[Ted Davisson]

Greetings From New Orleans ,
Just one of the many " perks " that I enjoy while traveling the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge is to observe the progress of the construction of sea going ships at the Avondale Shipyard . First of all , for one reason or another the Avondale Shipyard no longer builds commercial sea going vessels like tankers and bulkers but now only U.S. military vessels . First of all , I am by no means a naval architect but I do know what I personally see at the Avondale Shipyard and its by no means on a small scale . Now what I find facinating is that the modern day ships of today are no longer being built by laying a keel first and then building upwards from it , but rather these ships are now being built in separate sections and then at the appropriate time these separate sections are then literally placed and secured together . I am not sure if the Str.'s Mississippi Queen and the American Queen were built in this fashion and possibly some one that does know may contribute to this discussion . Regardless , hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I did watching these ships being built .
Smooth Sailing !
Ted Davisson