NEW CONCRETE SHIPS

Southland Times, Issue 24144, 5 June 1940, Page 7

NEW CONCRETE SHIPS

Orders Placed By Admiralty PROGRESS MADE... IN RESEARCH (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, June 3. Reinforced concrete is being used for the building of British ships. The Admiralty has recently ordered a number of concrete barges. Larger sea-going vessels may also be built by this method, which has been made practicable because of the revolutionary progress made by British engineers and scientists in the technique of reinforced concrete. It is being claimed for the concrete ships that they are sometimes as much as 35 per cent, cheaper to build and to repair as steel vessels, that they do not require such heavy building equipment or as much skilled labour, that their speed is equal to comparable steel ships and that they can withstand buffeting from heavy seas better than their steel counterparts. Another enormous advantage in war time is that steel is released for other vital purposes and Britain herself has unlimited quantities _ of chalk, stones and sand for making concrete. During and after the last war, when there was a shortage of steel and general ship-building facilities, about 100 concrete ships, totalling 150,000 tons carrying capacity, were built in Britain, Norway, the United States, France, Italy and elsewhere. Some of these vessels were as large as 6500 tons and proved quite successful, although none has been built since 1922. Since those days British concrete research has been unceasing. The compressive strength has increased threefold. Great improvements have been made in steel reinforcement and a tensile strength of 27,000 pounds to the square inch is now possible, compared with only 16,000 pounds in 1918. KING’S APPRECIATION OF TROOPS LONDON, June 3. The following message was received from the King by the Prime Minister (Mr Winston Churchill): — “I wish to express admiration at the outstanding skill and bravery shown by the three services and the Merchant Navy in the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Northern France. So difficult an operation was only made possible by the brilliant leadership and indomitable spirit among all ranks. The measure of its success—greater than we had dared to hope—was due to the unfailing support of the Royal Air Force, and, in the final stages, to the tireless efforts of the naval units of every kind. While we acclaim this great feat in which our French Allies too, played so important a part, we think with heartfelt sympathy of the loss and the suffering of the brave men whose self-sacrifice turned disaster into triumph.” General Lord Gort, the Commander-in-Chief, has sent a message to the inhabitants of a south-east coast town expressing his gratitude for the way in which his troops were received and were provided with rations on their return from Dunkirk.

NAZI AIRMEN ATTACK GRIMSBYTRAWLERS LONDON, June 4. German airmen made wholesale attacks on Grimsby trawlers, bombing and machine-gunning 14 and nearly capsizing one.