THE INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE AS APPLIED TO MARINE 



PROPULSION. 



By John F. Metten, Esq., Member, and J. C. Shaw, Esq., Visitor. 



[Read at a special meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, held in New York, 



May 26, 1921.] 



The fall in ocean freight rates in recent months to prewar levels should bring forcibly 

 to the attention of American shipowners the great economic importance of the internal-com- 

 bustion engine for ship propulsion, although it is not claimed that the Diesel engine is a com- 

 plete remedy for the present predicament of the American merchant marine. 



The situation in which American shipping now finds itself is analogous to the early 

 transition from sail to steam. This country then failed to keep pace with Great Britain, who 

 gained a lead which was only partly overcome, due to the condition brought about by the 

 late war. 



In the recent shipbuilding emergency, efficiency of type was subordinated to the expe- 

 diency of rapid construction and quantity production. Many warnings were sounded to those 

 in authority at the time in regard to the danger of entirely ignoring the larger motor ship 

 in the emergency construction. However, this defect in building could have been greatly 

 remedied by recasting the uncompleted program immediately after the armistice, as carried 

 out by other countries, to meet the inevitable competitive conditions of peace. 



Contrasted with our past policy in reference to motor ships is that of Great Britain and 

 Scandinavian countries, in particular, who fostered the motor ship during the war, and, since 

 the armistice two and a half years ago, have rapidly built motor ships almost to the exclu- 

 sion of the less efficient steam cargo vessels. 



As matters now stand we find ourselves in the possession of a large government-owned 

 fleet, almost wholly steam driven, which private owners are reluctant to purchase or operate. 

 The question accordingly is presented to us, as naval architects and marine engineers, as to 

 the best method by which the inadequacy of the situation can be met, whether to advocate 

 the conversion of the most inefficient of the existing steam vessels to Diesel drive or build 

 new motor ships, and the best systems to be recommended. 



It is hardly necessary to state in detail the particular advantages of the motor ship over 

 the steamer which are fairly well conceded and imdoubtedly well known to the members of 

 the Society. More in regard to detail of the application of the internal-combustion engine, 

 pointing out the various advantages and the defects of the different systems, will be attempted 

 to be presented. A critical analysis of two vessels of a given size, propelled by steam turbines 

 and Diesel engines, will also be given to show the economic importance of the latter. It is to 

 be hoped the authors wijl be pardoned if undue reference is made to Burmeister & Wain, of 

 Copenhagen, with whose work they are mostly familiar. As commonly recognized, this pio- 

 neer company has been mostly responsible for the present accepted high standing of the mo- 

 tor ship. There will be completed this month sixty-seven vessels to their system representing 

 580,000 tons deadweight and 214,000 Diesel indicated horse-power, totaling more tonnage 

 than all the other makers combined for this class of vessel. 



