MERCANTILE SHIPBUILDING

A greatly increased output of merchant ships had been anticipated under the new organization, which placed mercantile construction under the Admiralty Controller instead of under the Ministry of Shipping.  It was expected that the difficulties due, under the previous arrangement, to competing claims for steel and labour would vanish with very beneficial results.

It was, as previously stated, mainly with this object that the Admiralty had agreed to the change.  The start was promising enough.  After a review of the situation hopes were held out that during the second half of 1917 an addition of about 1,000,000 tons of shipping from the shipyards within the United Kingdom would be effected.  This figure, indeed, was given to the House of Commons by the Prime Minister on August 16, 1917.

On comparing this figure with that of the first half of the year (a total of about 484,000 tons) there was distinct cause for gratification; it is right to state that Admiralty officials who had previously been watching mercantile shipbuilding regarded the estimate as very optimistic.  Further, it was anticipated by the then Admiralty Controller, Sir Eric Geddes, that during the year 1918, with some addition to the labour strength, a total output of nearly two million tons was possible, provided steel was forthcoming, whilst with considerably greater additions to the labour strength and to the supply of steel, and with the help of the National Shipyards proposed by the Controller, the total output might even reach three million tons.

The actual results fell very short of these forecasts, the total output for the second half of the year was only 620,000 tons, the monthly totals in gross tonnage for the whole year being: 

January 46,929 July 81,188
February 78,436 August 100,900
March 115,654 September 60,685
April 67,536 October 145,844
May 68,083 November 158,826
June 108,397 December 112,486

In January, 1918, the total dropped to 58,568 tons, and in February was only 100,038 tons.  In March it was announced that Lord Pirie would take the position of Controller General of Merchant Shipbuilding.  The subsequent results in the direction of output of merchant ships do not properly come within the scope of this book, which is intended to deal only with work during the year 1917, but it may be of interest to give here the output month by month.  It was as follows: 

January 58,568 July 141,948
February 100,038 August 124,675
March 161,674 September 144,772
April 111,533 October 136,000
May 197,274 November 105,093
June 134,159 December 118,276