Again I do not have the reference but, from memory some ships with cracked
welds were lucky to survive the crossing. Some of the welds were
investigated and found to have been properly made. I think the possible
reason for the failure of these sound welds was not found until after the
War. As a lab assistant I helped to investigate low temperature
embrittlement of steel.
It is of course likely that bad welding was at fault in some or even most
cases.
Peter Hutchison
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