Newport News (CA 148) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 17 text:

AND RELAXATIGN

Page 16 text:

1 U DERWAY TRAINING Cahbratlon shootmg on Bloodsworth Island 2 I I E 1 14 I

Page 18 text:

PANAMA CANAL TRANSIT The story of the Panama Canal goes back more than four centuries. The idea of joining the two oceans through the narrow isthmus was born soon after the New World was discovered. The first tangible efforts to build a Panama Canal began january 10, 1880, when the project was formally inaugurated by the French Canal Company. The work was conducted with great vigor but the project was doomed to failure. Nature's own obstacles, inadequate machinery, insecure financial arrangements, and health conditions on the Isthmus contributed to failure of the Company in 1889. A new French Company was formed in 1894 and work was continued on a modified scale until 1904 when the company's rights and properties were purchased by the U.S. Government for S40 million. To enable the United States to construct and operate the Panama Canal the Republic of Panama granted the United States exclusive jurisdiction and control within the Canal Zone. The Panama Canal was opened to commercial ship traffic August 15, 1914. Since that time more than 250,000 ships of every category and over one billion tons of cargo have gone through the waterway. Although lock canals had been in use many years before the Panama Canal was built, no locks of its magni- tude had ever been constructed. The structural steel gate leaves are 7 feet thick and are compartmented so that they practically float in the water. Each leaf is so delicately balanced that it is moved by a 25 horsepower motor. All but the smallest ships are towed through the Canal Locks by electric locomotives or amulesn, while elsewhere in the Canal they move under their own power. These mules that towed us through are mighty midgets. Each weighs nearly 100,000 pounds and is capable of exerting 25,000 pounds of pull or braking power. Six to nine mules were used to pull the World,s Largest Heavy Cruiser through on this trip. l 16