The sun. [volume], August 03, 1919, Section 3 Magazine Section, Image 25

About The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920

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SECTION 3
What the 1,000 Foot
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Proposed Ships Excelling Anything Afloat
in Size, Speed and Safety Represent Our
Bid for Supremacy in Passenger Service
By ROBERT a SKERRETT.
AMERICA Is to make a bravo ef
fort to capture the "blue rib
bon" of transatlantic passen
ger (service. "We are to build two
ircat liners a thousand feet In length.
And that they may-be formidable cora-
ljpetitors, yes the superiors, of existing,
ocean greyhounds the Intention Is to
.give them, motive power of, .such
energy that they can be driven along,
day in and day out, at a speed of
thirty knots an hour.
It has been a long time since we
made any pretence of excelling in the
i ocean service between the United
States and Europe, and for decades
wo havo been quite content to let
foreign shipping interests win not
only the honors of this lucrative
business but to fill their coffers in
tho main at our expense. The
war will have done us a good turn
If It has been Instrumental In awak-
enlng us to a full realization of the
part that a native owned merchant
soarlne can and should play In our
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would be lacking In balance If it could
ray of up-to-date passenger craft of
the best and blggst sorts.
It was with this thought In view that
the United States Shipping Board took
under advisement months back the
planning of two giant liners capable
Of spanning the Atlantio in on Inter
val of four days steaming. And now
the authorities are bo far along In
this heartening project that finished
drawings can be made aval labia to
prospective builders in the course of
a vory few weeks. No wonder ex
Chalrman Edward N. Hurley Is en
thusiastic over the prospect and
especially pleased that' these splendid
'jmlps can be started shortly.
According to tho programme as out
Tfa PIR.ST STEAMSHIP TO OR.OSS Tfie ATLANTIC OCEAH
BUILT ijj PRANCIS FJCKETT, 1618. FIRST VOYAGE. 1619..
THE NEW
lined, it is tho intention of tho United
States Shipping Board to construct
tho craft out of national funds and,
later on, perhaps, to turn them over
to competent American interests for
commercial operation. While the In
ternational Mercantile Marine Com
pany, as such, has hot taken an active
part in formulating this inspiring
scheme, still It .has Indirectly lent, of
Its" oxperlenco and of Its technical skill
In planning these Immense- vessels.
That Is to say, the designs havo been
generally prepared by W. F. Glbbs, a
New York naval architect, who Is In
charge- of the construction deportment
of tho American Line. This expert la
thoroughly familiar with the tastes
and demands of our ocean travelling
public, and the primary desire, of
course, is to please our own people
and to lure their patronage to our
own liners as far as tno capacity of
tho two proposed craft will permit.
To Develop Great Power.
The new ships are to bo, of 56,000
gross tons each. They will bo 1,000
feet long, havo a maximum beam of
102 feet, and draw, when full laden, 35
feet of water. As would logically bo
expected, they will be equipped with
oil burning boilers, and the idea is to
store enough liquid fuel In their tanks
to carry them from hero to Europe
and back without replenishment. That
is to say, they will bs able to steam a
total distance of 7,000 miles and, by
being Independent of a European mar
kot for oil, they will be able to get
their petroleum where it can be bought
cheapest.
Each ocean titan will have turbine
Installations capable of developing
110,000 horse-power, and this energy
is to be distributed among four pro
peller shafts. There Is not tho slight
est doubt about this propulslvo effort
being sufficient to drlvo the- vessels
NEW YORK, SUNDAY, AUGUST -3, 1919.-w'. jw"n mkn.
IOOO FOOT LINER.S
through any ordinary seaway at a
rate of thirty nautical miles an hour.
This point has been definitely settled
by tests In the naval Model Experi
mental Basin at Washington, D. C
There, three or four different models
havo been thoroughly tried out, and
in this way a form of hull has been
dlscoveredlhat will meet all of 'thor?
qulrements for the desired service.
Tho aim has been to securo a body
that would make tho most economical
use of tho maximum horse-power and,
at tho samo time, meet every require
ment as to seaworthiness and comfort
in all kinds of weather.
Capable of Spanning; Gap.
Tho experts of tho Experimental
Basin have been so long engaged In
this sort of research work thaJ they
aro quite capable of spanning the enor
mous gap between a comparatively
miniature model of probably less than
twenty feet In length and a full-sized
liner measuring, from bow to stern,
nearly a fifth of a mile. Such aro the
practical fruits of that scientific! aid
to Bhlp designing which was called
into being years ago by Rear Admiral
D. W. Taylor, the present chief con
structor of our fighting fleet. This Is
not the first time that the basin has
dealt with some of tho problems con
nected with 1,000-foot steamships, and
New Yorkers, then, as now, had espe
cial interest In the work conducted
there.
About seven years ago tho authori
ties of tho Dock Department and the
army engineers could not agree upon
the wisdom of extending permanently
one of tho Chelsea piers for the ac
commodation of tho Olympic. The
military officials argued that tho nar
rowing of the waterway would Induce
serious disturbances In tho flow of the
river. Finally, to settle that moot
question onoo and for all, towing tests
Liner Means to American Shipping
. THE BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT o T?k? TRANS - ATLANTI C
were made in tho Model Experimental
Basin whoro certain conditions along
the Chelsea region of the North River
were reproduced upon a small scale.
A model fifteen feet long was towed
at speeds representing varying veloci
ties from six to twenty knots an hour.
This miniature representation of a
1,000-foot liner settled tho matter con
clusively, and as a result tho city built
the first of Its group of 1,000-foot
piers up at Forty-fourth street, where
the river is wide enough to stand tho
encroachment without any serious de
rangement of the tidal movement. Bo
causo of that research work and the
city's anticipation of the building of
l.OOp-footjsteamshlps wo are tq-day I
in a position to handlo vessels of that
six. j
It Is a coincidence, of course, but it
is nevertheless an Interesting fact that
we havo recently been, celebrating the
centennial of tho first crossing of the
Atlantic Ocean by a steam propelled
vessel L e,, the. memorable voyago of
the steamship Savannah, which cov
ered, that long stretch, intermittently
helped by her engine, in twenty-four
days from land to land. The first runs
entirely under steam from ono side of
the Atlantic to the other were made In
1838 by two British side wheelers, tho
Slrlus and the Great Western, which
reached New York within a day of ono
another the Slrlus doing tho voyage
in seventeen days and the Great West
ern in fifteen days. The Savannah, of
350 tons, was 120 feet long oyer all,
and had a beam of twenty-nine feet
thus In 100 years we havo magnified
tho length of our liners almost nine
fold, and In the matter of speed they
have gained six times that possible
with the englno and boiler power pro
vided for our transatlantic experiment
of 18W. '
The Savannah Compared,
In the A'eto York 3tercant1c Advcr
titer of March 27, 1819, was printed
the following enthusiastic description
of the steamship Savannah's accom
modations for ocean voyagers: "Her
cabin Is finished in an decant stvle.
and is fitted up In the most tasty man
ner. There are thirty-two berths, all
of which are staterooms. The cabin
for ladles Is entirely distinct from that
Intended for gentlemen, and Is admir
ably calculated to afford that perfect
retirement which Is so rarely found
on board of passenger ships." In
contrast the hugs new liners, apart
from an operating personnol of 1,000
officers and crew are each to take
care of 3,000 passengers. These will
be divided as follows: First class,
1,000; second class, .800, and steerage,
1,200. Further, In order that tho
travellers shall have enough to keep
them still linked with their accus
tomed pleasures ashore, these great
navigable towns ore to have ballrooms,
moving picture theatres, grill rooms,
sun parlors, winter gardens, swimming
pools, Turkish baths, gymnasiums and
small shops that will supply them with
every reasonable want or luxury. Just
see how much Intensive enjoyment
nnd how many conveniences aro
crowded Into a trip that Is designedly
not to take more than four days from
port to port! Compared with the sup
posedly superior comforts of the
steamship Savannah we see reflected
In the 1,000 foot steamships the
changed standards of llfo which a cen
tury of national progress has brought
about In America.
And that these vessels shall be safe
guarded as far as possible against col
lision either with other craft, un
heraldod derelicts or a fog hidden Ico
berg, they aro to bo extensively pro
vided with an inner skin, and .tho in
tervening doublo bottom space, ro
called, Is to be formed Into a great
honeycomb of metal by numerous sub
divisions so that any water pouring in
through tho damaged outer plating
will bo confined within narrow limits
Further, the inner body of each of
these ships will be subdivided Into
many compartments of moderate size
by water tight bulkheads, and because
of these safety previsions the ohlpa
will bo In large measure unslnkable
That Is to say, It would take a series
of Injuries to so destroy their buoy
ancy as to make It Impossible for them
to remain afloat.
According to the estimates, each of
these monster vessels will cost com
plete a matter of quite $20,000,000, and
it will require from two and a half to
threo years to havo them ready for
service after their keels ore laid. Big
as the ships will be and unusual as
they appear contrasted with other
American liners now running, still we
have at least two shipyards that to
day can bo counted upon to undertake
their construction. The New York
Shipbuilding Company's plant at Cam
den, N. J., has two slips available of
ample length, and the Newport News
Shipbuilding Company Is engaged in
hastening the. completion of two -ways
capable of taking' care "of steamers of
tho size planned. Thero Is no question
about our having plenty-of men of tho
various sorts that would be required
to turn out magnificent products of
the shipbuilder's art.
i
The Transatlantic Itaee.
Tho man In tho street, the average
canny citizen, will want to know why
we should wish to Jump so far ahead
of our previous largest transatlantic
liners. To him increased size repre
sents added outlays In every direction,
and, being untechnlcal, he concludes
that we are Inviting financial disaster
In making this amazllngly long stride
forward. Startling as It may seem, on
the contrary we aro actually moving In
the direction of economy doing tho
very thing that will bring us the
greatest returns upon our venture. To
begin with, ocean waves have remained
more or less of the same average size
for thousands of years, and every
growth of the steamship has reduced
the menace of these billows or their
capacity to halt or hamper the ship
forging forward under the amplifying
urge of engines gaining continually in
power. Therefore a thousand-foot
liner will be able to hold her own under
weather conditions that might seri
ously Impede a ship 600, 700 or 800
feet from bow to stern. It Is not
merely a matter of length, however,
but there Is magnified bulk and added
mass or dead weight displacement,
tho naval architect calls It. This fac
tor makes for sustained motion despite
boisterous waves and the blast of op
nosing winds.' In short, this Inertia
lest utilizes the propulsive effort trans
mitted by the screws.
But this Is not tho only advantage
Incident to mere Blze. A big craft,
within some limits. Is relatively
cheaper to build, ton for ton, than a
smaller one when all the gains are
balanced. For Instance, there are cer
tain fundamental benefits quite apart
from economy of sea transport or in
creased speed. To be specific, the large
craft can run at an average high rate
In rough weather, and by this she Is
able to maintain not only a fast service
but n regular one between her terminal
ports. As a consequence of. this she
can make more voyages In the course
of a year and, accordingly, net her
owners a correspondingly Increased
revenue. Next, because of her steadi
ness in tempestuous seas, she affords
that much more comfort to her pas
sengers. Similarly great size gives the
naval architect material which he can
utilize in furnishing better and more
spacious accommodations for a larger
number of the travelling public. From
the purely bu'lncss point of view the
operators of transatlantic liners are
fully nllve to the advertising appeal
of the "blggost ships aflnat," The pull
ing power of this lure Is Intensified If
the vessels be also the "fastest afloat."
Thero is still another virtue in en
larged displacement Tho cost of
manning, propelling and keeping In a
state of efficiency is comparatively
less per unit or measurement than is
the cose with craft of more moderate
dimensions but designed to meet the
requirements of the same service. For
the sako of the inquiring, let It be
mentioned that tho Mauretanla Is 785
feet long. Is of 32,500 gross tons, and
has made as much n 26 knot an
hour: tho Olympic Is 882 feet long, is
of 45,824 gross tons, and has a maxi
mum speed of 21 knots: the Aqultanla.
Is 901 feet long, Is of 47,000 tons gross,
and has to her credit a maximum
peed of nearly 24.S nautical miles an
Project Finds New York Prepared in Present
and Potential Dock Facilities Montauk
Point Terminal Question Is Revived
hour; while the Vaterland, now the
Leviathan, has a length of 907 feet. Is
of 54,282 gross tons, and has attained
a maximum speed of 26.3 knots. The
biggest American built transatlantic
liners now In service ore the Finland
and tho Kroonland, each SCO feet long,
of 12,241 gross tons, and capable of
making from 14 to 15 knots. These
ships (were built seventeen year ago
and are In -no wise fit to be classed
with any of the great foreign liners.
In effect, then, we are to-day nearly
doubling tho- length; " increasing" the
speed 100 per cent., and adding 42,760
tons to the capacity of tho trans
atlantic express steamships wo called
Into being In 1902.
In deciding upon ships 1,000 feet
long and 102 feet maximum beam, the
Federal authorities have gone the
limit so far as tho accommodations of
the locks of the Panama Canal are'
concerned. That Is to Bay, the usable,
maximum length of the locks Is Just
1,000 feet, and, similarly, a breadth of
110 feet Is available. This fact Is of
prlmo military Importance, because
these liners are potential naval auxili
aries and are Intended to carry power
ful armaments of rapid fire guns in
time of war. In this respect we are
virtually patterning our course after
the examples set us abroad; and the
recent conflict has emphasized the
wisdom of this foresight.
Great Britain while a free trade
country spent many millions for tho
protection and the maintenance of her
supremacy in ocean shipping when sho
called Into .being tho Lusttanla and the
Mauretanla. Those opoch-maklng ves
sels were built with money loaned by
the British Government to the Cunard
Company, at a very low rate of inter
est, and that Interest and the refund
ing of the principal wero covered by
governmental bounties, in one form or
another, which placed tho steamship
company In the unique position of
virtually owning two magnificent craft
for which ,they wore not expected to
pay. This was because the Admiralty
reserved the right to call upon the
company to surrender at a handsome
rental those ships at any time during
a period of national peril.
From upper deck to keel, the giant
liners will have a hull depth of 74 feot,
and towering above tho main body
thero will be several other decks de
voted exclusively to the accommoda
tion of flrst-clasa passengers. Their
navigational bridges will, therefore, be
In the neighborhood of qulto 75 feet
.EXPOSED IOOO FOOT DOCK. REGION OH The NORTH - R.IVER
ADcJACEHT. TO 4KV STREET. WE. MOW HAVE ONE OF TWE8E PIERS
.AVAILABLE i
GREYHOUND .
abovo water, with 35 feet of the hult
submerged. These figures help the
lay mind to get some understandable
Idea of the tremendous bulk of these
ocean-going monsters. The dead
weight or displacement of each of
these vessels will ho not less than
60,000 tons. Tho latest of our super
dreadnoughts, the Massachusetts and
Iowa the last word In titanic battle
craft will have trial displacements of
'43,200 tons, and this fact enables us
tho better to picture the enormous
moss represented by each of, the 1,000
foot express steamers which, so wo
are told, ore to be tho beginning of a
fleet of magnificent passenger ships to
carry the American flag. It is re
ported that tho United States Ship
ping Board contemplates taking two
more croft of this character In hand
shortly after the keels for tho first two
are laid. Indeed, It is not unlikely
that the United States will thus or
ganize a two ocean service transpacific
and transatlantic, Unking the ter
minals on the eastern and western sea
boards by means of our transconti
nental trunk lines.
The Montanlc Terminal Finn.
Colncldently with the announcement
of the United States Shipping Board's
plans for the establishment of the
American-European service, there Is
revived tho Montauk Point terminal
project an enterprise that has been
urged and Intermittently discussed at
intervals during the past twenty years.
Each time that a foreign steamship
company has undertaken the construc
tion of a newer and bigger express
steamship for tho New York run the
doubting Thomases havo promptl
pointed out potential local difficulties
In docking and clearing ships of such
size. We havo been told that they
could not safely thread their way In
and out the North River channel ex
cept at very favorable stages of tho
tldo, and we have been warned that
thick weather would Inevitably pre
vent any movement at all within the
port's limits. Finally, to avoid theso
much advertised handicaps, nnd also
to savo some time, it has been argued
that tho logical thing would bo to cre
ate, by building nn extonslvo break
water, a great steamship terminal at
Fort Pond Bay at the eastern tip of
Long Island a distance of 120 miles
"rom the metropolis.
Quito apart from tho outlay that
would bo necessary on tho part of the
Pennsylvania Railroad In doublo track
TWELVE PAGES.
ing tho Long Island line in order to
insure a really satisfactory "limited"
servlco from New York to Montauk
Point and vice versa, the building of
a breakwater reaching out Into depths
up to ninety feet, the erection of suit
able piers, storehouses, &c, would
jntall expenditures running up Into
many millions of dollars. Under
favorablo conditions this would prob
ably not effect a saving In the total
trip from New York ' to" Europe of-''
moro than two hours. Further, ex
press matter and other goads moving
to and from Europo by such a route
would have to pay the added charges
of rail transit and, In all likelihood, In
volve double handling. At least such
are the objections advanced by those
that aro opposed to the Fort Pond
Bay proposition.
Murray Hulbert, tho Director of tho
Port and tho city's wldo awake Com
missioner of Docks, points out that
the commanders of great foreign liners
have repeatedly demonstrated how
safely and speedily their big charges
can be navigated in and out of tho
harbor and brought to their docks with
amazing ease. Similarly, the Levia
than and lesser passenger craft in
the hands of our naval men have ex
perienced little trouble In making and
leaving their berths hero. Further,
Mr. Hulbert calls attention to tho fact
that wo already havo one 1,000-foot
dock at Forty-fourth street; another
Is soon to be started close by; a third
pier of this length Is to bo built at
Canal street, and any of the numerous
new wharves to be constructed on tho
east shore of Staten Island will be of
ample size to accommodate the giant
liners. As a matter of fact, the In
ternational Mercantile Marine Com
pany has prospectively engaged itself
to lease one of these great terminals.
As Mr. Hulbert somewhat forcibly
expresses It: "People who will be
fussy about saving a couple of hours
In a trip from hero to Europe or the
reverse aro tho sort that will probably
find it more to their liking to cross tho
ocean by airship. It would be cheaper
to let them pay for that convenience
than to obllgato millions of dollars at
the present time in the equipping of
an artificial harbor at the distant tip
of Long Island. Ships of a thousand
feet In length are not mlsllts hero. We
can take care of them, and the travel
ling public will bo better and more
comfortably served by arriving and
deporting virtually from tho heart of
Manhattan."
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