SHIPS AND SHIPBUILDING 347 



British Admiralty. Ten of them are about 525 ft. long, 66 ft. beam, 34 ft. depth, 10,000 

 tons gross, 15,000 tons D.W. ; seventeen are being built in the U.S.A. The " Gulfoil," 

 built by the New York S.B. Co., is 392 ft. long, 51 ft. beam, 30 ft. depth, 5,188 tons gross, 

 constructed on the longitudinal system and fitted with T. E. engines for 10 knots. 

 (For details see Montgomerie, Cassier's Mag., December 1911.) 



Propulsion. The total Horse Power of machinery afloat is about 26,000,000. The 

 adoption of the turbine has been much more general for naval (7,200,000 H.P. 1 ) than 

 for commercial vessels (1,300,000 H.P. 1 ), but 15 vessels of 100,000 l H.P. have now 

 been built (chiefly commercial) having high speed turbines and mechanical gearing. 

 This system has proved to be convenient and efficient in cargo steamers (" Vespasian "; 

 I.N.A. 1911), also in light high speed vessels of the cross-Channel type, as in the 

 " Hantonia " and " Normannia," built for the S.W. Railway Co.'s service between 

 Southampton and Havre, which showed an economy of about 20 per cent compared 

 with that ^Company's direct turbine ships " Caesaria " and " Sarnia " built a year 

 before (Prof. Biles, I.N.A. 1912). Increasing numbers of vessels are being fitted with 

 a combination of reciprocating engines and turbines: the " Laurentic," "Olympic," 

 " Niagara " and " Arlanza " are fitted with three, the " Rochambeau " (see Engrg., 

 Nov. 22, 1912) and "Britannic" with four propellers; the large Spanish liner 

 "Reina Victoria Eugenia" will also have four, while the sister "Infanta de Borbon," 

 built by Denny, will have three screws and will thus afford an interesting comparison; 

 all these vessels have reciprocating engines on two shafts. 



In the " Aquitania," " Imperator," " France," " Empress of Russia," and some 

 other large high powered vessels, turbines are fitted on four shafts; a high-pressure 

 turbine is fitted on each wing shaft, the steam passing to an intermediate turbine on 

 the opposite wing shaft and thence to a low pressure turbine on one of the inner shafts, 

 thus giving three expansions. 



The American navy is carrying out a great experiment in propulsion in three large 

 colliers, each of about 20,000 tons displacement, 6,000 H.P., 14 knots speed, 12,000 tons 

 cargo. The " Jupiter " has one Curtis turbo-generator, 2,000 revs., giving alternating 

 currents at 2,200 volts, and motors driving two propeller shafts at no revs., reported 

 engine weight 1 56 tons, compared with 280 tons in the " Cyclops," which has two recipro- 

 cating engines. The " Neptune " has steam turbines and Westinghouse floating 

 frame mechanical gearing (Engineering, August 23d and September 2oth 1912). See 

 also Mavor, Brit. Assoc. 1911-12: Emmet, Am.. Inst. Elec. Engrs. 1911: Durtnall, 

 I.N.A. 1910 and Soc. of Engrs. November 1912: and Catterson-Smith, Liverpool Eng. 

 Soc. 1912, concerning proposals for Electric Ship Propulsion. Increasing numbers of 

 vessels, including U.S. battleship "Nevada" and one of the 6,000 H.P. Japanese 

 cruisers, are being fitted with Brown-Curtis turbines, and the Rateau, Zoelly and 

 German turbines are making good progress in European countries. 



Great advances are being made by connecting a high speed turbine to a slow running 

 propeller by means of the Fottinger transformer, up to 18,000 H.P. (Fottinger, I.N.A. 

 1912), very great savings in space, weight, and fuel consumption being obtained as with 

 mechanical gearing, but with an efficiency of about 90% compared with 98% for 

 Parsons's gearing. The economy and convenience of the turbine for all classes of ves- 

 sels has now been well established. Sir Charles Parsons has stated (I.N.A. 1912) that 

 with oil-fired boilers, superheated steam (see Yarrow, I.N.A. 1912), and a proper ar- 

 rangement of mechanical gearing, the consumption of fuel can be brought down to .6 

 Ibs. per I. H. P. per hour, compared with .44 for I. C. Engines. " The Unaflow 

 Steam Engine" (Constable & Co.) describes a new type of reciprocating engine invented 

 by Prof. Stumpf of Charlottenberg and fitted up to 1,000 H. P. in small vessels. 



The use of oil for fuel under .boilers continues to increase (the latest U.S. battle- 

 ships will burn oil only), and the development of the I. C. engine for ship use is pro- 

 ceeding very rapidly (see Milton, I.N.A. 1912). Lloyd's Register reports that, in Sept. 

 1912, 34 vessels were being built with I.C. engines, 23 being above 2,000 tons gross. 



1 These figures refer to Parsons turbines only. 



