SHIPBUILDING

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11177, 5 April 1922, Page 8

SHIPBUILDING

25 PER. CENT. DROP AT HOME. SOME GIANT LINERS. The year 1921 showed a marked con. trast with the preceding year not only in regard to Britain’s import and export trade, bnt also in shipbuilding. _ln the latter industry the .drop from the comparative well-being of .the first three months of the year to the meagre April to June and. subsequent periods was most marked The total tonnage launched in 1921 was under 1,500,000, as compared with the rather more than 2,000,000 tons Of 1920. Though the shipping world has been passing, through a period of acute depression and few ships have been built compared with pre-war days, there are, nevertheless, some very large and important liners building or just completed for British steamship owners GERMANY PAYS TON FOR TON. The great W hite Star boat, the Majestic (56,000 tons), built at Hamburg, and is one of the new German boats to be handed over to Britain under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. It was originally named the’; Bismarck. Another German built .• vessel is the Homeric (building), which not nearly so large as the Majestic, is remarkable for her two giant propellers. This vessel has a displacement of 35,000 tons, and is thus the largest twin-screw boat in the world, and sixth largest in point of tonrage. ...'/The Majestic, it is interesting to note, will be commanded, when she starts on her first trip on May 16th, by Sir Bertram Hayes, D. 5.0., who has just been appointed the first commodore of the White Star Line. Both vessels have been constructed under the direct supervision of British officials, and have had built into them, hundreds of new and important details which will add to their seaworthiness, safety, speed, and comfort. The 19,000 ton Union Castlo liner, Arundel Castle, is another ship full ;of interest. She and her sister ship, r.oiv building, are magnificent examples of the art of' the British naval architect and construction. FOR AUSTRALIAN RUN. For the run to and from India 'and Australia, the Orient Line has built the Ormonde (14,850 tons); the P. ancT O Line has built, or ie building, the Ha- . laya and the Mooltan (21,000 tons), and the Naldera and Narkunda (15,800 tons); while the Commonwealth Government Line is building a vessel Of 1-3,850 tons.