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of' 27' feet; the interval between 'the sections being 2 feet 6 inches or a total leugth over aprons of 421 feet 6 inches. It has a depth of 27 fect over the.keel blocks and with the exception .of a few battleships now On the Pacific coast it is able to handle all ships that normally come into the harbor of San Francisco. To concentrate its floating dry- docks, the No. 3 dock will be moved from the Alameda works to. the Potrero works. This will give the Potrero works four floating § dry- docks. The Alameda plant will have two marine railways and the Hun- ter's point plant will have 'two grav- ing «docks. The graving docks are cut out of solid rock and lined with concrete. No. 3 graving dock at Hun-: THE MARINE REVIEW ter's point is one of the largest in the world. It is designed to re- ceive any ship capable of passing through the Panama canal, being 1620 feet long, 153 feet wide at the top and measuring 110 feet wide at the bottom. The relation between wharfage and drydockage has always been main- tained and is now being increased due to the purchase and addition of the new docks. New wharfage con- struction will provide an additional 60,000 square feet of wharfage all of which has been designed to carry a load of 500 pounds per square foot. The lineai mooring capacity will be increased by approxiraately 2500 feet giving six additional berths or a grand total of 21. At the Alameda Condensed Reviews of Latest Books December, 1920 pliant, the preset bulkhead wharf will be extended 400 feet making it 1300 feet in length. At Hunter's point, the wharf at the entrance tto No. 2 dock will be entirely reconstructed. These new piers ure being built throughout of creosoted piling. In addition 'to its drydocks and wharves, the Union plant has 70 modern fire- proof buildings of 1,500,000 square feet of floor space all equipped with modern machinery, three shearlegs, three work barges, tugs and launches and the largest stock of material carried by any shipbuilding plant on the Pacific coast. Besides its record in the construction of merchant and naval vessels it has repaired or dry- docked not less than 2500 vessels in the past 32 months. * _ Marine Engineers' Handbook: edited by Frank Ward = Sterling, lieutenant commander, United States navy; 1500 pages, 4%4 by 7.inches; flexible covers; published by the McGraw-Hill Book Co.; for sale by, Marine Rrvirw; price _$/, prepaid, =. This book, prepared by a staff of specialists and edited by a naval officer of wide experience and _ extensive training, promises to become one of the standard works for marine engi- neers. Inasmuch as it is tthe com- bined work of about 30 recognized authorities, each providing the sub- ject matter dealing with his particu- lar line, it' is relieved of the narrow, single point of view, which is a weak- ness of many handbooks of this sort. It is complete in every respect, as its 1500 pages cover the field of marine engineering in a comprehen- sive way, from logarithms to electric drives for war and commercial ves- scls. Every subject, between thes: two extremes, i¢ exhausted in con- densed form. The many illustrations aid the text and bring it well within the grasp of everyone at all acquainted with the subjects. Mathematical formula; nonferrous metals, heat, fuels and combustion, boilers, turbines and reduction gears, reciprocating and diesel engines, vac- uum and condensers, ship forms and propellers, auxiliary machinery, piping, _ electrical installation, lubrication, measuring horsepower, tests and _ inh- spections are among 'the many sub- jects treated in this book. Of particular interest, owing to their timeliness, are the chapters on turbines and electric drives. The navy pioneered in both these fields and Lieutenant Commander Sterling. took a prominent part in the experimental and development work incident to the establishment of these advanced types of motive power aboard ship. ee Building the Emergency Fleet, by W. C. Mattox; 300 pages, 6 x 9; cloth; numerous illustrations, portraits and charts; published by the MArtNe REVIEW, Cleveland; price $5, prepaid. : ; f America's great industrial power was mobilized with crushing force to back up the army on the western battle front. The response made by the United States to the insistent calls for hugely increased prodiuction of commodities of all kinds was suffi- ciently clear and conclusive to bring to Germany a realization of her futile efforts to defeat the allied armies. In this brilliant record of accomplish- ment, no industry took a more strik- ing and effective part than the ship- building field. After Germany's crushing defeat at the Marne, her closest approach to victory came through the sinking by submarines of the ships carrying food and war supplies to Europe. Con- current with the rapid development of ship construction in the United States, the prospects for the success of the submarine campaign became more remote. American shipyards furnished an answer in the form of fleets of new steamships that led Ger- many to an appreciation of the hope- lessness of her situation. The negotia- tions held in the hours immediately preceding the armistice 'resulted' to a e small but highly important degree from 'the record-inaking' work of the American shipyards. For these reasons, the full and authoritative description of the con- struction of this great war fleet is cne in which every American can find interest and profit. Mr. Mattox has written the first authentic account of the history of war shipbuilding. The position which he formerly held as head of the publications~ section of the Emergency Fleet corporation gave hin: ideal opportunities for ob- taining a broad and intimate view of the work of this government depart- ment in placing at the country's dis- posal the fleet which was required for winning the war. The author has used the 'training of his earlier work for studying the innumerable activ- ities of this largest shipbuilding or- ganization. His observations, as given in the book under review, show clearly the corporation's activities, the prob- lems which had to be overcome and the methods which were developed to vitalize its war program. 'the book traces the work of the corporation from its organization up to and through the first post-armistice year. The author was in close per- sonal con'tact with tlie men charged with the work of defeating the sub- - marine campaign and he uses the opportunity thus offered to show the extent of the problems faced by the organizers of the Emergency Fleet corporation. The development of the various agencies organized to carry out this work of shipbuilding, the early problems of organization which