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14 MARINE REVIEW October, 1926 At left—Taken Dec. 17, 1925—Tug BALLCAMP towing the first of the vessels to be scrapped, the LAKE FoNpuLAC, in Detroit river near entrance to River Rouge—At right—Taken Dec. 18, as April 1924 after careful responsi- ble investigation: on the part of a dis- tinguished committee of experts were placed in the category of useless and unnecessary either for the national or commercial needs of the country. Ford Bought 199 Ships Of the 199 vessels sold to Ford for scrapping, 149 were “Lakers” and the remaining 50 were what is known as the “Submarine” boat type. The “Lakers,” so called because they were all built in shipyards located on the Great Lakes, are of approximately identical dimensions and _arrange- ment, limited in length and beam to Welland canal size. With slight vari- ations the dimensions are: length overall 261 feet, length between per- pendiculars, 251 feet, beam molded 43 feet 6 inches and depth 22 feet 6 inches to 28 feet 2 inches. They are coal burners of three island, single deck, single screw cargo type and have three cylinder .reciprocating en- gines of about 1000 to 1400 indicated horsepower and two scotch boilers. The deadweight varies from a mini- mum of 3280 tons to a maximum of 4155 tons. These vessels were built during 1918 and 1919 largely by the old established yards such as_ the American Ship Building Co., the Great Lakes Engineering Works, Toledo Shipbuilding Co. and Manitowoc Ship- building Co. The 50 ships of the “Submarine” boat type were built during 1918, 1919 and 1920 by the Submarine Boat Corp. at Newark, N. J. These ves- sels are 335 feet 6 inches in length overall, 324 feet in length between perpendiculars, 46 feet in beam and 28 feet 6 inches in depth. They are oil burners of three island, single deck (with tween deck beams in Nos. 1 and 4 holds), single screw cargo type and have Westinghouse turbines with gear reduction of 1440 shaft horsepower and two Babcock & Wil- cox water tube boilers. The dead- 1925—LAKE FONDULAC weight varies from 5085 to 5840 tons, though they are of identical design. It was a part of the terms of the contract that the vessels were to be turned over to the purchaser at their respective anchorages. The number in each class and location was speci- fied. Of the 149 “Lakers” of various classes 90 were laid up at Norfolk, Va., 9 at Hog Island, Pa., 14 at Jones’ Point, N. Y., on the Hudson, Tet “Staten Island, Ne. Y., :.9:-at Orange, Texas, 2 at Mobile, Ala., and 18 at New Orleans. Of the 50 “Sub- marine” type, 19 were laid up at Norfolk, Va., 12 at Hog Island, Pa., 16 at’ Jones’ Point; N. ~Y.;. on’ the Hudson, and 3 at Staten Island, N. Y. That was the situation in the late summer a year ago. The government was well rid of 199 useless ships, was in pocket $1,697,470 and Ford was faced with the problem of scrap- ping these ships in accordance with the terms of the contract. The ulti- mate object was of course the deliv- ery of scrap to the cupolas and open- hearth furnaces at the Fordson plant on the River Rouge at Fordson, Mich., and the delivery to this and other Ford plants of all useable sal- vaged materials and machinery, at the lowest possible cost. We shall soon see how successfully and energetically this program is now being executed. It was recognized at the time of the purchase that towing would be an operation of major importance in any program adopted on account of the distant and widely separated anchorages of groups of units of the fleet to be scrapped and consequently seven seagoing steel tugs were ac- quired from the shipping board by the Ford Motor Co. at a cost of $42,500 each. These tugs were built for the shipping board during 1918 and 1919 at Elizabeth, N. J., and at New York and are 142 feet long, 27.7 feet wide with an extreme draft of 14.8 feet. They are coal burners and have a triple expansion steam engine in tow of the tug BALLCAMP at ore dock of the Fordson Plant with cylinders 17 x 25 x 43 inches in bore and 30 inches stroke. The names are: BALLCAMP, BAYMEAD, BARLOW, BUTTERCUP, BARRALLTON, HUMRICK and BATHALUM. For good coal the consumption per day running is 18 tons. : After adoption of the present plan late in the fall of 1925 it became a matter of urgency to act quickly in order to thoroughly test its feasi- bility. Ships were located as noted above at three points in the Gulf, in the James river near Norfolk, Va., at Hog island on the Delaware near Chester, Pa., at Staten Island, N. Y., and at Jones’ Point on the Hudson river. Shipyards at three points, Federal Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. at Kearny, N. J., Sun Shipbuilding & Drydock Co. at Chester, Pa., and later the Southern Shipbuilding Co. at New- port News, Va., were commissioned to begin scrapping certain units. The plan was that these yards should scrap only the “Submarine” type in sizes suitable for loading into “Lakers” which stood by for this purpose. After being loaded to the permissible draft these “Lakers” were to be towed to Detroit via the St. Lawrence and the Welland canal. One Vessel for Experiment With winter coming and the close of navigation approaching on _ the Great Lakes it was most important to get at least one vessel through to Detroit so that experiments in scrap- ping could be carried on in order to determine the best methods and what equipment would be necessary. The LAKE FONDULAC was therefore with- drawn from the fleet at New York, Nov. 9, 1925, and after the necessary reconditioning to permit steam on one boiler and the use of the steer- ing gear, pumps, winches and wind- lass, with not a day to spare in order to get through, left the Ford plant at Kearny, N. J., Nov. 15, 1925, in light condition towed by one of the