BUOYANCY AND STABILITY OF TROOP TRANSPORTS. 157 



ing bulkheads that the ship at once Hsted to such an angle that it was impossible to 

 lower the boats on the port side and that equalization in the bunkers was delayed. 

 Open side lights and bulkhead doors between the main and upper decks allowed the 

 water to enter and spread forward and aft on the starboard side of the main deck, 

 and before equalization could become effective the stability was wholly destroyed. 

 About fifteen minutes after the collision the ship capsized and foundered with a 

 loss of more than a thousand lives. This disaster happened in a perfectly calm sea 

 and in a ship which was generally considered well designed and safe. 



Longitudinal shifting bulkheads are fitted also in the cargo holds of all mer- 

 chant vessels which carry cargoes that are liable to shift, but are in such case ordi- 

 narily provided with large door openings at the foot, and under the cargo hatches 

 portable wooden partitions take their place, allowing a fairly free equalization of 

 the water in case of bilging. 



The obvious remedy against the ill effects of longitudinal subdivision is in all 

 cases the same — to destroy the integrity of the longitudinal bulkheads by cutting 

 permanent openings of ample size in them at the lowest possible level. In the center- 

 line bulkheads of engine-rooms it will generally be sufficient to remove existing 

 doors or to secure the doors in the open position so that they shall never be closed 

 while the ship is at sea. If, however, the doors are of small area or placed at a 

 high level, permanent openings should be cut at the foot of the bulkheads. Prof. 

 C. Pagel, Director of the Germanischer Lloyd Classification Society, in 1916,* speak- 

 ing of the danger of center-line bulkheads, made the following statement : — "Hence, 

 for those of our (the German) passenger steamers that are provided with a center- 

 line bulkhead in the engine-room, it is prescribed that in such a bulkhead great doors 

 shall be fitted, which must be open during the voyage, so that, in case of bilging, 

 water can flow to the endangered side and thus a great list be avoided." In the 

 shifting bulkheads of transverse bunkers, similar holes should be cut of sufficient 

 size to allow for the obstruction to the flow of the water caused by the coal. Where 

 tunnels extend to a great height above the floor of the bunkers and are surmounted 

 by shifting bulkheads, holes cannot be cut at a low level, and it may here be neces- 

 sary to fit equalizing pipes or ducts under the tunnels. In side bunker bulkheads 

 holes of ample size should likewise be cut and, in order to prevent the coal from 

 running out, they should be provided with grating or wire mesh. The precautions 

 here described serving to annul or reduce the heeling effect of longitudinal subdi- 

 vision were taken by the Bureau of Construction and Repair as needed in all the 

 troop transports tinder the control of the United States Navy during the war. 



*Jahrb. Schiffb. Ges., 1916, p. 142. 



