Sixth Washington

ARMY & NAVY

The British captured the first U. S. S. Washington in 1776 (on Lake Champlain). With shells, torpedos and bombs, the U. S. Navy sank its fifth Washington in 1924. This sacrifice was then supposed to be the highest form of sanity; the U. S. people were glad to contribute an unfinished, 32,000-ton battleship to Disarmament. The U. S. having adopted new standards of sanity, the Navy last week launched its sixth Washington.*

A long hail from the ten-gun sailing galley of 1776 was Washington VI. The grey-black monster which smoked down the ways of the Philadelphia Navy Yard into the muddy Delaware River last week was:

> The first battleship launched by the U. S. Navy since 1921.

> The Navy's first full 35,000-ton battleship (the 15 in service range from 26,100 to 33,400 tons).

> The 108th combat ship launched by the Navy since its renaissance began in 1933-The

Washington will not long be lonely. Five other 35,000-ton battleships, two 45,000-tonners (largest in the world) are also abuilding for the Navy. Next to be launched is the 35,000-ton North Carolina next week (at the Brooklyn Navy Yard). But launching is not completion: not before December 1941 will the Washington be fitted with her nine 16-inch guns, her secondary batteries of twelve five-inchers, her complement of eight antiaircraft guns. By official confession, ships so far along in construction cannot be altered to benefit in full from the antiaircraft lessons taught by World War II. Washington VI nonetheless is far ahead of Washington V: longer (125 ft.); 16-inch armor (instead of tapering from 16 to 14 inches); two layers of deck armor, instead of a single, three-inch layer (the upper one six inches thick, the lower four inches); faster (rated at 28 knots, expected to better that; the last Washington was rated at 21 knots). Probable cost: a whopping $80,000,000.

What with traditional naval secrecy and last week's accent on fifth columns, the Navy made the launching of Washington VI as private as was decently possible. Four miles of the Delaware River were temporarily closed to shipping, lest passing sailors get a peek at the secret superstructure. Philadelphia police and FBI agents kept tabs on the 35,000 (mostly Navy yard workers, their families, naval personnel) who were admitted to the Yard for the big baptism.

The June day was hot, the crowd was in a sweat when pretty, 15-year-old Virginia Marshall, of Spokane, Wash., smashed a christening bottle of champagne across the bow. Sponsor Marshall's great-greatgrandfather was Chief Justice Marshall, for whose funeral Philadelphia's Liberty Bell tolled till it cracked in 1835. Just as the new Washington eased into the water last week, the sky darkened, but not with planes. It was just a cloud momentarily dimming the sun.

-This one is named for the State of Washington. Two predecessors were also named for the State, three for George.

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