Steel Castings for Modern Dreadnoughts 



How are they made — these 

 giant one-piece sections weigh- 

 ing enough to sink a ship? 



The stern post here shown was made 

 for the new superdreadnought "Missis- 

 sippi," and its weight is 44,540 pounds 



The casting in which the man is 

 standing forms a portion of the rudder 

 of the superdreadnought "California" 



THE extent to which steel enters into 

 the construction of the modern battle- 

 ship is realized by very few'. Besides 

 the tons of steel plates which form the hull 

 or hold of the ship itself there are some very 

 large steel castings. The two illustrations 

 here shown are excellent examples. 



In the two castings illustrated there are 

 over 90,000 pounds of steel and both of 

 them enter into the stern or rear part of the 

 ship. It would seem almost as though 

 these would cause the vessel to stand on its 

 end or sink it. 



One of these is the stern frame or stern 

 post, and the other is the rudder frame. 

 The rudder frame is attached to the stern 

 frame, which of itself constitutes the back- 

 bone of the vessel's stern. The stern post 

 here shown was made for the new super- 



dreadnought "Mississippi," and its weight 

 is 44,540 pounds. The other casting, the 

 rudder, was made for the new superdread- 

 nought "California," and its weight is 

 50,500 pounds. 



The part of the casting in which the man 

 is standing forms a portion of the rudder 

 proper while the large lugs above fit on to 

 the corresponding lugs shown on the stern 

 post in the car. 



How were these castings made ? A large 

 sand mold of several sections had to be 

 made for each one, and each part was dried 

 out completely before the molten steel was 

 poured in. The actual amount of metal 

 poured in each case was over sixty-seven 

 thousand pounds for the rudder frame, and 

 over fifty-nine thousand pounds for the 

 construction of the stern frame. 



827 



