The World’s Greatest Launching
American shipbuilders established a world’s record on July 4, 1918, by launching 92 ships of 450,000 deadweight tonnage—one third more than the tonnage produced during the fiscal year, 1915-16. The previous year’s record of total tonnage was 398,000 tons in 1901. American Labor’s answer to Germany’s unrestricted warfare was the launching on one day of 54,000 tons more shipping than had been constructed in any previous year.