rhys wrote:



My father, who turns 80 tomorrow, was in the British Merchant Marine
during WWII. He said that while the losses from U-Boats were
devastating, he found a lot of sailors feared the kind of storm that
could "bridge" a single-hulled, laden freighter between two wave
crests, causing it to fail and essentially snap in half.

He said the ships rushed out in the latter half of the war were worse
for this sort of thing, akin to the "Liberty ships" in the States.

R.

The Liberties were one of the first ships massed produced with all
welded construction.
Initially, from memory, there was a serious problem with breaking in half.
Much of this was corrected/lessened by adding a riveted plate (crack
arrestor) around the hull at the main deck level.
Again, from memory, this was considered a "stop gap" solution that
seemed to have good results and in fact you tended to see these "crack
arrestor" plates on much construction until well into the 60's.

otn

In article . net,
otnmbrd wrote:

rhys wrote:



My father, who turns 80 tomorrow, was in the British Merchant Marine
during WWII. He said that while the losses from U-Boats were
devastating, he found a lot of sailors feared the kind of storm that
could "bridge" a single-hulled, laden freighter between two wave
crests, causing it to fail and essentially snap in half.

He said the ships rushed out in the latter half of the war were worse
for this sort of thing, akin to the "Liberty ships" in the States.

R.

The Liberties were one of the first ships massed produced with all
welded construction.
Initially, from memory, there was a serious problem with breaking in half.
Much of this was corrected/lessened by adding a riveted plate (crack
arrestor) around the hull at the main deck level.
Again, from memory, this was considered a "stop gap" solution that
seemed to have good results and in fact you tended to see these "crack
arrestor" plates on much construction until well into the 60's.

otn

The Liberties that I've heard of were ferro-concrete and not
particularly successful. We have a few of those grounded within our
cruising grounds.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

Jere Lull wrote:



The Liberties that I've heard of were ferro-concrete and not
particularly successful. We have a few of those grounded within our
cruising grounds.


Other than knowing there were a number of the "ferro" ships constructed,
I have little info on them.
I seem to remember there were one or two grounded above the Carquinez
(sp?) bridge enroute to Martinez, Ca..

otn

On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 20:02:51 GMT, otnmbrd
wrote:

Again, from memory, this was considered a "stop gap" solution that
seemed to have good results and in fact you tended to see these "crack
arrestor" plates on much construction until well into the 60's

I believe I recall seeing them years back on some of the older
"LakeMax" frieghters here on Lake Ontario, which are limited to the
lock size on the Welland Canal of about 750 feet..

R.