P.B. Brill letter to James R. Harris - November 20, 1918

Transcript

[Lake Torpedo Boat Company letterhead] November 20th, 1918 Mr. James R. Harris, Vice President Busch-Sulzer Bros.-Diesel Engine Co., St. Louis, [Missouri] My dear Mr. Harris : I have your letter of November 15th, inquiring whether there is any likelihood of the contracts of Submarines S-58 to S-65 not being awarded to this Company. The form of contract has not been submitted to us but we expect to receive it and to have it signed at an early date. Mr. Miller saw the Secretary after the peace news was received and was definitely assured by him that the full program will go ahead. We have ordered the steel and have received definite authority from the Bureaus of Construction and Repair and Steam Engineering, via the Compensation Board, to proceed with the ordering of other material, and other work as far as we can go before the final plans and specifications are received. The Secretary of the Navy at a banquet of the Society of Naval Architects on November 15th announced that the naval program will proceed without reduction due to the termination of the war, and further that he intends to push his new $600,000,000, three-year program recently submitted to Congress and expects to have it approved by Congress before March 4th, 1919. Yours Very Truly, P.B. Brill PBB:EMD* General Manager