Page 111 - MY STORY

humongous things if Douglas did not want to invest in a

new manufacturing facility to handle hardware of this
size and weight.

Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company
seemed interested in working with us. They certainly had
the capability for handling structures of this weight range

with ease and were highly skilled in forming and welding
thick high strength steel. Think submarine pressure hulls
around 4-inches thick. The manufacturing plan was to

make cylindrical segments about 8’ tall by “roll forming
and welding” two semi-circular plates together to form

the segment. The upper and lower surfaces of the
cylinder would be machined to close tolerances so that
the cylindrical section could be stacked vertically, sealed
and fastened to provide a leak-tight joint.

We were led into a large, very old wooden building at

Newport News during one of our early visits to get a
sense of their equipment, welding skills, and general
ability to do this job. We were told that the large building

we were in was one of their machine shops. So we asked,
“where is your vertical milling machine needed to
perform the precision machining of the cylinders?” Our

guide was sort of smirking as he answered – “you guys