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

, Naval Architects in Annual Meeting Shipbuilding Has Shown Marked Activity on East Coast—Future Must De- pend on Replacements—Need Modern Efficient Ships for Merchant Marine the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers was held in - New York on Nov. 19 and 20, with J. Howland Gardner, president of the society, presiding. The growing strength of the society was indicated by the large attendance and the great interest taken in the presentation of the technical papers. Particularly en- thusiastic was the reception accorded the monumental paper “Design of American Super Liners,” by Theodore E. Ferris, one of America’s foremost naval architects. The author was widely applauded for so unselfishly presenting to the society and to the industry as a whole the valuable re- sults of the work done under his su- pervision on the design of super liners. As one commentator said, “Whenever the super liners are built and from whatever plans, much of the basic de- sign will rest on the information de- veloped by Mr. Ferris and his staff.” Tee thirty-ninth annual meeting of Important Committee Appointed One of the important steps taken at this meeting was the appointment of a committee to conduct an engineer- ing investigation of every phase of shipping and shipbuilding. The first duty of this committee will be to de- termine the minimum cost of building ‘ships in this country as a basis of comparison with construction in for- eign shipyards; also, the tonnage needs of the ship operators necessary ‘to maintain an active and efficient fleet, second to none in the world, will be estimated. Differentials in the cost of construction and operation between this country and foreign nations will be studied, and from the data collect- ed definite recommendations for equal- izing these costs will be made. One of the primary functions of the committee’s work will be to co-ordinate all studies made by independent or- ganizations on this important subject. To this end the personnel of the com- mittee will be carefully selected to in- clude outstanding engineers and busi- ‘ness men from such bodies as the .United States shipping board, the Mer- chant Fleet Corp., the American Steamship Owners’ association, the Na- ‘tional Council of American Shipbuild- ers, the American bureau of Shipping, the American Marine Standards com- mittee and others. The address by President J. How- land Gardner at the opening session of the thirty-ninth annual meeting, Nov. 19, held at the Engineering Societies building, 29 West Thirty-ninth street, New York city, follows practically in full: 12 Address of J. Howland Gardner Gentlemen: T GIVES me great pleasure to wel- come you all to this, the thirty- ninth annual meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engi- neers. . I fully realize the honor that has come to me as president of this so- ciety. At the same time I am mind- ful of the great responsibility, but with your help and loyal support we will, I am sure, carry forward the work that has been so ably started by your former president, Homer Ferguson, and those. who have pre- ceded him. You have, I am sure, listened with interest to the report of the secretary- treasurer, and must be gratified to realize the sound financial position that our society holds, and the very satisfying increase in membership. In spite of the general business de- pression, shipbuilding in the United States has up to now shown marked activity. This has been due almost entirely to the provisions of the mer- chant marine act of 1928. During the fiscal year ending July 1, 1931, contracts have been placed for 16 ocean-going commercial vessels of approximately 122,000 gross tons. Dur- ing this same time, 19 vessels of 166,- 000 gross tons have been delivered. On Sept. 1, 1930, there was under con- struction a total of 384,000 gross tons of ocean going and Great Lakes ves- sels. There is not included in this amount any vessels of less than 500 gross tons. Including miscellaneous vessels, barges and the like, there was building approximately 460,000 gross tons. Shipbuilding for West Coast Unfortunately, the great majority of this construction has been confined to East coast yards. The West coast yards, where there are ample facili- ties for building, have not shared in the production of this tonnage. It is hoped that some practical method may be found to minimize if not entirely to equalize the slight differential that our Hast coast yards enjoy due to their proximity to the raw material. We cannot afford to let our West coast yards lapse, for they are an essential part of this important industry and should be fostered in every way pos- sible to the end that they may en- Joy, and the country may have the benefit to be derived from shipbuild- ing on the Pacific. We have at times paid very dear for our lack of ship- building facilities, a lesson that it is hoped will not be forgotten. There MARINE REVIEW—December, 1931 is unfortunately an almost total lack of building for the carriers on the Great Lakes. It is expected that this condition will improve with the gen- eral increase in business. Unfortunately the immediate future for shipbuilding in this country is not bright. Only two contracts for ocean- going vessels are now in sight. There are building for the United States navy in navy yards 4 light cruisers, 2 submarines, 3 destroyers and 8 mis- cellaneous vessels, and in _ private yards; 1 aircraft. carrier, $= Hane cruisers, 1 submarine and 2 destroy- ers, and while there has been a gen- eral uniform level of employment by private shipyards during the latter part of 1929, 1930, and the early part of 1931, there is now a general re- duction. It is anticipated that this reduction will amount to 25 per cent by next July, and by a year from next January the reduction will be over 68 per cent, a most serious situation to contemplate, and one in which we are vitally interested. This may be changed, and we hope will be cor- rected by improved business condi- tions. New Cargo Ships Needed Outside of a few tankers there has been practically no building of new cargo ships since 1922, and no gen- eral cargo-type vessels are under con- struction. We are far behind the principal maritime nations in the con- struction of modern tonnage. Of the total sea-going tonnage of Germany 50.2 per cent is in vessels less than 10 years old; the fleets of Great Brit- ain and Ireland are 44.6 per cent; France 33.2 per cent, and for the United States only 9.3 per cent of the fleet is modern—or less than ten years old. The rapidly obsolescing tonnage in this country totals 9,392,371 gross tons. During the last ten years 52 per cent of our seagoing tonnage has been removed, due principally to the scrapping of war-built vessels. This removal has been at a much more rapid rate than that of any other pow- er, the average for the principal mari- time nations being but 24 per cent. During this same time the total world- merchant tonnage has increased 12 per cent while that of the United States has decreased by 25 per cent. It is beyond the realm of possi- bility that during the current depres- sion a definite replacement program will be undertaken. An opportunity, however, exists for the development of a constructive program looking to the security of our merchant marine in the future. Since trade follows the : 4 q : 4 : ; ‘2