BUILT IN SHIPYARDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 6, 7 July 1938, Page 11

BUILT IN SHIPYARDS

GERMAN PLANE PARTS

; I am able to furnish some important facts, not hitherto, disclosed, concerning Germany's big programme of- aircraft construction, writes Hector Bywater in the "Daily Telegraph and Morning Post." , : In addition to the output from the , many new factories built in the last four years for the supply of aero engines and frames, large orders for aviation material have been placed with the shipbuilding industry. There are 57 shipyards in Germany —excluding Austria—and the industry is highly organised. At the present time 370,000 tons of merchant ships and 265,000 tons of naval vessels are building in Germany. This aggregate of 635,000 tons is well below the total productive capacity, yet it is known that most of the shipyards are well employed. Firms reported to be working on heavy contracts from the German Air Ministry are the Deutsche Werft A.G., j at Hamburg and.Kiel, the Krupp yard! and thq Howaldtswerke, both at Kiel, i and the Atlas and Deutsche Schiffbau A.G. at Bremen. British shipbuilding firms, with few exceptions, have not yet been called on to assist in the construction of aircraft material, though many would probably be in a position to undertake such work without undue delay. There are 75 shipyards in the United Kingdom; comparatively few of which are now working to capacity. It is suggested in well-informed industrial circles that the shipbuilding trade could, if approached, make a valuable contribution to the aircraft re-anna- i ment programme, though not neces-J sarily by turning out complete planes. At the moment there are building in Britain 1,090,000 tons of merchant shipping and nearly 600,000 tons of naval vessels, a total exceeding the German , aggregate by 1,055,000 tons.