38 CONTEMPORARY SCIENCE 



with a speed of 25 knots. In cruisers similar advances 

 were made. The i.h.p. of the Powerful was 25,000, while 

 the s.h.p. of the Queen Mary was 78,000, with a speed 

 of 28 knots. During the war the power obtained with 

 geared turbines in the Courageous class was 100,000 s.h.p. 

 with a speed of 32 knots, the maximum power trans- 

 mitted through one gear wheel being 25,000 h.p., and 

 through one pinion 15,500 h.p., while in destroyers, speeds 

 tip to 39 knots have been obtained. The aggregate horse- 

 power of war and mercantile turbined vessels throughout 

 the world is now about 35 millions. 



These advances in power and speed 'have been made 

 possible mainly by the successive increase in economy 

 and diminution of weight derived from the replacement 

 of reciprocating engines by turbines direct coupled to the 

 propellers, and, later, by the introduction of reduction 

 gearing between the turbines and the propellers; also by 

 the adoption of water-tube boilers and oil fuel. With 

 these advances the names of Lord Fisher, Sir William 

 White, and Sir Henry Oram will always be associated. 



The British Navy has led the world for a century and 

 more. Lord Fisher has recently said that many of the 

 ships are already obsolete and must soon be replaced if 

 supremacy is to be maintained ; and there can be no ques- 

 tion that to guide the advance and development on the 

 best lines, continuous scientific experiment, though costly 

 at the time, will prove the cheapest in the long run. 



The Work of Sir Wm. White. With the great work 

 of the Royal Navy fresh in our minds, we cannot but 

 recall the prominent part taken by the late Sir William 

 White in its construction. His sudden death, when Presi- 

 dent-elect for 1913, lost to the nation and to the Associa- 

 tion the services of a great naval architect who possessed 

 remarkable powers of prevision and dialectic. He was 

 Chief Constructor to the Admiralty from 1885 to 1901, 

 and largely to him was due the efficiency of our vessels in 

 the Great War. 



