V
September 1, 1944
PUBLISHED FOR THE EMPLOYEES OF THE NORTH CAROLINA SHIPBUILDING COMPANY
Vol. 3, NO. 1
YARD FACES ANOTHER 12
MON
ras OF WORK
Killed In Action
r J l
Second Lieut. William Frank
Pritchard, (shown above), for
merly employed in the Fitters
department, was killed in action
over Italy on June 13, according
to notification received from the
War department by his parents,
Mr. and Mrs. S. A. Pritchard,
504 S. Third St.
.... He entered theemploy.of the
company on Sept. 12, 1941, and
terminated on Jan. 4, 1943, when
called to active duty in the
Army Air Corps. He was award
ed his commission and wings as
a pilot at Luke field, Phoenix,
Ariz., Nov. 3, 1943. .
Don't Share Your
Dinner With Rats
Bard Appeals To Shipbuilders
To 'Stay On Jobs' During Year
To Meet Greater Navy Demands
Put Those Scraps In
Containers, Let's
Starve 'Em Out
North Carolina Shipbuilding
Company rats are in a quandary;
for some time now they've had
sub-developments of real estate
hereabouts with the rat popu
lation growing faster than
Coney Island of a Sunday morn
ing. But now, the Pied Piper,
in the person of R. T. Burney,
of Plant Engineers, has clamped
down on them tighter than the
OPA on T-Bone steaks. With
Chief Kennell and his staff pro
viding reconnaissance, the Plant
Engineers are out-flanking the
rat army almost as fast as Gen
eral Patton outflanks the other
species in France.
Rats are not well bred ani
mals; they destroy about two
million dollars worth of prop
erty every year in this country.
And although cunning little
beasts, they have never as yet
gone in much for birth control.
In rat holes, dark, cozy, and
conducive little burrows, they
reproduce at a rate that is prob
ably exceeded only by the cur
rent national debt. Although
our rats are almost completely,
illiterate, and thus not posted on
current vitamin advertising,
they are fairly healthy; with a
balanced diet furnished them by
employees they have no
vitamin deficiencies, no lack of
food, and no "rationing to worry
about. :";-v;.':iv;''"'j-v':
(Continued on page 8)
Stay on your job!
A strong appeal to all
production workers in the
Navy's shipyards and shore
establishments and to pri
vate plants and shipyards
engaged on naval work, such
as ours, for greater produc
tion during the coming 12
months was made recently
by Ralph A. Bard, Under
secretary of the Navy.
"As loyal members of the
great force which has been
mobilized to supply our
fighting Navy with the
ships and planes arid guns
needed on the fighting
fronts, I feel you are entitled
to a frank statement from
that Navy as to what are
your future prospects and
obligations," Mr. Bard said.
"To put, it in one word
it is work and more work.
The Navy's production
program is still increasing.
The last six months of 1944
will show an increase in
production of approximate
ly 10 per cent over the first
six months of 1944, and the
program for the first six
months of 1945 will be ap
proximately three per cent
greater than the first six
months of 1944. At the
present time, we are short
some 30,000 workers in the
Nlaval establishments, prin
cipally on the Pacific coast.
We expect this production
program will be carried out,
and it is not expected that
the ending of the war in
Europe during this period
will affect this program.
Our battle of production will
end only with the defeat of
Japan.
"This means that for the
next year the Navy must
rely upon the civilian em
ployees of its own Naval
establishments and upon
. (Continued, on page 2) .
Community War Chest Campaign
Opens Here Late In September
Prisoner Of Nazis
,
Needs Of Wilmington
And World Relief
Agencies Great
The Community War Chesc
campaign for local agencies of
the Chest and war relief or
ganizations of the National War
Fund will be ' conducted in the
yard during the last week in
September and the first two
weeks in October, Paul A. Wil
son, Secretary of the Company
and chairman of the Shipyard
division of the campaign, said a
few days ago.
As we go to press, the exact
opening and closing dates have
not been decided but probably
will be announced in a few days.
Meantime, preparations . are
being made for the yard to again
answer the call to do its share
toward helping the community's
outstanding welfare and other
service agencies meet the ever
present, humanitarian needs of
thousands. Last, year we gave
$53,603 to surpass our goal ana
a?ain rank first among all group
(Continued on page 7)
Our Work Included
In History Of War
What we are doing here
today is being recorded as a
part of the history of the
war.
Recently Dr. Nathan van
Patten, Director of Librar
ies of Stanford university,
asked for a complete back
file of The Shipbuilder. He
also requested that his name
be placed on the mailing
list for future issues.
"These are wanted for
binding and permanent
preservation as a part of
the historical record of the
war," he said in his letter.
The back copies have been
sent to Dr. van Patten and
we have seen that he will
get all future issues. If he
desires any other informa
tion regarding what we have
done and are still doing to
help achieve victory, it cer
tainly will be made available
to him.
Staff Sergeant Julian Austin
Britt, Jr., (shown above), for
merly employed in the Joiners
department, is one of 13 New
Hanover county men held as
prisoners of war in German and
Japanese camps.
Sergeant Britt, the son of
Mrs. Annie E. Britt, of 206 N.
Sixth St, entered the yard on
July 13, 1942, and terminated
the- following Dec. 7 to join the
Armed Forces. A tail gunner on
a bomber, he and the other mem
bers of the crew bailed out over
enemy -territory just before the
craft crashed on Nov. 26, 1943.
Fuel Oil Blanks
At Ration Office
Applicants Are Urged
To Fill Them In
Immediately
Application blanks for fuel oil
rations are available at the Ship
yard rationing office and all em
ployees using this kind of heat
are urged to file their applica
tions immediately.
The procedure is as follows:
The forma will be filled in by
the applicant with all details ex
plained fully and all questions
propery answered. They should
be returned as soon as possible
to the yard rationing office. They
will be screened here and for
warded to the respective loca
rationing boards, where they
will be processed and coupons
will be mailed to the applicant's
home . address.
(Continued on page7)
4-
AKA's Vital
In Campaign
Against Foe
N. C. Shies Have
Important Place
In Peace Era
Fire Prevention Individual Duty Of Every Employee
"First, I would like to inu
press upon everyone, re
gardless of what depart
ment or type of work he or
she is engaged in, that it
is their individual duty and
obligation to the company
and themselves to employ
every possible effort to pre
vent fires," Fire Inspector
Roland Bruce said recently.
Good housskeeping, care
ful use of matches and
smoking, proper handling of
inflammable and explosive
liquids are some of the ways
of preventing fires, he add
ed. Never before has the im
portance of fire prevention
seemed more apparent. Fire
deaths and injuries increase
the manpower shortage;
Industrial losses destroy
critical materials and prod
ucts of every description
vital to the war effort. Mer
cantile fires complicate the
rationing problem, ; and
dwelling losses put a fur
ther strain upon an already
burdensome lack of adequate
housing in many localities.
The whole miserable busi
ness of fire waste can be
greatly curtailed if each
psrson will accept his or her
responsibility to eliminate
(Continued on page 6)
It's wise to pause occa
sionally and review the
past, appraise the present
and take a look into the fu
ture. Kind of gives a Ship
builder his true bearings, a
clearer picture of what
we've done, what is being
accomplished and what lies
ahead.
First, the present.
Because of the AKA's im
portant place in the Navy's time
table of attack, our work today
is the most vital in the history
of the yard. These vessels must
be delivered on schedule. That
calls for the utmost from every
one; absenteeism must be held
to the minimum and all must
"stick to the job" until it is
completed. This war isn't over.
After Berlin's fall, there's, Tokyo.
If you consider that an easy
road, just ask some of the men
who have been on it, have had
to fight for every inch of ground
at such way-stations as Guadal
canal, Guam . and Saipan.
Next, the future.
The contracts now on hand
will, according to the highest
authority, run into the fail of
1945. The ships we are building
are of great peace-time value
and there is little or no likeli
hood of any cancellation of them.
In the event of an early peace,
there will ' naturally be a letup
in production pressure but this
will not reduce the force in any i
appreciable extent but will ac
tually prolong the work. Let's
recall a little history. In Wil
mington's World War I ship
building days; the keel of the
first vessel was laid on Nov. 2,
1918 nine days before the Ar
mistice. She wasn't launched
until the fall of 1919. yet opera
tions continued here until 1921
approximately three years
after the war was over when
the last ship was delivered. Ad
ditional work was also assigned
after the Armistice.
Next, the past
On January 1, 1944, the ship
yard was just through the ini
tial stages of a major change
in its work.' We had, of course,
long since completed our 126
Liberty -ship program, - and
emerged from the gestation pe
riod of the C-2 program. We
had launched 14 f the new ves
sels and delivered four, and
were struggling to smooth out
the manifold problem imped
ing a rapid and balanced flow
of vessels from layoff to erec
tion to outfitting to delivery.
We were, taking in our stride'
the alteration during construc
tion of five vessels to suit the
Grace line, who were "owed"
- (Continued on page 8)