The shipbuilding score for August: 68 new merchant vessels delivered, 753,000 deadweight tons. This was three ships (36,700 tons) less than output in July, nearly a ship a day short of the projected schedule if this year's eight-million-ton goal were to be reached.
Earlier in the month the picture had looked brighter. One WPB prophet made the headlines with the cheery prediction that not eight, but nine million tons of ships could be expected this year.
But morale-boosting headlines do not make a war-winning merchant marine. The day after the optimistic WPB statement, Admiral...
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