REFUELING WARSHIPS AT SEA. 183 



Vice-Admiral Sir S. M. Eardley-Wilmot, R. N., who had much practical experience on 

 blockade duty, acknowledging receipt of the paper, replies as follows : — 



"There is no doubt that the ability to replenish bunkers with coal or oil at sea in almost 

 any weather is of the utmost importance." 



Referring to means for coaling bow and stem at sea, he adds : — 



"That of course is the only reliable method, for the open sea is seldom calm enough to 

 allow two large vessels to lie alongside each other without great risk. To take a vessel in 

 tow under way requires skilful seamanship but is, I believe, practised in most navies. Your 

 automatic tension engine seems to have successfully overcome one of, if not the principal, dif- 

 ficulties in the towing operation, and hence I think it should obtain universal adoption." 



Sir Eardley-Wilmot suggests that oil could be transported in tanks of one-ton capacity 

 by the marine cableway as being simpler than using a heavy hose. This suggestion, coming 

 as it does from a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy, indicates that the use of an oil hose for oil 

 bunkering at sea presents many difficulties. 



Sir Eardley-Wilmot's suggestion to transport the oil, using the marine cableway and 

 employing tanks instead of coal bags, is entirely practicable. Attention is directed, however, 

 to the necessity for reducing the time of loading the cableway at the oil ship and unloading 

 the tank at the warship to an absolute minimum. The cableway should deliver a load every 

 60 seconds. Thirty-five to 40 seconds will be consumed in transporting the carriage back 

 and forth on the cableway. The loaded tank should be hooked on at the oil ship in 10 to 

 IS seconds and emptied at the warship in 10 seconds, making a total of 60 seconds. 



Apparently the quickest way of emptying the tank would be to turn it upside down. 

 With an oil tank properly suspended this would seem feasible. A huge funnel, temporarily 

 erected above the warship deck, would serve to receive the oil without loss and convey it 

 through a hose to the bunkers. 



At the loading end on the oil ship, where the cableway carriage stops, a special shunt- 

 ing truck or platform could be mounted on a short section of track athwartship. This truck 

 should have two padded pockets to carry the tanks. One tank would be instantly detached 

 and dropped to its pocket on the special truck. A quick push on the truck athwartship would 

 bring the loaded tank directly under the carriage. The tank bale would then be hooked on 

 the carriage, the haul-down slackened, and the tank would be started on its way to the 

 battleship. 



With such a loading arrangement it would be possible to reduce the delay at the loading 

 engine to a matter of 10 or 12 seconds, and 60 trips per hour would therefore be possible. 



The cableway has a carrying capacity of 4,000 pounds. An oil tank, to carry 1}^ tons 

 of oil (2,800 pounds), would weigh 1,000 pounds. The total load on the carriage would 

 therefore be 3,800 pounds. With 60 trips per hour this would result in a capacity of 75 

 tons an hour. 



Rear-Admiral Reginald G. A. Tupper, R.N., a naval officer with extended sea experi- 

 ence, being a rear-admiral in the Home Fleet 1912-1913, in acknowledging receipt of a 

 copy of the paper, and noting that the author credited him with the first suggestion for 

 continuous rope apparatus, adds : — 



