No time was to be lost. The demand for ships, shipyard work, and ship equipment for other purposes was increasing every day. Within 10 days the Eastern Steamship Corporation’s fast passenger liners Massachusetts and Bunker Hill, running daily between New York and Boston, were purchased outright, becoming the Shawmut and Aroostook. Within a month the Southern Pacific freight steamers El Rio, El Dia, El Cid, and El Siglo were taken over, becoming Roanoke, Housatonic, Canonicus, and Canandaigua, respectively. Carrying 860 mines each they soon became known as the Big Four. The Old Dominion steamers Hamilton and Jefferson, familiar to passengers between New York and Norfolk, followed by December 6, 1917.
The Boston-New York Passenger Liner “Massachusetts.”
Before conversion into a minelayer.
The task of making four freight ships habitable for crews of 400 men, at the same time carrying twice as many mines as any other vessel of their size, is not done by a wave of the hand, and as for the four passenger steamers taken, they were gutted like fish—saloons and cabins ripped out—before their conversion could begin. Although plans had to be based upon what could be done within a reasonable time, with material and labor scarce, all features had to conform to the requirements of the mining installations. These were almost entirely new on the scale contemplated, either in our own or any other service. There was little data available of similar installations, except some British mining memoranda and a few belated blueprints. Lieutenant DeSalis, R.N., kindly placed his experience at our disposal, which was a help, but attempts abroad had not made a success of mine elevators—which would form a cardinal feature of our installation—nor had others gone in for mine-carrying capacity to the extent we contemplated—which was the maximum number consistent with not squeezing the crew intolerably. Hence, little of their information proved applicable to our case. Experience in our own minelayers, however, San Francisco, Baltimore, and Dubuque, during the past three years, enabled many details to be decided with a confidence that subsequent results confirmed.
The 20-Knot Minelayer “Shawmut.”
Formerly the coastwise passenger liner Massachusetts.
That winter of 1917-18 will be long remembered! Material was scarce, transportation congested, labor unsettled, fuel short, weather severe, haste and high prices everywhere. Much delay came from lack of interest among workmen. The campaign of addresses by good speakers explaining the need for the ships and the men’s own interest in doing their best, did not begin until sometime in February, and then only in a small way. There was insufficient supervision, the contractors were converting vessels to a type for which no model existed, and plans were not forthcoming as fast as wanted, often not in the logical order. Besides delays and losses of material in transportation, one trade in which labor was shortest—shipfitter—was the one on whose work much of the other had to wait.
By constant urging and anticipating probable delays, the work as a whole was kept always progressing, even if at times slowly. The captains to be, and their principal officers, came to the ships soon after their taking over, and by January 25, 1918, two of the largest ships, Roanoke and Housatonic, were enough advanced to be commissioned. Living conditions were extremely rough amid the dirt and disorder, made worse by the slush and mud in the unpaved shipyards; but the presence of officers and men on board exerted constant forward pressure, while they were becoming acquainted with their ships. In the conversion of the Shawmut and Aroostook at Boston Navy Yard, the ships’ companies worked in industrial gangs alongside the civilian employees, with such actual accomplishment and setting such an example, as to advance the date of completion materially. At the same time, their training progressed so well that, on June 16, 1918, only one week after completion, they started across.