REFUELING WARSHIPS AT SEA.* 

 By Spencer Miller, Esq., Member. 



[Read at the twenty-second general meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in 



New York, December 10 and 11, 1914.] 



In 1883, Admiral R. S. Lowry, K. C. B., R. N. (senior officer on coast of Scot- 

 land, stationed at Rosyth 1914-1915), then a lieutenant, read an essay on "Coaling 

 Ships or Squadrons in the Open Sea" before the Royal United Service Institution 

 of London. To show the necessity for improved apparatus for coaling warships at 

 sea he said: — 



"I think I am within the mark in stating that during the blockade of Charles- 

 ton by the Federal fleet, nearly one-quarter of that force were always absent from 

 before the port employed in filling their coal bunkers." 



The efficiency of the blockade before Charleston was, therefore, numerically 

 considered, about 75 per cent. 



The year 1914 witnesses three important blockades: the British in the North 

 Sea since August 4, the British-French in the Adriatic Sea, and the Japanese at 

 Kiao Chau Bay from August 23 to November 7. The Japanese maintained their 

 blockade for eleven weeks and were successful. At the present* writing the blockade 

 in the North Sea has been maintained for twenty-three weeks and in that period each 

 ship has replenished its bunkers at least sixteen times. 



Blockades are not obsolete, although the method of blockading has undergone a 

 change since 1883. We can only conjecture as to their efficiency. 



Admiral Lowry added : — 



"During the same war (U. S. Civil War) Federal cruisers while searching 

 for the Alabama were constantly obliged to quit that portion of the sea allotted to 

 them in order to fill their bunkers, after one or two useless chases after suspicious 

 looking vessels." 



Since August i ten German cruisers and several converted merchantmen have 

 played the part of the Alabama. They have captured or sunk nearly 100 merchant 

 ships. These German cruisers are the — 



Emden, 3,600 tons, speed 245^ knots (sunk November 9). 



Karlsruhe, 4,900 tons, speed 28 knots. 



Nurnburg, 3,450 tons, speed 23^ knots (sunk December 8) 



♦Corrected Jan. 1, IPIS. 



