Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 262, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1919 — U.S.S. NEW MEXICO: First Electrified Battleship [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

U.S.S. NEW MEXICO: First Electrified Battleship

»XCLE X-'n.’s *sup<r<lr<'lidnnught S’vw H I Mexico )< very much in the yes of M I the world these days for the special /’"'■'’M reason that this biHlhshjp is tin' , * f * t ”! at:-, nniioii to be propelled by electrti tx. .Moreover, -electric drive AIT has been ;o successful and its lightV Ing 'advantages have become so grnf erally recognised that the navy de* | partment hats derided to equip all of its new capital. ships with electric —1 propulsion untmrat.us. The New Mexico is a most impresslve light Ing machine. She was built at the Brooklyn navy yard and laniwluxl in the slimmer of 1917. /She is £24 foot over ulL—She-weighs (displaces!. 32,000'tons. She draws 30 feet of water. She has 87 feet 4U» incites hwuij at the -waterline.—At-full-speed she can make slightly in excess of 21 knots «n hour. She generate 1 -- 2*.horsepower for propulsion. Her ere" numbers nearly I.2<M> men. She burns oil Instead of coal as fuel and has a total fuel capacity of aboutT.tXK’.lM’” gallons. It’s not an easy thing nowadays to get permission to examine a battleship from stem to stern and td take photographs of her interior. But representatives of one of the big concerns which had a hand in making the New Mexico what she is was recently allowed the privilege—xvhtrh-tnrs been exceedingly rare since the beginning of the great war. The following account of an inspection of the superdreadnaught at drydock in the Brooklyn navy yard is the result. Lieut. Com. P. L. Carroll, chief englheer, turns us oxer to one of the junior engineers. We start —with the navigating -bridgeand examine the vnrious pieces of apparatus for transmitting signals to the engine room for the control of the vessel, and so half a dozen other parts of the ship, each of which has a particular and important function to perform. Next we begin a systematic survey of the ship, and to begin as far down into ■the vitals of the vessel as possible we are led through- circuitous routes, down steep hatchways, .through narrow alleys, and down more ladders, through deck after deck until we have lost all know ledge of time and space. We find ourselves at last on the very-bottom ofthe ship, directly behind rhe rudder. A complicated mass of machinery, pistons, rods, valves, dials and electric motors, combine to make up the steering gear engine. This machinery is qpera cxm troiltd directly from the navigating bridge—by acontroldevice. Thisis—only one of five different *methods of steering thfxship. In a water-tight compartment directly aft is what is known as the auxiliary steering gear. And here ■we see four large wheels connected to a shaft which when occasion demands, can be used to xnove the rudder by hand —which takes eight men. , But this shaft is aisxx connected’ to ti» electric /'motor and by tjie'Simple turn of a switch can be operated cldctri’caHy; ' Two other elepirtic;il units trol and if all steering methods fail, a “jury” rudder may be rigged off the stern. Going forward along the bottom of the ship we •come presently to the propeller shafts —four in number- —each operating an immense propeller. These shalls extend from the motors which opertate them back through the ship and out at the stern, through what are known respectively as the starboard outboard shaft alley, starboard inboard, (port inboard* and port outboard alleys. Following along the inboard shaft we go through •several more ' water edit compartments, drop' down a hatchway and find ourselves in the propelling motor room. .This is the section of the ship which actually drives the propellers. i The tremendous. which meets our gaze the.big shafts-revolve. ■ ‘ ' • w;. This motor stands' 12 feet high from the floor, and is 12 feet wide. It generates 7,000 horsepower. Like the rest, it is inclosed in a water-tight compartment. protected by bulkhead-;, and if anything ehould happen to. it, the current may be cut off at once and directed to the operation of the otherthree propellers. To see how the motor is controlled, reversed, started, stopped, etc., we follow the wire cables (further forward, still almost, on the bottom of the chip until we come to what the engineers call the ■center engine .room. Here spread out before us lies a switchboard containing levers, dials, telephones, indicators, and instruments for measurijng electrical currents. It is the .main control etation of the ship containing the arteries through which courses the life blood of the yeseel. the electrical current. In fact, it. is often called the heart of the vessel. Here in this compartment the electrical current |ls received, measured and passed on to the motors ■which we have just left. From this station the (propellers may be made to reverse, or to go at (full speed ahead; two propellers may be reversed while the other two are driven ahead. Here also any combination of control may be made up. The flexibility of control made possible by this central control station constitutes one of the advantages of the system of electric drive. The captain ®f the ship communicates directly to this station -and gives instructions concerning the control of the vessel. Having seen how the ship is propelled, and controlled, we are naturally curious to see the source from which (he tremendous energy comes. The cables from the switchboard lead us forward .into

another compartment where we view the machine ..Which genera les. the elect rival current which turns the propellers. This is the turbo-generator section. There are two turbo-generators consisting of a steam turbine direct, connected to a powerful generator. This generator is’operated by the steam turbine jtmi produces the current we have been seeking. Each of the turbo-generators produces 14.000 horsepower. In technical language this spot within the ship is known as the power plant. The turbine id an essential part of this plant. It illustrates another advantage of the electric drive. A steam turbine to operate at its maximum efficiency mtlst revolve at a relatively high speed, say 2,o<K> revolutions per minute. On the other hand, tiie propeller to be most efficient, must revolve with comparative slowness, say 200 revolutions per minute. This is because if the propellers revolved at high speed they would merely churn up the water and fail to drive the vessel ahead. Now electricity, acts as a connecting link between this highspeed .arbine and the motor which drives the propellers. Mechanical gears, which in the turbine driven vessel have been usedTo reduce the turbine speed down to a suitable propeller speed, are entirely eliminated, and the necessary reduction accomplished by simple electrical means. Moreover the operating --nrnte vvatei* tight compartments.. In■ iiumnoti the= machinery is grouped very close to the center of the ship as far as possible away from the sides. “The possibility of so grouping the machinery,” says an officer, "means a greater protection of the apparatus from shell fire, grounding and collision. We might say that this feature, plus the flexibility of control’ and the ability to cut off defective or damaged apparatus, constitutes one of the essential superiorities of electric drive.” To follow route to its source, we must g-> still further forward to a point amidships. Here are nine huge steam boilers, arranged three in a compartment. They store up the steam under a pressure of 250 pounds to the square inch and deliver it to the turbines. The New Mexico burns oil instead of coal. New- Mexico may be briefly summarized as follows: Nine steam boilers deliver steam to two turbines. The two turbines operate two generators. The two generators produce electrical current. The electrical current is led through copper cables toi“acontrol station whereTt is distributed and passed on to four big motors. Each of the four motors turns a propeller and thus the ship is driven through the water. The current which the two turbo-generators produce is used entirely in the actual propulsion of the vessel. The New Mexico must have additional electrical energy with which to operate scores of auxiliary apparatus. For instance, electric motors operate the 12inch and 14-inch guns, blowers wfiiSfc supply the ventilation of the-ship, electric fans, telephones.. heaters, pumps, refrigerating machinery, wireless apparatus, kitchen appliances, laundry equipment, etc., to say nothing of- the lighting system. Motor-driven machinery also operates the boat cranes and the anchor windlass. There are scores of storage batteries which stand ready to keep ■ the electric lights going should the main lighting system fail. It has been estimated that there are aboard the New Mexico no less (han 50 electric motors. “Where does the current come from to operate them ?” we ask. It comes from six auxiliary turbo-generator sets and we find two of them well up toward the bow of the vessel, still on the same level as the boiler room from which we have ]ust emerged. This turbo-generator, and the others similar to it. are responsible fbr the wonderful applications of electricity which we will make the acquaintance of as we go upward through the New Mexico. There are four separate decks

tietween the bottom of the ship and the main (leCk. T : ~ _ All the’ baking is done electrically—electric motors operate the dough mixers, and dough kneaders, while the loaves are baked in electrically heated ovens. Next we visit the electric laundry wh-lt its many ingenious machines electrically driven. Electricity also plays its part in other iflaces, such as the crew’s library, reading room and recreation quarters; the barber shop; the sick bay, with its operating room; Capt. A. L. Willard’s quarters, the officers’ wardrooms, etc. The New Mexico aas 12 14-inch guns and —many of —smaller —caliber, including a batteny of anti-aircraft guns. The larger caliber guns, three in each of four turrets, are operated by electricity. The turrets are revolved and the guns elevated by electric motors. Ammunition hoists run electrically and ’th&e are electric gun loaders, whife even the big guns are fired by electrical means, but tiie smaller caliber guns are generally oprated by hand. In examining into the control of these great batteries of destruction, we come to one of the most interesting spots on the ship —the conning tower. Nayy regulations designed to withhold important matters of military design, forbid us from obtaining a picture of the conning tower. - But it is /permissible* to descriM The is. ii wellrshaped shaft extending perpendicularly through the ship from top to bottom with ladders running up and down the sides and convenient methods of transmitting instructions by means of indicators and telephones. Duripg an action the vessel's commanding, officer "usually stations himself in this tower which is also known as one of several fire-control stations and transmits instructions. Up on one of the masts we encounter one of the big "eyes” of the ship —an electrical eye which can see for miles in inky darkness. The current for the Operation of the searchlight comes from one of the turbo-generators heretofore described. Is the electrical propulsion of marine vessels opening up an entirely new era of scientific advancement and will the day come when the seven tSTS. our own navy, is concerned. Secretary Daniels expressed the essence of the idea when he said: "I think this country has cause to be proud of this achievement m engineering, not alone because of the pronounced success in this particular instance (referring to the New Mexico), but because of the assurance it gives us of the superiority of our capital ships to those of “The New Mexico is the first and °nly~ dreadnaught of any nation to have electrically operated propelling machinery.” continued Secretary Daniels. "On this account she has been an object of surpassing interest to the officers of our own navy and to those of foreign navies as well, and to electrical engineers in general. "The result was satisfactory from every point of view and confirmed the judgment of all who were in any way concerned in its design and adop-tion.-There was not the slightest mishap with any part of it, everything worked to perfection, and the crew was as enthusiastic over the performance of the machinery as is the department proud in pojtsession of such an efficient dreadnaught. "When we entered into contract for the machinery we stipulated that, in addition to being capable of developing the maximum power, she should also give an economy at cruising speed very much superior to that obtainable with the turbine installations previously used. This stringent requirement was also met. As a matter of fact, the New Mexico will steam at ten knots on less fuel than the best turbine-driven ship that preceded her.” > , / Anyway, electrical engineers are now turning their attention to the "adoption of Similar prineb pies to the driving of merchant ships and to large passenger vessels.