The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1901.] MARINE REVIEW. 23 Fore River Engine Co., at Quincy Point. NE of the progressive New England con- cerns, the Fore River Engine Co., which has just been awarded the contract for building the two unsheathed battleships Virginia and Rhode Island, has completed the moving of its plant from Weymouth to Quincy Point. The torpedo boats Law- rence and Macdonough and light-vessel No. 72 are being fitted out at the new yard and they will soon be ready for delivery to the government. The United States sheathed protected cruiser Des Moines is the first vessel started at the Quincy yard. She is now in frame and the manganese : bronze stem and stern post will be in place ina few days. The company has 70 acres in its new plant, which is finely equipped for building the largest type of vessels complete with all ma- chinery, including the making of its own heavy forgings. The lay of the land is such that there will be over one mile of water front Lawrence. modern tools, capable of handling the heaviest ship work—plate and angle furnaces, bending slabs and schrive board, and anglesmith shop. The ma- chine shop is 250 ft. long and 120 ft. wide, with galleries, the total floor space being 37,000 sq. ft. This shop is fitted with the most modern ma- chine tools. The smaller tools are in the galleries, and on the lower floor are tools for the heaviest class of work, including two lathes (114 ft. long) for turning and boring shafts. This shop has a 25-ton overhead electric crane with tracks running the full length of the building. The building for wood-working machinery is 304 ft. long and 72 ft. wide. On the lower floor is the pattern shop, joiner shop and mill. The mold loft is on the upper floor with a clear floor space the whole length and width of the building. The store house is 165 ft. long and 72 ft. wide, with two floors. The power house is 105 ft. long and 65 ft. wide, containing boilers of 1,000 H.P. capacity, compound engines, driving electric generators in units of 950 H.P., air compressors, pumps for hydraulic accumulators, etc. The system of electrical distribution is through underground conduits leading into all the buildings, where the power is applied to all the large tools by direct-connected motors operated on the multi-voltage system. for wharves and about one-half mile for launching slips, with a depth of 35 ft. at mean high tide. There is a natural basin formation running the whole depth of the plant, which is being dredged to a depth of 35 ft. and a width of 175 ft. This basin will be about one-half mile long and on the south side of it are the construction shops, launching slips, store houses and timber sheds. On the north side of the basin will be the “fitting out wharves.” The launch- ing slips extend about the whole length of the river front at the south portion of the plant. The ship tool shop is at the head of the slips and near by are the buildings for wood-working machinery, mold loft and store rooms. The machine shop, power house and forge extend along the quay wall of the basin. The smaller buildings for the coppersmiths, pipe-fitters and plumbers, galvanizers, brass founders and painters, have been placed about the plant most handily for their usage. The larger buildings are so arranged about the plant that they can be lengthened or otherwise enlarged to keep pace with further develop- ments of the ship building industry. All the main buildings have granite foundations and granolithic-floors. The foundations for the ship building slips are also of granite. Railroad tracks encircle the yard with branches running through the buildings and to the slips and wharves, equipped for handling and hauling material to any portion of the yard. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SHOPS. The ship tool shop is 400 ft. long and 72 ft. wide, and contains all Torpedo Boat Lawrence. First trial of machinery. Very little water disturbance. Hull vibration not perceptible. All the buildings have the Sturtevant hot air blower system for heat- ing in winter and cooling in summer; also for exhausts and blasts in forge and blacksmith’s shops, and draft in power house. The entire plant is equipped with a compressed air system for operating pneumatic tools for riveting, calking and chipping, power being furnished by air compressors located in the power house. The forge shop is equipped with one 20-ton, one 5-ton and one 3-ton hammer, besides several hammers, forges and The Fore River Engine Co.’s Plant. VIEW FROM MACHINE SHOPS LOOKING TOWARDS BUILDING SLIP. TORPEDO BOAT MACDONOUGH; LAWRENCE IN REAR, MACHINE SHOP, POWER HOUSE, SHIP FITTERS’ SHOP, WOOD WORKING VIEW LOOKING DOWN BETWEEN SHIP TOOL SHOP AND WOOD-WORKING DEPARTMENT, STORE AND FORGE. SHOP. SHIP TOOL SHOP ON THE RIGHT, MACHINE SHOP AND POWER HOUSE IN DISTANCE. *