DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF PASSENGER STEAMERS. 297 



most interesting paper which has just been read by Mr. Rigg. In it he describes his experi- 

 ence in designing passenger ships. While this is outside my speciahy, I could not help being 

 impressed recently, during the trial trip of the American Legion, with the admirable design 

 of this ship. In every particular, it was well constructed, and its trial trip was more success- 

 ful even than had been expected by its designers. I learned with no little satisfaction that 

 a large number of these ships are destined for Pacific service, where they will undoubtedly 

 play aji important part in increasing the trade and consequently the friendship between the 

 United States and Japan and in bringing these two countries closer together by an ever- 

 decreasing distance. 



Mr. Rigg gives us an interesting table of shaft-horse-power required to get the speed 

 of 25 knots and 30 knots for ships of various lengths, to show fuel saving high speed. I am 

 impressed by the fact that the shaft horse-power at 30 knots is remarkably small for a ship 

 of 700 feet. I should like to ask whether there is some difference in the shape of these ships 

 and also whether these figures have been obtained from actual experiments. 



The experiments with the model propeller which are being carried on in this country 

 are very interesting to me, because we, in Japan, have done nothing along this line. It was 

 my privilege to see the experiments with model propeller carried on at the Naval Experi- 

 mental Tank in Washington for the tanker being built by the New York Shipbuilding Corpo- 

 ration for our navy. In this connection, I cannot help pointing out how fortunate you are, 

 in this country, to be given the benefit of the experiments carried on by your navy. The 

 equipment of the experimental tank is so expensive and the expert knowledge necessary to 

 carry on the experiments is so hard to obtain that, in a country where the navy is willing to 

 share the results of what is done experimentally with private shipbuilders, the art of naval 

 construction is bound to make rapid progress. 



The recent tendency to decrease the length of passenger ships seems to me only a tem- 

 porary phenomenon of this post-war reduction. It will soon return to the pre-war condition. 

 Mr. Rigg's opinion regarding the avisability of increasing the breadth of a ship is another 

 indication of how we are profiting by the lessons learned in the great war. By increasing 

 the breadth beyond the proportion usually accepted, greater stability is secured and the life 

 of the ship is safer. The passengers may find it less comfortable, but this is far out- 

 weighed by the fact that a number of accidents can be avoided. Mr. Riggs is using this idea 

 in a very dififerent kind of ship, and I am sure that its advantages will be as great as in a 

 passenger ship. I refer to the tanker designed by Mr. Rigg for our navy and which is being 

 built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation. There is no type of ship to which sta- 

 bility is of greater importance than to a fleet oil carrier, and I am convinced that this design 

 will give a decided advantage to the oil carrier in question. 



Will you permit me here to take the liberty of saying a word about this same tanker ? 

 Twenty-five years ago, two cruisers were built in this country for the Japanese Navy, but since 

 then most of our foreign construction has been done in England. We have consequently been 

 influenced almost entirely by British ideas. Recently, however, you in this country have 

 made such strides in naval architecture that we have been eager to learn from you. Science 

 and art should know no nationality and should be used only for the advancement of man- 

 kind. Hence we have come to learn from you one of the most important discoveries of recent 

 times, namely, that of electric propulsion. 



Last spring we contracted with the New York Shipbuilding Corporation for a tanker 

 of the following dimensions: Length, W. L., 496 feet; breadth, 67 feet; depth, 38 feet; dis- 



