Our Unsinkable Torpedo-Proof Cargo Fleet 



The boats will be patterned after the ordinary 

 its hull divided^ into a dozen or more tight 



By Joseph Brinker /- 



UNSINKABLE? Yes, practically. 

 That's the kind of ships it is 

 now proposed to build for Uncle 

 Sam's fleet of freighters to thwart the 

 torpedoes of the German submarines. 

 Of course no vessel afloat or to be 

 launched in the near future will be 

 unsinkable if a sufficient number of 

 torpedoes are exploded against her 

 sides. Even the latest battleship is not 

 immune. But Uncle Sam's new boats 

 will have no unprotected portions of 

 the hulls, and it will take at least two 

 and perhaps three well-aimed torpedoes 

 to sink one of them. 



The new type will be fully armed. 

 It will be of steel construction and 

 patterned after the present-day oil- 

 tanker which is practically immune 

 against 'single torpedo attacks except 

 in the way of the engine and boiler 

 rooms. If struck there she is done for 

 and settles by the stern, with no power 

 to proceed. The new boats will have 

 fuel-oil tanks extending clear around 

 the ship from main deck to main deck, 

 from the front of the boiler space to 

 the rear of the engine room. If a 

 torpedo strikes her there and blows a 

 hole in her outer skin, the inside of the 

 tank will act as a new hull to keep her 

 afloat until the submarine rises to view 

 her prey. Then because of her arma- 

 ment, the ship has a chance to de- 

 stroy the submarine. None of the oil 

 tankers have been sunk so far in the 

 war by one torpedo, unless hit in the 

 engine or boiler space. 



Applying the Lesson Taught by 

 the Oil-Tanker 



The bulk oil in the tankers is carried 

 in a dozen or more separate tanks or 

 compartments into which the hull of 

 the tanker is divided byanoiltight longi- 

 tudinal centerline bulkhead and many 

 transverse bulkheads. This is why one 



oil-tanker with 

 compartments 



A billion dollars' worth of shipbuilding 

 means that the proposed ships will entail 

 the production of steel enough to make two 

 Woolworth Buildings, each 792 ft. high 



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