SHIPS FOR BRITAIN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20637, 18 August 1941, Page 5

SHIPS FOR BRITAIN

FIRST VESSEL LAUNCHED BUILT IN AMERICA (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 9 a.m. RUGBY, Aug. 17. On the occasion of the launching of the first merchant vessel built to the order of the Admiralty in the United States, the First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. A. V. Alexander, sent a message of goodwill to the president of "the California Shipbuilding Corporation, Mr. Todd. The vessel, called Ocean Vanguard, is the first oi a fleet of merchant vessels built by American labour which will be manned by British seamen and will help to keep open the Atlantic. Speaking at Richmond, California, R'ear-Admiral Emory Land, chairman of the Maritime Commission, who attended the launching of the first ot 12 British merchant ships being built in the United States during the next 16 months, said: “This occasion spalls the beginning of the end of the Battle of the Atlantic, and the end of the Battle of the Atlantic spalls ultimate victory tor Britain and her Allies. The day of subjugation of defenceless and unprepared nations by the Axis is oast.”