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Description of Proposed Standard Wooden Vessels to be Built for Government—Details of Contracts—Difficulties Must Be Overcome HAT are the facts regarding W the government’s ship building program? Hysterical articles in the daily press have led the public to be- lieve that all the Allies’ shipping prob- lems are going to be solved through the immediate construction of a tremendous fleet of wooden steamships, which will be operated under the auspices of the United States shipping board. On the other hand, the country has been in- formed that the wooden ship idea is en- tirely chimerical. The opponents of the wooden ship idea point to the rapidity with which standardized steel ships may be constructed. They also advance numerous arguments against the wooden cargo carriers and claim to have Major General George Goethals, general man- ager of the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation on their side. The facts of the case, however, seem to be that extensive programs for the construction of both steel and wooden standardized steamships will be put through by the government authorities as soon as possible. Those who are in close touch with the situation realize that every vessel that can be set afloat at the present time, whether it be wood, steel, concrete or anything else, is a tre- mendous asset. The cry all along the line on both sides of the Atlantic is for ships and yet more ships. Great as is the steel ship building capacity of the United States at the present time, it is not enough.’ Wooden ships must be called in to fill the breaches in the ranks of the world’s merchant marine resulting from the ruthless prosecution of sub- marine warfare. Shipping Men Are Not Fooled The shipping fraternity is thoroughly cognizant of the weaknesses of the wooden cargo carriers. But shipping men also have a keen appreciation of the seriousness of the situation resulting from nearly three years activities of German submarines. Nor is the ship- ping world being fooled by the recent announcement that a method of ex- terminating submarines has been dis- covered. On the contrary, it is realized in maritime circles that, as yet, the only remedy in sight lies in the construction of just as many ships of all sorts as possible and it is thoroughly understood _ that the combined ship building resources of the United States, even after they are extended to their fullest extent, probably will not furnish enough tonnage to com- pletely counterbalance the loss. The gov- ernment, therefore,is going ahead with its wooden ship building program. It is now apparent, however, that it will hardly be possible to build 1,000 wooden ships in the next 15 months. If 200 or 300 vessels of this type are completed and placed in service in the time set, a tremendous task will have been accom- plished. Dimensions of the Boats Plans for the new, standardized wooden steamships have been completed by the architects of the shipping board, and Theodore E. Ferris, 30 Church street, New York. The outboard profile and deck plans of the proposed steamers are shown on page 190. The proposed government vessels will be 281 feet 6 inches in length overall. The length between perpendiculars will be 268 feet. Over the planking, the WILLIAM DENMAN, United States Shipping Board Chairman, 191 beam of the new vessels will be 46 feet and their depth will be 26 feet. The vessels will be of the single deck type with open holds and shifting and ’tween decks. The new wooden steamers will have a total deadweight capacity of 3,500 tons on a draft of 23% feet. The cargo carrying capacity will be approximately 3,000 tons. To stiffen the hull, wing girder-keels- sons will be installed in addition to the main center keelson. The hull also will be stanchioned with two rows of pillars. Further stiffness will be obtained by a system of diagonal steel strapping. The straps, which will be %x4 inches in cross section, will go around the turn of the bilge. They will connect with a 34 x 8-inch steel chord at the top. No knees will be used in the construc- tion of the hulls. Instead, the decks will be secured by clamps and shelf timbers. Two separate designs for the frames have been provided, one for yellow pine and the other for western fir. The timbers in the fir boats, of course, will be considerably larger than in those built of pine. The construction of each hull will require about 1,500,000 feet of lum- ber board measure. As far as possible natural crooks will be utilized for the frames at the turn of the bilge. A great deal of sawed tim- ber, however, will have to be utilized we this purpose. Each vessel will have four hatches, two masts and eight cargo booms. The machinery and crew’s quarters will be amidships. A forecastle head and poop deck also will be provided. Steam Will be Used Some of the boats may be powered by internal combustion oil engines, although the great majority will be fitted with steam power. The government is mak- ing arrangements to obtain triple expan- sion engines of the ordinary type or re- duction-gear turbines for this purpose. The engines, or turbines, will deliver ap- proximately 1,400 horsepower to a single screw. The screw will be 15 feet in diameter. It is expected that the boats will have an ordinary speed of 10 knots. In order to escape attack this speed may be increased to 11% knots by opening the by-passes between the high and low pressure cylinders. Steam will be generated in water tube boilers operating under forced draft. Either coal or oil fuel will be utilized as circumstances may dictate. About 5006 tons of bunker capacity is provided in- cluding 350-ton reserve bunkers. Each