Out of Commission

The 18,000-ton S.S. LaGuardia, which has cost the U.S. $10,050,000, will soon be laid up at the dock. The Navy's Military Sea Transportation Service, which has been operating the liner, announced last week that it is turning the ship back to the Maritime Administration.

Built by the Government during the war, the LaGuardia carried troops and war brides for four years, then went completely out of service. In 1949, the Maritime Administration spent $4,700,000 converting her to a commercial passenger liner and chartered her to American Export Lines. But American Export found the LaGuardia too expensive to operate. With a total capacity of only 609 passengers, she lost money even when 97% full. Back she promptly went to the Maritime Administration, which then turned her over to the Navy for carrying dependents in the Pacific (under the American President Lines) and later the Atlantic (under the U.S. Lines).

The decision to lay up the LaGuardia (at a cost of another $50,000) was not made because the Navy has no need for passenger ships. But the Navy thinks commercial lines can carry passengers cheaper. The Navy recently signed a $1,000,000 contract with U.S. Lines to carry armed-forces dependents on the luxury liners United States and America during the next five months. Yet the Government keeps right on building more Navy transports. The Upshur, last of three 17,600-ton ships which were started by the American President Lines and then taken over by the Navy, will be commissioned in December. Total cost of the three ships: $64.4 million.

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