The Wilmington morning star. [volume], February 17, 1946, SECTION-F, Image 61

About The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990

Image provided by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC

                
★ PORT Basiness Review and Forecast { N
★ FINANCE ■ ~ ' ---- ★MANUFACTURING
★ CONSTRUCTION * CONSTRUCTION
★ MANUFACTURING — ___ _ —.--#^1-. _ ★FINANCE
*=” THE SUNi^faf, 'NEWS iszT
*_POSHT emrV ©F ^©©BEga A MR) SpyjASyReTfe l,.
VOI- jg.-NO-j-_____WILMINGTON, N. C., SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1946 " -SECTION F —
NCSC STATED LARGEST SINGLE INDUSTRY
237 Vessels
Built Since
Yard Opened
Old Truman Committee
Praises Company For
Wartime Production
payroll is large
Designated Agent For
I Maritime Commission In
Creation Of Basin
The State's largest industry, the
North Carolina Shipbuilding com
pany 0f Wilmington, has delivered
237 vessels in approximately four
years and two months since its
first vessel was launched.
And today the company still is
fulfilling contracts with the United
States Maritime Commission with
the efficiency and dispatch which
earned accolades during the high
pressure war years.
Included in the list of vessels
which have been launched since
the S. S. Zebulon B. Vance slid
down the ways of the shipyard on
Dec. 6. 1941, are 126 Liberty’s,
32 AKA’s (Naval combat cargo)
and approximately 80 C-2 type
i; craft.
Now being built are six C-2’s for
Grace Lines, with the last vessel
scheduled for delivery in August,
1946. Other purchasers of the ves
sels have been Lykes Brothers
Steamship company and United
Stages Lines.
Meanwhile, dredging operations
for the creation of a U. S. Mari
time Commission ship storage
basin in the Brunswick river are
proceeding rapidly. The company
is the agent for the Commission
in the project, which will require
the addition of a floating drydock
to the shipyard facilities.
No preliminary estimates as to
the- number of employes necessary
to maintain the shipyard facilities
in connection with the storage
basin for the 500 reserve mer
chant ships has been made. At the
present time the Commission en
gineers are conducting extensive
dehumidification tests on vessel
types to be stored here. Pending
the outcome of the tests and com
pletion of other phases of the pro
gram, company officials will
j hazard no guess on employment
figures or the extent of the work.
5 vmkJisiiig O tl Ul/tUl t
Ships currently under construc
tion for steamship companies re
i fleet the peaceful purposes for
which they are built. Insulation
and refrigeration spaces are being
installed in the vessels; Grace
Line ships will also be equipped
to carry 52 passengers. Later hulls
will incorporate such luxurious
Items as swimming pools, glassed
in promenade decks, and air-con
ditioning,
A tribute to the type of vessel
has been constructed by
NCSC may bee found in the fact
; j (Continued Next Page; Column 2)
Gov. Cherry Lists Plans He Says
Are Important For Future Growth
By R. GREGG CHERRY
Governor of N. C.
Let me congratulate you on
your special industrial edition
of the Wilmington Star-N6ws.
I am sure this will prove a
genuine service to your thou
sands of readers and to south
eastern North Carolina.
I am, of course, deeply inter
ested in your section of the
State, as I am in all others and
would like to point out, in con
nection with your special edi
tion, certain plans to empha
size growth and development
for the general Wilmington
area. I have been advocating
these plans as a part of my
general program for North
Carolina. I emphasize:
1. The provision of top-rank
ing port facilities at Wilming
ton as well as other North
Carolina port cities.
2. The improvement of rail
road facilities connecting these
port points with our inland
areas.
3. The development of fish
ingr and expansion of the ojster
and clam business as well »s
other sea food lines.
4. Development and Improve
ment of all secondary roads in
your area.
5. Expansion of the tourist
business.
6. Development of seashore
parks.
7. Expansion of agriculture
with particular reference to to
bacco, cotton, peanuts and oth
er crops suitable to eastern
North Carolina.
8. More extensive utilization
of eastern North Carolina farms
for livestock, cattle, sheep and
the production of various pro
ducts. I
9. The preservation, propa
gation and increase of the wild
life and game population in
hunting reservations where the
natural terrain invites this, the
same to be State operated.
10. Improvement of the char
acter and type of school build
ings which is largely a prob
lem for the individual coun
ties rather than the State since
the capital outlay on school
buildings is a county expendi
ture.
THE GOOD SHIP SS HENRY BECON
The Henry Bacon is one of the many Liberty ships built in the shipyard here with a speed and
efficiency that earned for NCSC the accolades of the U. S. Maritime commission and those men who
sailed the world aboard the ships. Most recent recognition was the award of the highest honor given by
the National Safety Council because the company cumpleted a year’s operation without a single fatali
ty. While the Liberty ship program was a wartima activity only, the shipyard’s record in construct
ing them is a valuable peacetime asset. Now at work on the C-2 type ship, NCSC workmen will soon be
gin installing modern refrigerating units, luxurious cabins for passengers, and swimming pools in the
2-2’s which is a far cry from the wartime days when every inch of space had to be utilized and econ
omy of space and facilities was of prime importance. Just as it is impossible to reckon the shipyrad's con
tribution to the winning of the war, so it’s impossible to measure what it has meant to Wilmington, aif9
Southeastern North Carolina. One direct result was to sky-rocket the city’s population, which increas
ed more in the year 1942 than in the previous 200 years.___
I The Dredge Pennsylvania
I, This is the giant dredge Pennsylvania, property of the American Dredging company of Philadelphia ^ich ^day ^ scooping2 ou
,/J s^ip lay-up basin in the Brunswick river Where surplus merchant ships will be stored. Capt. L^roy A. Hillman, station< NCSC
experience, is the master of the dredge, largest east of the Mississippi river, which also built the Norfolk Naval a
s the agent for the maritime commission in the dredging project.
Ships: Weapons Of War And Instruments Of Peace
The North Carolina Shipbuilding company is the most powerful 5-year-old in existence. Its first ship slid dowp the ways a few hours
before Pearl Harbor and after that the tempo heightened as the yard pulsated with the staccato sound of riveting, the fizzing moan of
thTulSa tnsf nL™ rlanv of steel beams. The top picture shows two giant hoists swinging some heavy ship equipment onto
f th^,vt?irlyic anSanele shot of six C-2 vessels under construction for the Lykes Brothers Steamship company, and the
PS. sfVugie Lytes. tta iira. completed hull, sliding up .h, C.pn
' i S