Cargo volume at the destination was the program's ultimate measure of efficiency. Construction therefore had to be rapid without imposing failure risks that would keep hulls from useful service. Welded-hull cracks did occur, especially where ships worked in colder regions that exposed contraction problems quickly, but they affected only a limited share of the vast class. The large number of completed and surviving ships shows why production risk must be judged across the operational fleet rather than through a few notorious failures alone.
Notable Point · 41:36-43:32
Construction efficiency includes service reliability
Fast production only served the transport mission if completed ships entered service reliably and survived long enough to deliver cargo.