Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

THE BUILDING OF A BATTLESHIP. NO industry in the British Isles is of greater importance to the nation than that which is concerned with the construction of war-ships. In ordinary times this industry engages the attention of two classes of establishments. There are, first, the Royal Dockyards, which build nothing else but war-ships. There are, secondly, the great private yards, which in some cases by work done in the building of war-ships is difficult to determine. There are no statistics distinguishing between those who derive their daily bread from building merchantmen and those who live upon the wages won in war-ship construction. Most private firms undertake both classes of work at the same time, the only exception being the Royal Dockyards. Moreover, scattered BATTLESHIP, SHOWING KEEL PLATE, FRAMES, AND THE CENTRAL LONGITUDINAL BULKHEAD. specialise upon the construction of vessels for warlike purposes ; and in other cases occasionally undertake the building of cruisers or battleships when there is no other work going. In emergencies, such as a great naval war would bring forth, all these sources could be supplemented by the yards which in ordinary times build nothing but steamers for the mercantile marine. What exactly is the number of the popula- tion which is in ordinary times supported all over the country, there are a vast number of subsidiary industries, all concerned with the war-ship, such as the armour-plate makers at Sheffield and Glasgow, and the various engineering firms who manufacture the hydraulic and electric fittings so largely required on board. It is certainly an under- estimate to place the number of men interested directly or indirectly in the manufacture of material for the Navy in Britain at somewhere about a million. The