AMERICAN SHIPS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 128, 1 May 1941, Page 8

AMERICAN SHIPS

FOR BRITISH NAVY. HUGE PLANE PRODUCTION. (2.50 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April 30. Colonel Knox states that the Navy is expected to build substantial numbers of high-speed mosquito boats lor Britain, but ho stressed that larger warships were not available for transfer. Admiral Land (chairman ol the Maritime Commission) disclosed that Mr Roosevelt is planning to create a vast pool of American merchant vessels and lias requisitioned foreign ships, usable anywhere at any time, in connection with defence. The spokesman for the American aircraft industry reported to the United States Chamber of Commerce that, according to the best obtainable estimates, half the United States aeroplane production ulus Britain s output now exceeds the total plane production of the Axis Powers. The total production of the U nited States this year will be 18.000 and next year 30 000. ; . . The AVar Department Ill's awarded a 43.000.000 dollars’ contract for pianos and parts to the Douglas Aircraft Company. This is believed to presage the development of a fleet of seventyton aerial dreadnoughts, approximately twice the size of the army’s present biggest bombers.. The united mine workers and southern soft coal operators announced a temporary agreement lor reopening the southern mines.