Re: Shipbuilding Efficiency

"Dave Anderer" <danderer@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:TRVn_B.A.-GH.gWReHB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The conventional wisdom - as least as I know it - is that the US produced much of the Allied means for WWII. This was done by a combination of access to resources and superior production efficiency - mass production, assembly-line techniques, etc.

There are some interesting comments on this in DK Brown's 'Nelson to Vanguard', specifically:


"During the war, US shipyards set up some incredible records for for rapid building, but measured in man hours or in cost the superior performance of British yards is clear... In submarine construction it was said that the US worker produced 3.8 tons in a year compared with 8.8 tons for the British worker.

"The average cost of a Liberty ship was $1.78 million (450,000 pounds) while a similar Empire ship built in the UK would cost around 180,000 pounds. The US ship would need 500-650,000 man-hours, and the British 350,000."


There is clearly a disconnect between what I thought I knew and what is claimed above. Any further insights into the real situation here?

Was that true throughout the war or only during the first part?

And I wonder if the efficiency was maintained throughout the
production chain. The shipyards in the U.K. were farther
from most of their sources of iron ore and other resources
needed.

Assuming that there was a difference in efficiency there might
be some reasons for it. One might be that most shipyard workers
in the U.S. were temporary wartime workers and not regular
trained shipyard workers. Another might be that Kaiser was not
a ship builder and had to learn.

The U.S. more or less equaled the rest of the world's production with
only 130 million, say about 7%, of the world's 2 billion people. The U.S.
labor force must have been more efficient overall.

.

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