Eighty-one new merchant ships (890,700 deadweight tons) were delivered by U.S. yards in October. This was twelve ships under the record September output, leaves shipbuilders with the nearly impossible task of producing two million tons more by year's end if they are to achieve their goal of eight million tons in 1942. Explaining the sag in October output, the Maritime Commission laid the cause to "diversion of a considerable amount of the merchant shipbuilding capacity to emergency construction of special craft for the armed forces."
But although shipbuilders may not launch their...
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