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In little over a year after the first contract was let, Yankees—and their brethren in the South, on the Gulf, on the West Coast—had become expert again at sending ships down to the sea. Production time for a Liberty ship seemed to be coming down to almost nothing flat. In the far more complex construction of naval vessels, production time also had been drastically cut. Destroyers, formerly built in 27 to 28 months, can now be built in a little more than eight. Naval and other private designers have more than halved the time on heavier types. This week a new aircraft carrier Lexington, namesake of the carrier sunk in the Coral Sea, will be launched more than a year ahead of schedule.
Whether the U.S. shipbuilders, who have done a magnificent job, can fulfill their assignment (8,000,000 tons of cargo and tanker ships by the end of the year, unrevealed numbers of naval ships) is still open to question. But the answer depends on whether enough materials are available to feed the unheard-of production schedules which this technological revolution has made possible.
Core of the Apple. Gibbs & Cox, who are responsible for some 70% of the ships abuilding, have to sweat to keep ahead of the onrush. Their job is one of mass production: of the plans, specifications, purchase orders. In their offices chief engineers and architects direct the work of some 2,000 employes. Row upon row of draftsmen bend over drafting tables. Each chief is boss in his own bailiwick. Tall, cadaverous Mr. Gibbs is the overall coordinating genius.
On one of the 13 floors which Gibbs & Cox occupies craftsmen make scale models in brass of the machinery space of each type of ship to be built. Models are exact even to the scaled-down thickness of plates. Errors on paper come to light, can be corrected before it is too late. One small error in a design from which dozens or hundreds of vessels are to be built would be catastrophic.
There have been no catastrophes yet. Ship designers and shipbuilders, among whom the acidulous William Francis Gibbs has plenty of enemies, are willing to give him plenty of credit. Whether he was the sole inspiration for the new technology or not, he was certainly the designer of it.
Artist & Lawyer. In 1939, Mr. Sam Carp appeared before the Dies Committee to explain, by invitation, how William Francis Gibbs had once designed a battleship for the Russian Government. Carp had acted as a purchasing agent. He had told Gibbs that the Russians wanted the finest battleship in the world, something about 35,000 tons. Gibbs asked no more. He went to work and produced a one-ship navy, a battleship with a flight deck for some 60 planes, a behemoth which would dominate any naval engagement as easily as a shark dominates a school of mackerel. She was to weigh some 85,000 tons. The Russians took a look, were so flabbergasted that they turned it down. Explained Mr. Carp: "Gibbs is a very peculiar man, you see. I mean, he is like an artist. He likes his work."