Fantastic Goal

In the clangorous Fore River shipyards at Quincy, Mass, the massive hulk of U.S.S. Massachusetts towered. Fourth of her class,* the 35,000-ton battlewagon, ready for launching this week--seven months ahead of schedule--may be ready for deep-water service by the fall of 1942.

Few weeks ago, while the riveters still rang their tattoo on Massachusetts' steel sides, Rear Admiral Samuel Murray Robinson wrote a memo to his boss on the progress his Bureau of Ships had made. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox was so pleased that he had it fattened out with more facts and figures, gave the memo to the U.S. public.

It showed that, in the 15 months since Congress ordered an 81% increase in Naval strength, the Navy has let all contracts for the greatest fleet ever built by any nation--2,831 ships of all classes, from 45,000-ton battleships to harbor tugs. They will cost $7,234,262,178, call for an additional $460,000,000 to expand yards.

"When this program was first presented to the shipbuilders," wrote Texan Admiral Sam Robinson, "it was regarded by them as being nothing short of fantastic. ... It was generally felt . . . that only an incorrigible optimist could expect that the goal [a two-ocean fleet by 1947] would ever be reached."

Last week the tale of the fleet's new ships, now under construction, was breathtaking: 17 battleships, 12 aircraft carriers, six large cruisers (27,000-ton Alaska class), eight heavy cruisers, 40 light cruisers, 74 submarines, 197 destroyers, shoals of mine layers, tenders, tankers, transports, barges.

For speed in building, the Navy today has work afoot in ten of its own yards, more than 125 yards of private contractors. Before its yard expansion is finished, it will have laid out $800,000,000 for plant and equipment. From Tacoma, Wash, to Bath, Me., its working crews are on the go in three shifts 24 hours a day, 48 hours a week. The number of men employed has increased from 167,274 to 375,000, by next summer will reach 550,000.

* The others: North Carolina and Washington, already in service, and South Dakota, already launched and scheduled to be commissioned early in 1942.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.