RIVAL RIVERS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 209, 1 June 1936, Page 5

RIVAL RIVERS

Building the Queen Mary’s

Sister Ship

CLAIMS OF CLYDE, MERSEY AND TYNE

With the entry into active service of tlie liner Queen Mary, there is growing interest in the question of when and where her projected companion in the Atlantic service is to be built. That such a ship will be ordered very shortly is certain. The policy of the Cunard Company in building the Queen Mary was stated long ago by its chairman, Sir Percy Bates, when he said that “for the first time in the history of marine engineering and naval architecture, it has been found possible for an express weekly service across the Atlantic to be maintained by two ships. Consequently the Cunard is bound to adapt itself to modern conditions, and, when ordering a new ship for the express service, to provide such a ship as will require eventually but a single sister to fulfil the requirements.”

There are several important considerations which encourage the belief that the contract for the building of the sister ship to the Queen Mary will be awarded to John Brown and Company, of Clydebank. First there are the admitted achievements of that firm in the building and launching of the Queen Mary. An examination of the history of the Queen Mary from the laying of her keel plates to her departure from the Clyde may well encourage the Cunard White Star Line to select the Scottish offer. Then there is the important matter of price. In this respect it is reckoned in influential quarters that the Clydebank firm will be able easily to meet its competitors. Plans, drawings, calculations and numerous other details associated with the building of the Queen Mary are in the possession of John Brown and Company, and it is conceivable that the tender of the firm for the sister ship may be the lowest by as> much as £250,000. Arguments From Merseyside. One of the Merseyside's many claims to the contract for the building of the .sister ship to the Queen Mary is the fact that the river offers one of the finest tidal waters for launching in Great Britain. The difficulties! experienced on the Clyde would be eliminated completely on tlie Mersey. Cammell, Laird and Co., Ltd., the Birkenhead shipbuilders, one of the four firms invited Io tender for the sister ship, are at present engaged in building the aircraft-carrier Ark Royal, estimated to cost £3,000,000, and the longest ship ever built on the Mersey. The firm has every facility demanded by the construction of a ship of rhe Queen Mary's class. The shipyard, situated on the deep-water side of the river, has turned out H.M.S. Rodney and many important merchant ships. Across the river is the Gladstone Dock system, qapable of dry-docking such a giant liner. The firm's designers and draughtsmen have been engaged for some time on work for the new ship, and hope to include many important and novel features in the designs submitted. The nature of these improvements is, naturally, being kept secret. "There are many reasons why we may be favoured with the co/itract,” Mr. 11. S. Johnson, managing director of Cammell, Laird and Co., Ltd., told the "Manchester Guardian” recently. "In the first place the Cunard and White Star Lines originated on Merseyside. We have the best facilities in the world for building the largest ship ever contemplated, and we have plenty of water in our river to float it at any time without the slightest risk. There is no reason for ps to go beyond the Mersey for a dry-dock. The one in the Gladstone system will take any ship. Tlie firm which built the Rodney for the Navy and is building the Ark Royal can build any ship for the mercantile marine. Another important reason why we should build tlie Queen Mary’s sister-ship is the fact that we are a distressed area, and if we get the contract work will be provided for a very large number who need it.” The Claims of Tyneside. Similar claims have been advanced for the Tyneside, the birthplace of the famous Cunarder Mauretania, which holds that, as a special area which has been badly hit by the depression, it is more in need of the work than any of the other rivers. At a recent conference attended by delegates representing 41,000 shipyard and engineering workers, it was stated that on Tyneside the unemployed figure in these industries was 50 per cent., while on the Clyde it was 43 per cent.

Another point urged is that the Clyde has been shown undue preference in the placing of Government orders. During 1934 the Clyde received Admiralty orders amounting to £5,000,000, and the Tyne only £2.500.000. In the naval orders recently placed the Clyde got 30,400 tons and the Tyne 11.700 tons. There are two yards on the Tyne capable of building a ship of the size of the Queen Mary or even bigger. They are Vickers-Annstrongs and Swan. Hunter and Wighaiu Richardson. At Vickers’ Walker naval yard there is a berth capable of taking a ship 50 to 100 feet longer than the Queen Mary. Swan Hunters are, of course, world-famous as the firm which built the Mauretania, holder of tlie Atlantic record for a quarter of a century, and at their M’allsend yard they turn out every variety of shipping.

Launching would be comparatively easy on tlie Tyne compared with the precautions which were necessary when the Queen Mary left the ways at Clydebank. Experts say there would be no difficulty in getting the ship to sea from the Tyne.