Canada builds merchant ships

[Mike Kelly]

I came across this wartime photo.

I had no idea that Canada built so many Merchant ships during WW2

More info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_ship

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I had no idea that Canada built so many Merchant ships during WW2.

That is because we as Canadians have never done a very good job of telling what we accomplished during the war. Basically three-quarters of our wartime production went to our Allies.

[maple_leaf_eh]

It is one thing to have a design, but from the locations of the shipyards, supplying them with steel plate, rivets, bronze and brass fittings, all the electricals and the propulsion, I would be more curious where the supplies came from. From the page, 83 of the 182 ships were built on the West Coast in BC. That is a very long way away from the traditional heavy industrial areas of Ontario and Quebec.

[Ed Storey]

Perhaps the steel came from one of the mills situated in California.

[Mike Kelly]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

Perhaps the steel came from one of the mills situated in California.

That's entirely possible.

When I was rebuilding the little C8 CMP truck years ago, I found a ink stamp on the cab sheet metal. The stamp read something like 'USS steel Illinois'

Interesting that some of the Park ships were coal burners, even by 1940 standards, this was considered to be obsolete technology.

The SS Taronga Park launching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1AdXEgxmoI

[David Dunlop]

Another consideration is that during the war, the Federal Government had full control of what goods were shipped where, and when and at what cost.

David

[Ed Storey]

Originally Posted by David Dunlop

Another consideration is that during the war, the Federal Government had full control of what goods were shipped where, and when and at what cost.

True, but at the same time there was a lot of wartime trade between Canada and the U.S., so 'Made in Canada' did not necessarily mean that the materials used were sourced in Canada.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I had no idea that Canada built so many Merchant ships during WW2

Canadian Production of War Materials was massive, and still very much underrated.

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/rememb...heets/material

"There were 348, ten thousand-ton, merchant ships built in Canada during the war. Large and relatively slow, but reliable and easily adapted to a variety of cargoes, these ships and those who sailed on them ensured the delivery of much of Canada's war production.

During 1941, the first of the large 10,000 ton merchant ships were taking an average of 307 days to build (and up to 426 days in one case). One year later, average production time had dropped to 163 days (with one ship being produced in a record 112 days).
Some 57,000 individuals were employed in merchant shipbuilding and a further 27,000 worked in naval shipbuilding, which included building vessels like destroyers, frigates, corvettes, and minesweepers."

[Mike Kelly]

Wartime poster

[Bob Carriere]

....and revive the war time production on both Coast.... we will need to create jobs and build ice breakers for the North.......

What is even worst is that the only beer can top lid manufacturer is in the USA and probably using Quebec aluminum....... let's make our own tops....

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

....and revive the war time production on both Coast.... we will need to create jobs and build ice breakers for the North.......

What is even worst is that the only beer can top lid manufacturer is in the USA and probably using Quebec aluminum....... let's make our own tops....

From a consumer opinion, I'd accept the old ways of opening beer with a church key instead of the easy way, if it means much simpler construction. And, every kitchen drawer and toolbox gets a newly made Canadian stamped can opening. From a manufacturing perspective, a conventional solid top is a disc with a spun perimeter fold. The convenience top has many clever creases and impressions to create tearable weak sections. That engineering is more complex.

[David Dunlop]

Or set your work shop up with a keg and tap system...


David