Part V

Facilities

Part V. Facilities.

A. Factual Record of Expansion.

All of the contractors under the cognizance of this activity provided and maintained their own facilities. No government furnished facilities were required, other than minor security equipment which was loaned to the contractors such as portable fire pumps, guards uniforms and equipment, etc.
The Defoe Shipbuilding Co. made considerable expansion by construction of new buildings on Certificates of Necessity. They prepared shipbuilding sites, launching ways, production lines, launching elevators, waterfront docks, railroad and crane tracks, sand blasting equipment, pickling tanks, and other features to suit each program as it was undertaken. They leased empty warehouses in Bay City to provide storage for materials, and leased additional land adjacent to the shipyard for steel and lumber storage. They bought or leased locomotive cranes; also old fashioned steam farm tractors, which were used to provide local steam heating at various places in the shipyard.
A brief summary of building construction follows:

1941 – A new office building, of cement block construction, was built near the main gate on the North East side, with a seven door gate and clock room, with eleven time clocks. The original main office building, of light frame construction, was moved from the waterfront to near the main gate on the South West side, and assigned with a new small annex, as the Navy Supervisor’s Office.

New temporary buildings were constructed for a paint shop, a sheet-metal shop, an electric and pipe shop and a warehouse. The ship launching “elevator” was also built in 1941 near the center of the yard waterfront.

1942 – A time office building was constructed near the main gate and office. Extensions were built onto both the new main office and the relocated Navy Office.

A second floor was added to the stockroom or No. 1 warehouse. A lunch room building for the workmen was built near the shops. During the winter of 1942–43, the first electrical and pipe shop was moved to a temporary site of the new paint–electrical and pipe shop built in the spring of 1943. During the erection of the new building, in order not to disrupt work in process, the old building was then moved a few feet a day and the new building built progressively in the space vacated so that the workers were protected and the work went on without delay. The old building was eventually moved alongside the large fabricating shop and converted into a welding shop.

1943 – A large fabricating shop was built of steel frame construction with corrugated galvanized sheet roof and siding. The main bay was equipped with two traveling bridge cranes of 20 tons capacity each. A new paint, electrical and pipe shop of temporary construction was built near the waterfront in 1943, burned down and rebuilt in 1944. A first-aid and safety office building was built in 1943 near the shops and workmen’s lunch room. The lunch room building was enlarged to provide a women’s lunch room. A third floor was added to warehouse No. 1. A second floor was added to warehouse building #32, to provide office space for yard foremen, supervisors, inspectors, etc., also offices for representatives of General Electric and Combustion Engineering Co., and for Navy inspectors.

1944 – A new cafeteria for the office force was opened 21 February. A police booth was built on the end of the gate-clock house, at the main gate.

1945 – The launching elevator was moved from the center waterfront and relocated in front of the old boat shop, after increasing its width. The punch shop was extended the full length of the large fabricating shop to provide a steel layout shed. A steel pickling plant was built in the open in 1945, consisting of an acid storage tank (old river pontoon), an acid pickling tank, an alkali tank and a phosphoric acid tank to prepare the material for after-pickling spray painting. Numerous other small buildings and sheds were erected and moved from time to time as necessary to house small boilers, painting equipment, storage of sheet steel, piping, etc.
The Defoe Shipbuilding Co. were very progressive in preparing special shipbuilding set-ups to expedite the construction of their programs.
The first few vessels were built in standard Lakes’ practice, close to and parallel to the waterfront, for side launching.
When a larger number of submarine chasers were authorized and expeditious construction required, a special production line was prepared, consisting of a special “cradle” foundation prepared to take the main deck of the vessel for erection and construction in the upside-down position, with two special heavy steel girder tracks built under the cradle and extending across the production line, on which the specially framed roll-over wheels would run. When the hull was practically completed one side of the cradle was lowered out of the way, on a hinge, and the vessel rolled over on the two large framed wheels, into a right-side-up position at the head of a trackway leading to the waterfront with cradles traveling on live rollers, similar to a marine railway.
On this production line the PC vessels were moved along in three stages until ready for launching on the “elevator,” which connected as an extension to the production line tracks.
When the D.E. program was assigned, a new building site was selected alongside a wet slip. Two upside-down cradles were prepared, with heavy roll-over tracks and wheels, to roll the vessels over directly onto the launching positions alongside the slip. This provided two sets of two positions each for the DE vessels prior to launching. When in standard production each vessel was allowed 40 days in each position, so that one DE was launched every 20 days. Three or four afloat positions…
When the LCI(L) program was awarded, the P.C. production line was adapted to suit, without the upside-down position, as the hulls were built in sections by sub-contractors, where upside-down or other positioning methods could be applied locally to the individual sections. Three platforms were built for the assembly of the LCI(L) deckhouses, which were installed on the vessels when they were in the second position of the production line. These vessels progressed and were launched on the “elevator” similar to the P.C.’s.
With the YF program, because the beam was too great for the elevator, it was decided to move the elevator and widen it for use as a “dry dock.” The same P.C., LCI(L) production line was used with a new upside-down cradle and rolling tracks, built to suit the YF’s. This meant that a new means must be provided for launching, as they were progressed perpendicular to the waterfront. A novel arrangement was provided by which the vessels were swung 90° on a special hydraulic pivot placed under the keel near the stern while the bow was pulled over a greased arc made up of large timbers. This placed the vessels in position for the usual side launching, and the usual launching ways were installed.
When the AM program of 30 vessels was awarded, plans were made to modify this same production line for these vessels. Two upside-down cradles with roll-over tracks and one set of wheels were prepared for these vessels, one on each side of the production line. They would be rolled over and progress along the line, then be rotated 90° for a side launching in the same manner as the YF vessels.
The end of the war and the final termination of this contract came before any of these vessels had been launched, although the first vessel had been rolled-over and moved one position along the production line preparatory to the roll-over of the second vessel, which never came to pass.
These AM vessels were cut into scrap sections by oxygen-acetylene burners and removed from the yard in gondola cars.
The facilities expansion at Chris-Craft is described in Exhibit No. 2. The facilities expansions at other yards were of a comparatively minor nature.

B. Problems of Finance and Facilities Contracts.

There were no special problems involved in the financing of these facility expansions at the Defoe Shipbuilding Co. As previously mentioned there were no facilities contracts involved at any of the plants under the supervision of this activity.

C. Extent and Type of Planning of Facilities Expansion.

With the numerous programs of different type and size and number of vessels, progressively assigned to the Defoe Shipbuilding Co., an extensive amount of planning was required, especially for sub-contracting, preparation of building cradles, launching arrangements, weight handling, etc. See Part V-A. This work was all taken care of by their own office and technical force.

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