SHIPBUILDING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24715, 18 September 1941, Page 9

SHIPBUILDING

PORT CHALMERS YARDS SATISFACTORY PROGRESS LOFTSMEN'S WORK PROCEEDING Progress at the shipbuilding yards at Port Chalmers is regarded as very satisfactory. The whole of the upper structure of the two slipways is almost complete, the travelling electric gantries are being installed, and the excavation work is under way. It is expected that the yards will be ready to commence the actual work of shipbuilding as soon as the necessary materials come to hand from Australia The scene at Boiler Point is now verv different from that of a tew months ago. The shipyards have assumed their ultimate shape, and, viewed from across the steamer basin, the huge bulk of the new building gives a graphic impression of the magnitude of the undertaking. The loft looms high above the water and over it anpear the -loping roofs of the slidwavs. On the seaward side, the fittingout wharf is daily creeping further out into the blue water of Carey s Bay. and the busy pile-driver and the nontoons laden with building materials nrovide an indication that the structure is to be one of considerable size. Excavation of Slipways Inside the yards, lorries are encased carting the spoil away as the trough-like slopes of the slipways are framed. This work will be carried on shortly by a mechanical excavator. Already the maior beams of one of the 10-ton electric travelling gantries are in place and the fitting-up of the necessary machinery is in hand. The framework of the large machine shop has been erected, and this important department has been made larger than was originally planned. The brickwork of the angle furn.ace "is mounting steadily and it is now possible to gain a fairly accurate impression of the general layout of the yards. All this may be jeeri by the passerby in spite* of the fencing along the roadway, but inside the loft more intricate "work is being done. Here, the loftsmen are engaged, on their 180-foot by 40-foot blackboard floor, drawing out in full size the clans of each Dart of the ships. At one end the scr&ve board—so large that it has to be taken to pieces to be moved —is set up. and as the temnlates are made from the chalk drawings their outlines are coDied on this board with special gauges made for the purpose. When work is commenced at the furnace each finished Dart will be checked against these outlines on the scrieve board before going to the slinwavs to be fitted into the ships. Foundry Reorganisation At the same, time, .the reconstruction of Messrs Stevenson and Cook's foundry and office building is proceeding. Much of the machinery is being moved to new locations and the new 10-ton electric gantry "ill shortly be erected to handle the boiler plates as they pass to and fro through the great rollers which will slowly but surely convert the huge sheets of iron, an inch and five-eighths' thick, into cylinders. The rolling mill itself has been set up in such a manner that there will be ample room for the handling of so large a .iob. and to ensure that this will be so. the space at the rear of the mill has been enlarged. The exact date for the commencement of shipbuilding has not yet been fixed, but it is i expected that everything will be in readiness as soon as materials arrive.