REFUELING WARSHIPS AT SEA. 177 



An oil hose supported in this manner permits oil bunkering to be carried on in 

 heavy seas. The automatic tension engine furnishes the necessary elastic medium 

 for paying out and taking in the supporting cable as demanded by the motion of 

 the ships. It maintains a uniform tension on the supporting line and prevents any 

 lashing or whipping of the hose while the operation is being carried on in a heavy 

 sea. 



The weight of the 5-inch metal hose and the oil to be supported by the sus- 

 pended cable is double the weight of the carriage and coal bags of the marine cable- 

 way. The necessary tension in the supporting line would be the same in both in- 

 stances. The oil hose is a uniformly distributed load; the bags of coal a concen- 

 trated load frequently in the center of the span. 



The automatic tension engine now installed on the collier Cyclops will develop 

 a tension of 18,000 pounds and will sustain a 5-inch flexible bronze hose and a i-inch 

 diameter steel wire rope on a span of 600 feet with a deflection of about 58 feet. The 

 rear mast of the Cyclops, with its heavy pulley block secured to the masthead for 

 coaling at sea, is needed for oil bunkering at sea. The collier Cyclops carries both 

 oil fuel and coal. Many of our battleships burn both kinds of fuel. The Cyclops 

 can deliver either fuel if provided with a suitable oil hose, reel and oil pumps. 



Oil bunkering at sea by such improved method can be carried on in a heavy 

 sea, the time required for setting up and taking down the hose would be reduced, 

 and all damaging strains in the line eliminated. 



ASSUMING THE UNITED STATES AT WAR. 



Rear-Admiral F. F. Fletcher, U. S. N., Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic 

 fleet, recently said to the Naval Committee in Congress, "In time of war the fleet 

 should not be at any one port but should be out at sea and should stay there." Log- 

 ically this is possible if supplied with coal at sea. Rear- Admiral Fletcher, when 

 Aide for Material to the Secretary of the U. S. Navy Department, was largely 

 instrumental in pushing forward the development of this, the latest form of marine 

 cableway. 



The United States at war with a first-class power during the next few years 

 would be defended almost entirely by coal-burning ships, omitting destroyers and 

 submarines, approximately as follows: — 



13 first-line battleships, 10 burning coal, 

 23 second-line battleships, all burning coal, 

 10 armored cruisers, all burning coal, 



5 first-class cruisers, all burning coal, 



4 second-class cruisers, all burning coal, 

 1 5 third-class cruisers, all burning coal, 



being a total of 67 coal-burning ships and three oil-burning ships. 



