38 : NEW 20,000-TON TANKERS. 
In fact the size, outfitting and equipment of these vessels are such as to make 
them a notable addition to the already very notable fleet which has been built 
up under the supervision of Mr. D. T. Warden, manager of the Foreign Shipping 
Department of the owners, the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, and Mr. 
R. W. Morrell, their naval architect, who considers that these tankers, on account 
of their size and the simplified design made possible by adapting them to one trade 
only, will prove to be the most economical oil carriers yet produced. 
DISCUSSION. 
Tue CHAIRMAN :—This paper, entitled ‘‘New 20,000-Ton Tankers,’ by Mr. Norton, 
is now open for discussion. 
Mr. H. P. Frear, Member of Council:—The paper under discussion has been 
awaited by many of us with much interest, and our thanks are due Mr. Norton for his 
valuable contribution. Before referring to several points of the design, I think it will 
be in order if, as a representative of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, I take 
issue with Mr. Norton regarding the statement that this is the largest tanker ever built. 
The combined ore and oil steamers Bethlehem has under construction have a real claim 
for this distinction, although the length is the same; namely, 550 feet. While the New- 
port News vessel is a little wider, the Bethlehem combined ore and oil carrier has greater 
depth and draught and a credit in her favor of about 200 tons deadweight when carrying 
either ore or oil in separate compartments. Now I am not claiming that we have a 
41,000 deadweight tanker, but when we beat the Newport News Company on two counts 
the honors should go to Bethlehem. The Bethlehem ore and oil steamer was designed 
for a given deadweight while at one of the ports of call with an oil cargo, but her maximum 
assigned summer draught, which can be used at all other ports, will be somewhat greater, 
amounting to 28 inches more than Mr. Norton’s vessel. 
Mr. Norton also claims that the 17-foot boilers to be installed in his tanker are the 
largest built in this country, with the exception of two 18-foot boilers built at the Harlan 
Plant of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation. The Bethlehem Corporation is 
now building six 17-foot 6-inch boilers at one plant and nine 17-foot boilers at another 
plant, and this number may be materially increased. 
The principle of taking advantage of the reinforcement of the brackets to reduce 
the space, and incidentally the size of the longitudinals, is well understood and has been 
quite universally used in Great Britain, since the advent of longitudinal vessels in the 
case of single transverse tanks where there is a bracket in every span. 
A great deal has been said and done in the direction of fabricated ships and the 
duplication of parts. Mr. Norton directs particular attention to the fact that the pump 
room is located amidship, and both it and the plating are the same length as the cargo 
tanks; the inference, as I understand it, being that with these features, together with the 
straight shear amidship, there is a greater similarity of parts. 
