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December 1, 1944 THE NORTH CAROLINA SHIPBUILDER Page 3 YARD RECEIVES NATIONAL SECURITY AWARD" Sixth Bond Drive Given Fine Start Two Units Surpass Quota 1st Day; Rallies Held OCD Awiti Presented With two departments Steam Engineers and Employ ment Office surpassing their quotas on the first day, the Sixth War Loan drive was enthusiasti cally opened Nov. 20 and is now well under way with prospects of it being the most successful ever held here. Employees had invested a to tal of $152,700v"or 61 per cent of the goal of $250,000 during the first week and many more re ports are expected before the campaign ends Dec. 16. The Steam Engineers, with I. S. Burriss, personnel super visor, heading their campaign in an efficient manner, reported 153 per cent of quota on the opening day. Since then, they have raised the total to $18,350 to boost the percentage to 181. With Betty Henderson doing a good job as leader of the effort in the Employment Office, it re ported next with subscription of 229 per cent. On Nov. 25, it was raised to 250 per cent. Several other departments turned in 50 per cent of their , quotas . on the. ;opening ,daV ; The keynote more and more bond purchases - of the drive was sounded by Col. George W. McHenry, veteran Marine offi cer stationed at Camp Lejeune, at two yard rallies Nov. 20. Dur ing the morning gathering, the Camp Lejeune band paraded through the yard and music for the evening meeting was fur nished by the New Hanover High school band. "We must," he advised, "con tinue to buy War bonds until this country is again peaceful, again untroubled with the toil and clamor of war." He voiced his belief that every individual is capable of "making personal sacrifices as may be necessary, of pledging his time, energy and money and doing each task to the best of his ability. There is nothing gla morous about putting one's money in the bank, or shoving it across a counter and taking a piece of paper in return. "But I understand why you buy bonds, why you will continue to buy them time and again un til these shins of yours will roam in freedom the ways of every ocean. The fighting men and in dustrial power of this nation are in this thing together, neither can exist without the other. "I represent the Marines and the fighting men of other serv ices, these bo'vs whom your ships have carried. I would be but , wasting your time if I could not bring you a message from them, a message of heartfelt thanks. Thanks! For what you have done and for what you will continue to do until there is peace acain over, all the world," he declared. Col. McHenry told of several battle experiences in the South Pacific and was high in his praise for America's fighting men. "The American youth has proven in this, war what a mag nificent fighting man he really is. He has proven that he can do, in a short time, what it takes other nations generations ; to achieve. It is his inherent love of his fellowman, his fighting (Continued on page 4) ', , Our establishment of fine safeguards- against air attack, sabotage, fire and accidents was recognized recently with presentation of the National Security Award flag and certificate to the yard by. the Office of Civilian Defense. Shown: above, at the ceremony, held in connection with the launching of the U. S. S. Union, are, left to right: Roy L. MacMillan, state OCD director; Miss Bess- Reid Houston, attendant Mrs. Floyd Gobdson,"' Jr., also an attendant; Col. W. S. Pritchard, Commanding Second district. Fourth Service command; Governor Broughton; Mrs. W. O. Burgin, sponsor, Captain Roger Williams; Sheriff C. David J.ones and W. S. McMahon. North Carolina Built AKA Draws High Praise As Half Of Powerful Two-Ship Invasion Team Manufacturers' representa tives and government officials who recently spent two days and a night aboard one of our AKA's "training" in Chesapeake bay couldn't find enough words to express their admiration of this type of ship as a fighting unit. Purpose of the cruise, at the Navy's invitation, was to allow the representatives- of the con cerns producing equipment for the AKA to see how she worked in action and to report back to fellow workers as a production incentive. Government agencies represented were the Maritime Commission and the War Pro duction Board. The AKA they visited ( which was not identified for security reasons) was launched here in September and taken to Chesa peake bay so that her Navy crew, just out of training camps in Norfolk, could learn to handle her. The vessel is designed as half of a two-shin invasion team. The AK A carries a number of infantry-landing craft on her decks and the Navy crews to man them, plus tons of cargo for use in the invasion. The APA, the companion vessel, car ries the troops themselves. Both are built on C-2 type hulls. The inspection party was transported by the Navy to the Third Launching The third anniversary of our first launching will be observed Dec. 6 with Mrs. Roger Williams, wife of the President of the Company, christening the . U. S. S. Prentiss at 4 :15 o'clock in the afternoon. The ship, named in honor of an Alabama county, will -be our 28th AKA combat cargo vessel and the 190th to slide down the ways since the S. S. Zebulon B. Vance : was launched on the eve of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. To the statistically in clined, that means we've launched and subsequently ' i Ml' u I huge Solomons Island Amphibious- Training center, and after a tour of the base where sailors are trained for invasion, was taken by water taxi out to where the AKA was lying at anchor. All the AKA's- landing craft were in the water, maneuver ing around the mother vessel to accustom the crews to handling them. The party of 30 was wel comed aboard by Commander H. O. Goldsmith, USN, who took command of the vessel at Wilmington, and broken up into smaller parties so that each manufacturer's representative could inspect the part of the vessel in which his equipment was used. Late in the afternoon, the group watched the sailors bring the landing craft .back aboard the' tig AKA. Booms- were swung over the side and the largest landing craft were brought aboard and stored in specially-designed cradles fore and aft. Then smaller LCI's, which fit into the wells of the larger, were stored. Finally, the landing craft for officers di recting the invasion were swung from davits on either side of the bridge, like lifeboats. Captain Goldsmith explained to the croup that in an actual invasion the AKA and the APA would anchor off the enemy Anniversary Will Broughton, together with delivered ' a vessel on an average of. every 5.7 days since the first slid into the Cape Fear river. During these years, there have been two change-overs in produc tion, first from the Liberty to the C-2 type and later to the present AKA's.. As many will recall, the S. S. Vance was sponsored by Mrs. J. Melville Brough ton, North Carolina's first lady, during a program that formally marked the return of shipbuilding to Wilming ton after an absence dating back to the days immediate ly following World war I.. 1 coast and swing around so that their deck guns could join the bombardment, if necessary. While antiaircraft crews aboard both vessels watched for enemy planes-, the AKA would put her LCI's in the water, load troops from the APA, and take them in from the assault. After a beachhead is won, the supplies from the AKA can then be fer ried in. The inspecting party spent the night in the crew's quarters with the 400 bluejackets- it ac commodates to man the LCI's. The next day the AKA cruised down the bay. first at three ouarter speed, then at full speed. The day's maneuvers concluded with all antiaircraft guns aboard ship firing madly at a target sleeve towed by a Navy two engined plane. "Two months ago I was in New Guinea." Captain Gold smith told the group. "Five weeks ago this ship was launch ed. Three days ago these sailors were still in boot camp. Now here we are all together train ing for one hell of a job and we'll do it." - Liberty ships have been con verted for use in nine different types of service, none of which they were originally intended for. Be Noted Dec. 6 Cover n o r and Mrs. her attendants, have been invited to attend the cere mony next Wednesday. The first anniversary was marked by the launching of the' S. S. Alexander Lilling- . ton under the sponsorship of Miss Helen Lovering. The ship was delivered to i the Maritime commission 14 days later and, according to the latest reports, is still in service. There was no launching on the second anniversary and it passed unobserved. However, the S. S. Mid night, our 12th C-2. went down the ways on Decem ber 10, 1943. Broughton A Speaks At Ceremonies Lauds Our Record Of Production, OCD Activity We received another out standing honor the Na tional Security Award on November 23 at a pro gram highlighted with a short address by Governor J. Melville Broughton and the christening of the U. Si S. Union, 26th AKA type ship to near completion here. The state's chief executive not only complimented us for our Civilian Defense activities-, such as excellent safeguards against air attack, sabotage, fire and ac cidents and on which the award was based, but was high in his praise for our shipbuilding records-. "I have been informed by the highest authority that when the war is over, no shipyard in the country will be able to show as fine a record as this one," he asserted. Recalling the launching of the S. S. Zebulon B. Vance, first Liberty ship, he reviewed our contributions to the war effort. He spoke of the award of the Maritime commission's "M" pen nant in the early days ol the company and pointed to presen tation of the National Security Award "as another point in achievement" in the yard's pro gressive life. "This award, the highest of its type, certifies that you men and women have not only been capable but have been patriotic and public spirited," he said. Establishment of the yard's Civilian Defense organization, he continued, came at a time when North Carolina's shores were threatened by the enemy. He spoke of enemy submarine activity off the coast during the early months of the war. The menace of organized sabotage was great and to meet these and other threats at a time when armed manpower was- at a min imum, the intelligent and public spirited citizen answered the call to serve. Giving his time and efforts, he set up safeguards to assure the protection of the coast and its important industrial and military establishments. "You have established and maintained a safety record un surpassed in America in similar work," the. Governor told the as sembly at the launching. "I congratulate, every man and woman who works in this shipyard and I say you have the thanks- of tyorth Carolina and the nation for your part in Civilian Defense and the attain ment of victory. When the men and women return from over seas, you can say 'we, too, have kept the faith" At the opening of the pro gram, C. David Jones, of Wil mington, Commander of the De fense Corps of New Hanover county, was introduced by P. F. Halsey, Vice President and Gen eral Manager. Sheriff Jones, introduced Roy MacMillan, of Raleigh, " State Director of Civilian Defense, who, praising the company for its- Civilian Defense work, pre sented the Award and flag to Captain Roger Williams, Presi dent. -"We feel that what we did to (Continued en page 4)
The North Carolina Shipbuilder (Wilmington, N.C.)
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