WARSHIP BUILDING

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1919, Page 13

WARSHIP BUILDING

The announcement of the British Government's policy to reduce the construction of warships to the lowest possible limits was not wholly unexpected on the Clyde, although the district will be more seriously _ affected than any of the other shipbuilding centres. There has been a certain slowing down of Admiralty work ever since the Armistice, as was shown by the fact that in one yard on the upper reaches of the Clyde the order for a. new type of battle-cruiser, to be named tho Rodney, was cancelled sorao months ago,' and the double bottom of the vessel, which had been laid down, was scrapped. A sister ship of tho Rodney, the Hood, at Clydebank, was, however, to far advanced to bo scrapped, but, with this exception, not a capital ship was left under construction on the river after the signing of the Armistice. There wcro a number of oruisers.. destroyers, and Bmall craft, including minesweepers, trawlers, and tugs under construction, and a good many of these are nearing completion, or have been delivered; but in ca«es where work was not very far advanced, or was not started,- tho orders have now been cancelled. Fortunately for the industry, tho stoppage of Admiralty avork will not result in so much .unemployment as might have been expected. The majority of the larger firms have sufficient merchant shipbuildng on hand to afford employment to all their workers, while, in the case of the smaller yards, tho tranjition from Admiralty to merchant work has been in a large measure effcoted already