TRIUMPH OF BRITISH SHIPBUILDING.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXXVI, Issue 5516, 24 October 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

TRIUMPH OF BRITISH SHIPBUILDING.

It is known to everybody that the construction of new British naval vessels was carried through with feverish haste during the war, but the world is only now becoming acquainted with the remarkable results which were achieved in spite of the stress of war conditions. In peace time it was the custom of the British Admiralty not to accept vessels except after exhaustive preliminary trials. Naturally, also, it is customary for the shipbuilders to take minute care of every detail of the engines and other equipment. War production, however, reached so high a stage of efficiency that the Admiralty was able to dispense with these trials. High powered vessels went to sea after a basin trial and steamed at full sped in a very short time. H.M.S Resolution, for example, steamed straight out into the North Sea before daylight, reached her full power within one hour, and ran without a hitch to her station in the Firth of Forth. Many battleships and cruisers went to sea fully commissioned, and ran the necessary trials on their way to the appointed naval base. One particular destroyer raised her fill power within seven minutes of leaving the piers on her first voyage. Only marine engineers, who know how the trials of a well built ship may be ruined by a trifling flaw appreciate the meaning of this series of successful flying starts from the fitting out basin. They form a magnificent tribute to the soundness of British engineering. Nothing but the best designs, the most accurate construction, and the most skilful assembling could have produced such a triumph.