An idea of what has been accomplished with respect to ship-building is gained through the statement of Secretary Daniels, June 2, that his department had established a new world's record for rapid ship construction by the launching of the torpedo-boat destroyer _Ward_, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, seventeen and a half days after the keel was laid. The previous record was established shortly before that date at Camden, New Jersey, where the freighter _Tuckahoe_ was launched twenty-seven days and three hours after the laying of the keel. In 1898, twenty years ago, the first sixteen destroyers were authorized for the United States Navy. These were less than half the size of our present destroyers, and yet their average time from the laying of the keels to launching was almost exactly two years. During the ten years prior to our entrance into the present war Congress authorized an average of five or six destroyers a year. The records show that in the construction of these the average time on the ways was almost exactly eleven months, the total time of construction being about two years. [Illustration: REAR-ADMIRAL LEIGH C. PALMER.] [Illustration: VICE-ADMIRAL WILLIAM S. SIMS.] [Illustration: JOSEPHUS DANIELS, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.] [Illustration: ADMIRAL HENRY T. MAYO.] [Illustration: ADMIRAL WILLIAM S. BENSON.] [Illustration: REAR-ADMIRAL ALBERT GLEAVES.] The average time on the ways of the numerous destroyers launched in 1917-18, is but little over five months, this being somewhat less than half the average time under peace conditions. As many as 400 men were employed in work on the _Ward_, and in preparing to establish the record as much structural work as possible was prepared in advance, ready for erection and assembling before the keel was laid. While this achievement will no doubt remain unmatched for some time, it will none the less stand significant as marking a condition that is general in naval construction throughout the country, this applying to battleships and other craft as well as to destroyers. In short, under the constructive leadership of Josephus Daniels, the navy is doing its enormous bit in a convincing manner. It took the personnel of the navy--that is, the commissioned personnel--a long time to discover the real character and personality of Mr. Daniels. It is not too much to say that many of them were hostile to his administration. But the war proved him for what he was. With administrative capacity of his own, sound judgment, and a clear brain, he was big enough to know that there were many things that had better be left to the highly trained technicians under his command.