Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 257, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1916 — MIGHTY ENGINES FOR OUR NEWEST WARSHIPS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MIGHTY ENGINES FOR OUR NEWEST WARSHIPS

O DESIGN bigger and more powerful marine engines than ever known, about eight times the power of those on the Pennsylvania or other late superdreadnaughts, is the problem which the authorization o{ the United States navy has thrown on Rear Admiral Robert S. Griffin, chief of the bureau of steam engineering, according to a writer in the New York Sun. These engines, which will be of the electric-drive type, are expected to push the 900-foot ships through rough seas at a speed approaching 35 knots; that is, about four knots better than the latest United States destroyers and at the rate of a passenger train running on a carefully graded road. When Admiral Griffin tells the story one gains from his manner the impression that about all he had to do was to speak to Captain Dyson about it and the design of these $0,000,000 engines sprang Into existence, but those who know the admiral have their own opinion about that; and it differs somewhat radically from the impression. “Yes,” said the chief, “at first it was rather appalling when we realized the magnitude of those engines. The largest in any of our battleships give 25,000 horse power; those of the Lusitania were 70,000; and it is said that those which drive the English Tiger at about 30 knots are from 80,000 to 120,000. So one can see that we had to make a leap, and at first It seemed like a leap inthe dark, to provide approximately 200,000 horsepower. But somehow, when we goTflieTconai ti on s'* right before us, everything seemed to unfold itself and fall into the right place and there really : was little difficulty.

“We saw at the outset that it was impossible to control and apply the power without adopting oil fuel and the electric drive. In the great mercantile ships like the Aquitania and the Vaterland we had examples of the ■boats with a speed of 25 or 20 knots, but it is the last few knots which are so difficult to get. Very roughly speaking, the new cruisers steaming at 15 knots will consume the equivalent of 150 tons of coal a day, and to attain somewhere ■between 34 and 35 knots will burn up the same quantity in one hour; to put it another way, the icoal required to drive one of these cruisers at full speed for a day will drive a battleship across ithe Atlantic jams back. If full speed can be maintained stfetiily 'for three days and seven hours It will take one fromJNew York to Liverpool; but as that would require 12,000 tons of coal It Is certain that such a run will never be attempted , on coal fuel. •• • • —_ "No one can tell wfcat the cnemlst-engineer or the future will do; but until something is found battle cruisers wi]l have to depend upon oil to .convert water Into stearrf; and without that substitute they cannot be driven many consecutive hours at full speed. It would not be possible to transmit so much power on one sfyaft or one screw. Therefore It is distributed to four shafts, each receiving about 50,000 horse power, or double the total power in a superdreadnaught and greater than that of any but the largest of the modern merchantmen. “If only a low or moderate rate of speed were required the old-style reciprocating engines would, because more economical, probably be selected, but to secure the high rates turbines will be adopted. “The electric drive is not difficult to comprehend if one will think of the familiar trolley, subway or railway car driven by electricity. The (power is created by the operation of steam-driven generators or dynamos. They produce the electric current, which Is carried by wire to the many small motors in the cars scattered along the system. The motorman or engineer 1 turns on the power and the motor is driven ahead; he moves his lever and the power is shut off; he shoves It farther over and reverses his motor. Fear ‘many small motors’ say several large ones and you have the plan of the ship’s electric drive. The turbines tors, and the motors turn each of the four propeller shafts of the ship, v

“This is the simple scheme of propulsion adopted for these new cruisers, it is known to be effective, but it is not as simple in the application as in the telling. To the troubles of the steam engine are now added the dangers of the electric current, and the engineer must have mastered electricity as well as steam. If the steam from 200,000-horse-power boilers could rend the ship, the current it would generate, misapplied, would work untold harm to ship and crew. “One of the disadvantages of a single engine or a single turbine is that it must be in one large compartment, and if this Is broached from the outside the flow of water fills the entire space, puts all the machinery within it out of commission and places jthe ship in great danger. With the electric drive every motor, generator and turbine can be isolated, thus adding to the safety of the vessel. The electric drive Is not -an experiment. It has been operated on the naval collier Jupiter and on its trial trips the perfect success of this way of gearing down the power was proved beyond a reasonable doubt. This system is also being installed in the latest battleships, the New Mexico, Tennessee and California. “There are several reasons why the cruisers must be so much longer than the dreadnoughts—approximately half as long again. The most important of these is to insure the fineness of line forward and the long smooth run indispensable to speed, with sufficient buoyancy to sustain the unavoidably great weights of hull, equipment and engines. Another reason is to provide space enough for the number of which will supply steam to the turbines. The Oklahoma requires 14 water tube boilers to furnish her steam; and on that basis the new ships will require 84, although It probably will not work out in Just that way. These boilers will contain many miles of tubing. “A special problem for the engineer after the design of her hull has been fixed. Is to determine the size of each of the propellers, their position and the bitch of the blades. A factor in •lving this is the number of revolutions which the engines will give and the number which will give the best results. Although we have built no ships of this size and design and have no relative data to guide us, the solution presents no great lifficulty, as Captain Dyson is a recognized expert in this line and will take care of this situation. “The bureau of steam engineering will have to lay c f&lies of wiring for electric lights and signals in a very limited space, at least as many as a town of 15,000 inhabitants would need.' For this purpose we will supply separate generators; but by way of precaution provision will be made for coupling the lighting system with the generators which drive the propellers. “It is needless to say that in working put the designs Xhere will-be constant eo-opemtion between this bureau, the naval constructors, the ordnance department, the builders of the ships

and the manufacturers of the electric machinery. Everyone knows that Admiral Taylor can juggle with ship models and find the one he wants; and it may be taken for granted that the experiments made in the model tanks have produced a hull suitable for the speed required. The questions of armor and armament, of the gun placements, mag azines and balanced turrets; the thousand details for the stores, plumbing, drainage, lighting, fuel tanks and engine space and the everlasting question of weights, have received the most careful consideration.

Of course, engineers must know the shape of the hull before they can design the engines, but the constructors must know the weights and dimensions of the engines before they can give the last word in the designs. “It seems hard that such enormous sums must be outlayed for ships which in 20 years will bo scrap without rendering any very good ser\ice unless the nation should become involved in war; it is also unfortunate that a police force of any sort is necessary and that fire insurance pre- . rniurns must bp paid. The only compelling cause for the construction of these ships is that they are a type which other nations possess, and without which the United States will be at a gravo disadvantage if opposed to a nation possessing them. “As commerce destroyers It Is plain that their speed and power will enable them to overtake and destroy anything afloat except battleships. The raids made by the German cruisers upon the English coasts show how easily they can slip past a battleship fleet; and the Emden has proved what a swift cruiser can do against an enemy’s commerce until a swifter and more powerful cruiser puts an end to its career. If It were not for the English cruisers, which would seek and cut them down one by one, the German battle cruisers, in spite of all the battleships of the English navy, would go to sea and make aUklnda of trouble for the ships bearing to the allies munitions, food supplies and money paid for the manufactured articles which the allies in their ships are siding to the markets of the world because they have sea control. “The battle off Jutland most certainly has not established anything not already known against the cruiser. No one ever had the slightest reason to suppose that one could engage a battleship at any range on equal terms. The naval engineers put all the expensive and powerful machinery in them; the designers of 'the hull gave them the fine lines to keep them at a long range from the backbone of the fleet; and when that speed was used to take them close to the battleships the inevitable happened. “As a scouting force to locate the enemy these swift powerful ships break through a screen and accomplish what they were intended to do; and there is no doubt that as the swift wing of a fleet they will be Invaluable in pursuit of an enemy and in certain other fleet maneuvers. That they cannot be successfully opposed to battleships no more proves that they are unfit for their strategic functions than the inability of English battleships to overtake the German cruiser fleet-proves that they are unable to give and receive blows. "So, because battle cruisers have their own im- „ portant functions, both in and out of the fleet, the United States navy must have them, and the more of them and the sooner the better; for the navy is the one mean* of defense against a military nation.”