Cinderellas of the fleet . and Repair had confidence in thedesign and went ahead with preparations to have the boats built. In-stead of concentrating the job at a single huge plant, it was decidedto build the boats in the existing boat building yards all over the coun-try, a plan that at first glance seemed doomed to failure. That it didnot fail but proved just about as successful as any program this countryput through during the war, not only speaks ^•olumes for the Bureaubut also is a flattering commentary on the American Boat BuildingIndustry. The motor used in the American Submarine Chaser
Cinderellas of the fleet . and Repair had confidence in thedesign and went ahead with preparations to have the boats built. In-stead of concentrating the job at a single huge plant, it was decidedto build the boats in the existing boat building yards all over the coun-try, a plan that at first glance seemed doomed to failure. That it didnot fail but proved just about as successful as any program this countryput through during the war, not only speaks ^•olumes for the Bureaubut also is a flattering commentary on the American Boat BuildingIndustry. The motor used in the American Submarine Chasers, like thatof the British M. , is a stock model made by the StandardMotor Construction Company of Jersey City, N. J. The job ofproducing all these motors was tremendous even with the best ofmodern production methods. In a little over three years the StandardMotor Construction Company delivered about 700,000 of thismodel alone. That is enough power to drive 25 of the large super- 62 THE CIXDERELLAS OF THE FLEET. Three of these 220-horse Standard motors were installed in every Chaser andthe production of engines kept pace with the completion of the hulls. dreadnaughts like the Arkansas; more than will be needed for ourproposed battleship program for the next three years. It is only bymaking such a comparison that the size of this submarine chaser un-dertaking is comprehended. We may well be proud of such a showing. SEAWORTHINESS To illustrate the remarkable seaworthiness of the SubmarineChasers, I am going to chronicle the story told me by an S. C. skipper,who knows the Chasers from truck to keel. He has taken his boatacross the Atlantic and back again, not to mention numerous convoyingexpeditions to Bermuda and this is the account of the particular partythat he considers the most strenuous of all his experiences. Here it is: It was in June, 1918, while returning to Norfolk after escortingtroop transports through the danger zone that we were caught in anasty bit of we
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidcinderellaso, bookyear1920
