German criticism of the value of America's man-power to her
Allies has naturally centred upon the difficulty of transporting it to Europe—especially in view of the " knightly " efficiency of German submarine commanders. Mr. Hurley, Chairman of the American Shipping Board, in a full and frank analysis of the shipping situation admits the validity of this criticism—apart from any question of enemy interference with transport—and tells the world _what Amadei' is doing, under war stress, to make good her shipyard de- ficiencies, at a time when the Navy has made new and heavy claims on the limited plant. On her entry into the war America had only 37 yards for steel ships. She has now established 81 new yards for steel and wooden ships, and expanded 18 others, with the result that 235 new steel shipways are available—" 26 more than at present exist in all the steel shipyards of England "—while in the past three months nearly as much tonnage has been constructed in American waters as by all other maritime nations combined. America has at present 398 steel ways, and will shortly have 332 wooden ways, giving a total of 730 berths in all—a very remarkable and praiseworthy increase of nearly 500 berths, as compared with a few months ago.
Previous page
