with regard to which form of ship should receive the most attention. The
policy of the government seemed finally to favor the steel as it was
claimed that the wooden type was not only more expensive, but that it
was less efficient. However until the very end wooden ships in great
numbers were being built.

On May 31st the steamship Agawam, described as the first fabricated ship
in the world, was launched in the yards of the Submarine Boat
Corporation at Newark. This was essentially a standardized steel cargo
ship. "Fabricated" is the technical term applied to ships built from
numbered shapes made from patterns.

President Carse, of the Submarine Boat Corporation, said that the Agawam
was the first of a hundred and fifty vessels of that type which would be
constructed in the yard. The parts were made, he said, in bridge and
tank shops throughout the country and were assembled at the yard.
"Ninety-five per cent of the work in forming the parts entering into the
hull of this vessel, and punching rivet holes, is done at shops widely
separated, from drawings furnished by this company, and these drawings
have been of such exactitude, and the work has been so carefully
performed by the different bridge shops that when they are brought
together at this yard they fit perfectly and the ship as you see is
absolutely fair. The construction of the hull of this vessel requires
the driving of over four hundred thousand rivets, and by our method more
then one quarter of these rivets are driven at the distant shops, the
different parts being brought to the yard in sections as large as can be
transported on the railroad. Each part is numbered and lettered and as
they are shaped perfectly all that is necessary is to place them in
position, bolt them, and finally fasten them with rivets."

Officials of the company said that they expected to launch in the course
of time two such vessels in each week. A standard ship of this type has
a dead-weight carrying capacity of five thousand five hundred tons. It
is three hundred and forty-three feet long and forty-six feet wide and
is expected to show an average speed of ten and a half knots. Fuel oil
is used to generate steam, to drive a turbine operating three thousand,
six hundred revolutions a minute. The oil is carried in compartments of
the double bottom of the ship in sufficient quantity for more than a
round trip to Europe. Twenty-seven steel mills, fifty-six fabricating
plants, and two hun