, making it a healthy rival of the merged Skinner & Eddy plant in Seattle. With the purchase of 15 acres on Harbor ‘island, Seattle, as the site of its new plant, officials of, the Seattle Con- struction & Dry Dock Co. announced that the 12,000-ton drydock, now at Tacoma, will be. brought’ to Seattle. In addition the new Seattle plant will have the 12,000 and 3000-ton drydocks, now a part of the Seattle plant’s equip- ment. Mr. Todd announced that if conditions warrant it, he will add a 23,000-ton drydock to the Seattle plant. Two large piers, extensive machine shops and repair shops are to be erected at once on the new site. The official name of the new plant has not yet been selected. The passing of the Seattle Construc- tion & Dry Dock Co. marks another epoch in the history of the oldest steel ship plant on the North Pacific. It was originally a machine shop operated by Moran Bros., who developed a great building and repair plant. Their crown- ing feat was. the construction of the battleship NeprasKa. Several years ago, Eastern capital bought’ the yard and with J. V. Paterson in. charge it had a successful career. The Todd interests acquired title less than two years ago.