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July, 1918 THE MARINE REVIEW 307 Fleet Corporation is Launched at Beaumont N THE accompanying photograph, the boat launched. May 11 is seen on the ways immediately behind ‘the smoke- stack; the piledriver in the distance marks the location of the drydocks, and the marine railway will be at the right of the photo. The company has con- tracts for the equipment of 34 ships. The boat just launched is 281 feet long by 45 feet wide, with a depth of 26 feet, and a cargo-carrying capacity of 3500 tons, somewhat smaller than War Mystery, the 4700-ton Dougherty- type wooden vessel, launched by the National Shipbuilding Co., Orange, Tex., a few weeks ago, yet sufficiently large to. meet all the requirements of the Emergency Fleet corporation. The pow- er plant consists of double compound condensing engines for which steam is furnished by two Scotch boilers, giving her an estimated speed of 10 knots an hour. At this writing the vessel has . not been named. The frame of the boat was laid in. November, 1917, and .1,600,000 feet of Texas and Louisiana pine, oak and cy- press was used in her construction. The largest timber in her is 52 feet long by 42 inches in thickness. Her four masts are intended to give her sufficient sail space’ to materially increase the esti- mated 10-knot speed when favoring winds appear. the levee around the launching basin has been virtually completed. Here nine “nonsinkable” ships of 4200 tons each are to be built for the French government. The Gulf Shipbuilding Co., which re- Co., New York, cently launched Hermanson, a 900-ton’ ocean-going tug, largest of its kind ever built in the South, from its yards at Madisonville, is working on a 500- ton river towboat and a 900-ton auxil- iary schooner, Frisco to ONTRACTS for 92 steel vessels, aggregating more than a million tons and costing more than $160,-, 000,000, is the measure of ‘the ship- building activity about San Francisco bay at the present time, according to the statements of officials of the Emer- gency Fleet corporation. A_ definite promise has been made that every one of these cargo carriers—spans in the bridge to France—will be in thé water by the end of the year. These totals. are exclusive of con- struction under way or.to be under- taken for the navy department. The vessels are divided among the following concerns: No. of Company vessels Union Iron Works, Alameda plant..... 18 Moore ::Shipbutl ding: iC Osis sic caaicssanp teaver 28 Hanlon: Shipbutldingy Cons. ea onctew as 8 Pace: ‘Coast shipbuilding Con. wea. 10 Unions Construction: (Con gs. oe sok cas 10 Schaw-Batcher Ship Works Co........ Sr 18 The six plants, employing 20,000 men, now have 28 steel cargo steamers on the ways, of which 14 of from 8500 to 9600 tons burden, will .be launched within the next six weeks. The arrival at San Francisco of approximately 65 carloads of steel daily for the fabrica- tion of the vessels gives some idea of the rapidity with which the work is going forward. The patriotic celebration on July 4 will be marked by the launching of 18 vessels into San Francisco bay from five yards. They are: Union Iron Works, Moore Shipbuilding Co., Han- lon Shipbuilding Co., Pacific Shipyard and the Pacific Coast Shipbuilding Co.’s plant. Several of these are naval craft. The Union plant of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. is fourth among the yards of the country engaged in the construction: of. destroyers listed in or- der of their proficiency. According to information recently given out by the San Francisco offices of the corporation, the proportion of actual accomplishment to expectancy is as follows: Company Per cent Bath rots OW orksicicunhe pais ete 152 Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry §D Yoo) stan Ore Rreat ner Pema er ant Moye mre Sie ae 141 Wm. Cramp & Son Ship & Engine Burlding | Cosi wie vacates wee eines 117 Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. (Union) 104 Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. (Fore Rives )i Sion se nuie aie eee oe epee 79 Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. (Squan- na bb a 0 Meaming yh cures CER Resi He ON eC Log y arens enue oe 53 New York Shipbuilding Corp...... 49 Seattle Construction & Drydock Co. 26 There is a wager of $20,000 between the employes of the Union and Fore River plants of the Bethlehem Ship- building Corp. on the rapidity with which destroyers are turned out during the year. The Union plant is con- fining its efforts to the construction of vessels for the navy department, as is the Mare Island navy yard at Vallejo, Cal., where a destroyer was recently launched -within 16 days, 12 hours after the laying of the keel. Although the amount of wooden ship- building around San Francisco is not as large as at many other points, never- theless three plants are now engaged in this class of work, and this, together with the concrete construttion which will soon be under way, considerably augments the total tonnage to be turned out in steel alone. The Barnes-Tibbetts Co. at Alameda, Cal., is now starting wooden ship construction and is also fitting out hulls constructed in the north- ern part of the state. Several of these have been towed to San _ Francisco loaded with lumber. After considerable delay, it is expected that the site for the government con-