Building Down, Repairs Up

Eighty-one new merchant ships (890,700 deadweight tons) were delivered by U.S. yards in October. This was twelve ships under the record September output, leaves shipbuilders with the nearly impossible task of producing two million tons more by year's end if they are to achieve their goal of eight million tons in 1942. Explaining the sag in October output, the Maritime Commission laid the cause to "diversion of a considerable amount of the merchant shipbuilding capacity to emergency construction of special craft for the armed forces."

But although shipbuilders may not launch their full quota, repair yards this year have set a new and brilliant record. In a recent twelve-month period they overhauled and refitted some 5,500 ships (of over 1,000 tons each) and they did this in the incredibly short time of an average of 17 days per ship.

To the repair yards came Axis ships seized last winter in U.S. ports, most of them hideously mutilated; came limping torpedoed and shelled ships with ghastly scars; came those with heavy-weather damage--for the winds and storms still do their work, too; came others for conversion from sleek passenger liners to troop carriers; hundreds were fitted with degaussing apparatus, armed with guns. Some repair jobs were on such a large scale that the ships were practically rebuilt, many were completely re-engined. In one month 783 ships were under repair in 40 yards.

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