How Swan Island organized tanker prefabrication

Water on three sides allowed Swan Island to place successive construction stages close together. Prefabrication moved toward the building ways, launched hulls entered the eastern basin for fitting out, and completed ships used the western side for commissioning and sea trials. Eight building ways proved sufficient despite an initial plan for ten. Heavy presses and cranes supported the assembly of bulkheads, decks, and shell sections measuring 36 by 40 feet. Construction began with the keel and adjacent bottom plating, then worked outward from amidships as bulkheads were erected. Two longitudinal bulkheads divided the tank spaces into three compartments. The ends were finished last, allowing tank spaces to be completed and tested before all the end plating was fitted. Continued improvement allowed a 56-ton poop deck assembly to be welded upside down in five days and lifted into place.