The West Coast came to the melancholy end of a shipbuilding era last week. In Henry J. Kaiser's record-holding Richmond Shipbuilding Corp. Yard No. 2 in California, the S.S. Benjamin Warner (named after the father of Hollywood's Warner brothers) slid into San Francisco Bay. It was the 1,147th Liberty ship launched on the West Coast—and the last.
A few Liberties are still being finished at East Coast yards. But no more keels will be laid, East or West. Already Richmond No. 2, and most of the other yards, are building the faster Victory ship (15 knots) and a shoal of...
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