SNAME Philadelphia Section Hears Paper On New Flexible Shipbuilding And Ship Repair Facility

The Philadelphia, Pa., Section of The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers held its October meeting at the Airport Holiday Inn in Essington.

Seventy members and guests attended the technical session to hear a paper entitled "New Flexible Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Facility," presented by co-authors R. Galloway, E. Schorsch, and M. Willis.

The authors outlined the history of the development of Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.

since its inception in Chester, Pa., in 1916, and described in some detail the design and construction of the new building fa- cility and its supporting equipment. This new facility, which has a capability of constructing ships of 400,000 dwt, consists of a "flat slab" building area, and a large floating drydock equipped with a sophisticated tide and ballast control system. The ships are built in halves on the slab and transferred horizontally to the drydock for joining. A detailed model of the plant was on display at the meeting.

Following the paper presentation, the members and guests were invited to join in a conducted tour of Sun Ship, for a first-hand view of the installation.