Shipping controller
The Shipping Controller , often British Shipping Controller, was a British authorities item that was founded in 1916 by the United Kingdom during the First World War with war-important merchant shipping supply. The position was closed again in 1921.
history
During the First World War, a shortage of cargo ships became apparent to the British government . Then on December 10, 1916, the New Ministeries and Secretaries Act created the post of Shipping Controller to manage and organize the UK's merchant shipping. The position was initially filled with Joseph Maclay and from 1918 with William Pirrie .
To end the shortage of merchant ships, the shipping controller in Great Britain launched an emergency construction program and also commissioned newbuildings from British shipyards in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In Canada, however, ships were built for later operation by the Shipping Controller on behalf of the Imperial Munitions Board . An extensive standardization of both the actual ship designs and the machinery was established for all new buildings. In Japan, too, the shipping controller acquired ships through the shipping companies Furness, Withy & Co. and Federal Steam Navigation Company , which acted as an agency. In addition, by March 1917, newbuildings with a measurement of over 700,000 gross tons were ordered from shipyards in the hitherto neutral United States via the agency Cunard Steam-Ship Company . The orders in the United States were not delivered to the shipping controller, but taken over by the US government after the war began.
With the exception of the canceled US orders, a total of 821 ships were ordered for operation by the shipping controller. Of the ships commissioned, however, only 416 units were completed on behalf of the government between 1917 and 1920, a further 279 units were sold to private customers before completion and the remaining construction contracts were canceled entirely.
All these ships were given a uniform name ( war ships ) and were subject to the shipping controller (entry in the register as The Shipping Controller ), but the actual operation of the ships was in most cases transferred to existing shipping companies. After the war, the shipping controller managed the large number of surplus ships and was disbanded in 1921.
literature
- WH Mitchell, LA Sawyer: British Standard Ships of World War 1 . Sea Breezes, Liverpool 1968.
- Thomas A. Adams: Shipping Controller (1917-1921), A review of his authority and functions , In: Marine News , No. 7, Vol. XXX, World Ship Society, Kendal, 1976, pp. 258ff
Individual evidence
- ^ Lloyd's Register, years 1917–1921