January 2 to February 1
UNITED STATES
Aids to Safety In Submarine Work
Baltimore Sun, Jan. 12.—The U.S.S. S-22 has just completed a thorough overhaul lasting four and a half months in the navy yard at Portsmouth, N.H. During this overhaul every safety device approved by the Navy Department was installed on board.
Two harbor buoys, which are cylindrical tanks about 4^2 feet long and about 2y2 feet in diameter, are installed, one on the bow and one on the stern, each being fitted so that it can be released from the torpedo room and motor room, respectively. Each buoy is painted yellow and carries an electric light supplied from the ship’s current through a wire in the anchor cable of the buoy.
The lighting fixture on each buoy is hinged, and when unclamped it swings open and gives access to a small compartment in the end of the buoy in which is located the ear phones and mouthpiece of a batteryless telephone. In this compartment there is also located a socket into which a rescue vessel may plug a power line and thus supply the submarine with power and light. The telephones in the buoys are connected to similar telephones in the torpedo and motor rooms.
In each compartment of the vessel there have been installed two connections through the hull with valves which may be operated from either inside or outside of the boat.
The purpose of these two lines in each compartment is to enable a diver sent down from a rescue vessel to connect two air lines to any compartment, so that fresh air may be forced down and the foul air may be vented. Liquid food or water may also be furnished to personnel in that compartment through one of these lines.
There are also stored in each compartment large bottles of oxygen from which oxygen may be released if necessary, soda lime for use in absorbing carbon dioxide in the air, gas masks for protection against chlorine or other gases which may be encountered in a submarine, and electric safety lanterns for use in case all ship’s power is cut out.
Twelve pad eyes, six on each side, have been secured to the hull and reënforced frames of the ship. These are installed so that divers may readily shackle heavy chains to the ship for attaching lifting pontoons.
The two end compartments of the ship—the torpedo room and motor room—have been designated as places of refuge in case of disaster, and consequently these compartments have been fitted with escape trunks about feet in diameter and about feet high.
Oxygen bottles containing oxygen under high pressure and located in the torpedo room are connected to a manifold in the escape trunk.
A small buoy attached to about 500 feet of line is located in the trunk. This line for 100 feet from the buoy is marked at every 10 feet. A brass plate showing the time to stop at various depths for decompression periods at the 10-foot intervals marked on the buoy line will soon be installed in the trunk.
In the overhead of the torpedo room between the frame spaces one “lung” for every man in the crew will be stored in the storage spaces installed by the navy yard.
The operation of the trunk is as follows: When the men in the torpedo room are ready to abandon ship, they will each put on a “lung” and open the oxygen supply from the bottle to the manifold in the trunk. About four men will go up into the trunk and will close the lower hatch.
They will then note the depth of water on the sea-pressure gauge and from the decompression table they will know how long to stop for decompression during their ascent. They will then charge their “lungs” and open the flood valve, allowing the water to flow into the trunk.
One man will take the small buoy and line, open the vertical door and allow the buoy to float to the surface. When the buoy reaches the surface the man will step through the open door and secure the line to a pad eye above the door on the outside of the trunk.
He may then step back into the trunk and while the others are leaving the trunk and ascending the line he may recharge his “lung,” then step out and follow them to the surface.
The last man out should close and lock the vertical door, but if he fails to do this the door may be closed from inside the torpedo room. The men left in the torpedo room will then escape as above in groups of four or five.
As the torpedo and motor rooms have been designated as escape compartments, it was found necessary to strengthen the bulkheads to withstand pressure at great depths. The two bulkheads of the control room had already been constructed so as to withstand great pressure.
In these four bulkheads quick-closing doors somewhat similar to those formerly installed in German U-boats, have been installed. These doors are very strong and are locked closed by eight dogs, all operated simultaneously by rotating a handle.
All these safety devices will be thoroughly tested this winter during the cruise to Panama. If they work satisfactorily, it is the present intention of the Navy Department to equip all submarines with these devices.
"Augusta” Launched
New York Times, Feb. 1.—The Augusta, a light cruiser, took her place as the latest addition to the United States Navy today. She is the sixth of the light cruisers to be built under the Navy’s 1924 building program. She has a speed of 32knots and will be manned by a complement of 50 officers and 625 men.
Tugs immediately towed the new cruiser to the pier where she will be fitted for armor plates and armaments.
The main armament will consist of nine 8-inch guns, mounted in three turrets, two forward and one aft. She is of standard displacement of 10,000 tons and is 600 feet in length.
Outside Aid in Submarine Disasters
New York Times, Jan. 30.—Aboard U.S.S. Falcon, off Key West, Fla. Two men from the submarine S-4, resting on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico 68 feet below the surface, were “rescued” and hauled aboard this craft today. This proved, naval officers said, the feasibility of outside aid in submarine disasters under certain conditions.
Tomorrow the experiments, with a device known as the O’Rourke diving bell, will be continued at greater depths until officers in charge learn just how far down the bell can go safely on its mission of rescue.
Last year men escaped from the S-4 in safety experiments with the mechanical “lung” from a depth of 210 feet without outside assistance. Officers in charge of the present tests expressed hope the diving bell would permit them to work at even greater depths.
In today’s experiments the diving bell was lowered from the Falcon, in calm seas, and placed over the motor hatch of the submerged S-4 by divers who went down with it. Men from the bell entered the submarine through the hatch, demonstrating also the feasibility of sending down workmen from the outside to repair damage which might leave a submarine unable to rise.
Lieutenant Charles H. Momsen and Chief Torpedoman Edward A. Kalsnoski, who were first to try the mechanical “lung” in last year’s tests, were the first to go down today in the diving bell and enter the submarine.
Two other bells, similar in design, will be tested this year. The O’Rourke bell, tried successfully today, is the product of a Brooklyn subway engineer.
The safety tests were authorized by the Navy Department after the sinking of the S-4, which is being used in the experiments, in the North Atlantic two years ago with heavy loss of life.
GREAT BRITAIN
H.M. Fleet Repair Ship ”Resource”
Engineering, Jan. 3.—Laid down in August, 1927, under the 1926-27 estimates, H.M. fleet repair ship Resource has recently been completed at the Barrow-in-Furness Works of Messrs. Vickers-Armstrongs, Ltd. She is a steel, twin-screw vessel, the general construction of the hull, except where modified by special requirements, being in accordance with Lloyd’s register rules to class 100 A.I., although the vessel was not built under Lloyd’s survey. The principal dimensions of the Resource are as follows: length, between perpendiculars, 500 feet; length, overall, 534 feet; breadth, moulded, 83 feet; depth, to upper deck, 49 feet; and load draught, 23 feet. As the vessel is not intended for fighting purposes, only defensive armament, comprising four 4-inch H.A. guns, is provided. In connection with these, however, a system of fire control is fitted, including a high- and low-angle director sight, a 15-foot base range finder, and two 36-inch searchlights.
The hull is provided with a deep double bottom in which is carried about 400 tons of oil fuel for fueling other vessels, in addition to the fuel supply for the ship’s own use. About 100 tons of lubricating oil, 200 tons of distilled water, and 200 tons of feed water can also be carried for the supply of other vessels. A filling system has been installed, with three deck connections on each side, which enable the vessel to be fueled at the rate of 600 tons per hour. The same system and deck connections are used for transferring oil fuel to other vessels, and similar systems are fitted for handling lubricating oil, Diesel oil, fresh water, and distilled water. The storerooms are of sufficient capacity to stow the necessary provisions for 100 days, a cold chamber of about 2,800 cubic feet capacity and a cool chamber of about 1,200 cubic feet capacity being provided for carrying meat and other perishable stores. The refrigerating plant for these chambers, and also for the magazine, was supplied by Messrs. J. and E. Hall, Ltd. Provision is also made for stowing large stocks of steel plates and sections, billets, blooms, crucibles, piping, metals, timber, fittings, etc., required for repair work in the vessel’s own workshops or on ships alongside.
The officers are accommodated on the main deck aft, in separate single-berth cabins, a large wardroom with an adjoining anteroom being provided. Warrant officers have a separate messroom on the middle deck, aft, while petty officers, artisans, and crew are accommodated in separate messes on the main and middle decks forward. Separate galleys are provided for the captain, officers, warrant officers, and crew. Special attention has been paid to the lighting, heating, and ventilation of the vessel, to render her suitable for prolonged service in either tropical or cold climates. The living spaces are ventilated by electric fans supplying air to trunks fitted with punkah louvers. The weather decks are all completely covered with double awnings and curtains for use in tropical waters, and provision has been made for about 500 men to sleep in hammocks on the weather decks in hot weather. Hospital accommodation, equipped with the latest surgical and dental appliances, is provided for the treatment of both officers and men. A laundry, with a complete outfit of washing and ironing machines, etc., and ample drying-room accommodation, is also provided.
The propelling machinery consists of two sets of Parsons steam turbines with single-reduction gearing, each set comprising one high-pressure and one low-pressure turbine working in series and driving separate pinions which engage with the gear wheel on the propeller shaft. The high-pressure turbine is of the impulse-reaction type, and the low-pressure turbine of the reaction type; an astern turbine, of the impulse-reaction type, is incorporated in each of the low-pressure turbine casings. The total power developed is about 7,500 shaft horsepower. Steam is supplied, at a pressure of 235 pounds per square inch, by four water-tube boilers of the Yarrow 3-drum type, arranged for oil-burning only and working under the closed-stokehold system of forced draught. In addition to the usual auxiliaries, which call for no particular comment, electric-generating sets, with an aggregate capacity of 2,300 kw., are installed for supplying light and power for the ship’s requirements, and also for ships lying alongside when necessary. The installation includes three turbo-generators, each of 500-kw. capacity, constructed by Messrs. Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company, Ltd., and two 400-kw. Diesel-engine driven sets. Three electrically-driven air compressors are provided for general service, with connections to each machinery compartment and to each workshop. They are used for testing condensers, cleaning boiler tubes and operating pneumatic tools. Each set is capable of compressing 600 cubic feet of free air per minute to 120 pounds per square inch. In addition, there are two electrically-driven air compressors, each capable of supplying 25 to 30 cubic feet of air per hour, at a pressure of 3,500 pounds per square inch. Two steam-driven hydraulic pumping sets are fitted for operating various hydraulic machines in the workshops; each set has a delivery capacity of 45 gallons per minute at a pressure of 1,500 pounds per square inch. The distilling machinery installed has an aggregate normal capacity of 300 tons per 24 hours, and is arranged in three separate sets, each having two evaporators. The steering gear, which was constructed by Messrs. John Hastie and Company, is of the right- and left-hand screw type, operated by a steam engine controlled from the bridge of telemotor gear supplied by Messrs. Brown Brothers and Company, Ltd., Edinburgh. The telemotor gear is in duplicate, and hand steering wheels are fitted in the steering compartment for use in the event of a breakdown of the engine.
The most interesting portion of the vessel is, however, the workshops, which are fully equipped with machine and other tools for all classes of engineering work. The light machine shop is provided with sensitive and radial drilling machines, a power hack saw, a centering machine, a vertical drilling machine of the pillar type, a slotting machine, a number of lathes of from 8- to 24-inch centers, tool grinders, a universal milling machine, a small shaper, and a large, horizontal drilling, surfacing, boring, and milling machine. The heavy machine shop is equipped with lathes of up to 24 inch centers, capable of taking work up to 20 feet in length between centers. Other tools in this shop are a vertical boring and turning mill, a horizontal drilling, surfacing, boring, and milling machine, a variety of drilling machines, a planer, and a number of gear-cutting machines. The latter include a planer for spur and spiral gears, a combined worm- wheel and worm-cutting machine, a bevel- gear planer, and a universal gear cutter. All the above-mentioned tools are motor driven, and the heavier machines are served by a traveling crane; a system of runways and traveling blocks serves the lighter machines.
Adjoining the heavy-machine shop is a foundry, fitted up with all the necessary appliances for the production of castings of moderate size. The equipment includes one large and two small cupolas, three crucible furnaces of the tilting type, mold and core ovens, a plate-molding machine, loam-mixing machine, sand-blast plant, pneumatic sand sifter, git-cutting machine, band saw, and testing machine. Aft of the foundry is a coppersmiths’ shop, provided with the usual equipment for pipe and plate work, and a grinding-machine shop fitted for grinding crankshafts, cylinders, tools, etc. The grinding shop is also used for a variety of light repetition work, such as the production of condenser ferrules. Other shops which may be mentioned are the electrical shop, welding and cutting shop, plumbers’ shop, internal-combustion engine shop, tool room, pattern shop, instrument-repair shop, wood-working shop, and heavy and light plate shop, all of which are well equipped with the necessary tools and lifting appliances.
For embarking heavy loads, an electric crane has been supplied and fitted on the upper deck forward, by Messrs. Sir William Arrol and Company, Ltd. This crane is of the hammer-head type, and has been arranged to serve the hatches to the foundry and heavy-machine shop. It is capable of lifting a load of 25 tons from a point 15 feet clear of the ship’s side, to the hatches above referred to, and has a vertical lift of 30 feet above the upper-deck level. It can also lift 15 tons to a point 30 feet clear of the ship’s side, and is arranged to move the load radially, as well as circumferentially, separate motors, rotating with the crane, being provided for each motion. Two smaller electric cranes, also supplied by Messrs. Sir William Arrol, are fitted on the side of the upper deck opposite to that on which the heavy crane is mounted, each crane being capable of lifting a load of 3 tons at 120 feet per minute, and of slewing at one revolution in 30 seconds; they can lift a load 15 feet clear of the ship’s side, and 15 feet above the upper-deck level. It may be here mentioned that two embarking ports, or double doors, are provided on the starboard side of the vessel, between the main and upper decks, to enable material or work to be passed directly into the workshops, instead of being taken on deck. On the after side of the main mast, a heavy derrick is fitted for handling the vessel’s power-driven boats. Electric boat hoists, supplied and fitted by Messrs. Harfield and Company, are accommodated in a separate compartment on the upper deck, aft. These hoists are capable of exerting a pull of 10 tons direct from the barrel, at a speed of 160 feet per minute. A 2-ton davit is fitted aft for lifting torpedoes on board, and a 1-ton davit is fitted on each side forward for the shipment of stores and ammunition. To serve these davits, and for handling the boats on the boat deck, two 2-ton electric winches are fitted on the upper deck and two on the boat deck; a 1-ton electric winch is also fitted under the forecastle deck for shipping stores. Another 2-ton electric winch is fitted on the upper deck, forward, for pulling the boat trolleys into and out from a covered working space, which is capable of accommodating four 50-foot motor pinnaces for repair purposes. The boat trolleys run on a 3- foot gauge railway, which extends over the full length of the forward part of the upper deck and the covered working space. All the winches referred to were supplied by Messrs. Harfield and Company. Arrangements have also been made to enclose the after portion of the covered working space temporarily for use as a torpedo workshop, and for this purpose, stowage is provided for ten torpedoes, with the necessary equipment for testing, charging, etc.
The boats carried include two 32-foot life cutters, two 27-foot whalers, a 30-foot gig, and a 16-foot dinghy, all of which are stowed in the boat deck on crutches under davits, while two 50-foot steam picket boats, a 45-foot motor launch, and a 36-foot motor launch are stowed on crutches on the upper deck, aft, under the main derrick. In addition to the boats, one Balsa raft and four Carley floats are carried for life-saving purposes. In connection with the wireless equipment, which includes a main and auxiliary set, as well as direction-finding apparatus, we may mention that a Sturtevant pneumatic-tube installation has been provided for the transmission of the messages on the ship. A complete outfit of bow-protector gear is fitted, consisting of four paravanes with the necessary derricks, fairleads, wires, etc. Two 2-ton paravane winches are provided on the forecastle deck for recovery purposes. Three stockless anchors, each of 125 cwt., are fitted forward on 2%-inch stud-link cables. They are operated by steam capstan gear, comprising one capstan and three cable holders, supplied by Messrs. Napier Brothers, Ltd. This gear is capable of lifting 40 tons at 25 feet per minute, and of heaving slack cable at 40 feet per minute. One 60-cwt. anchor, with a 6j4-inch steel- wire hawser, is carried at the stern, this anchor being operated by an electric capstan constructed by Messrs. Napier Brothers, Ltd. Arrangements are made for the vessel to be taken in tow, and also for towing other vessels or battle-practice targets, the fair- leads and bollards at the bow and stern being specially designed for this purpose.
Generally, it will be seen, the vessel has been constructed and equipped so that her duties can be carried out efficiently and expeditiously, and there can be no doubt that she will form a most useful addition to H.M. Navy.
Saving on Ships
New York Times, Jan. 30.—In view of the proposal, accepted in principle by-all the naval nations, to postpone further battleship construction up to and including 1936, considerable interest attaches to the reply made in the House of Commons today by A. V. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty, in reply to a question as to what saving the project would mean for Britain.
Mr. Alexander said that, presuming the replacements would have been of the maximum size of 35,000 tons, that the saving would amount to some £51,000,000.
For the separate years he gave the following figures: 1931, £1,030,000; 1932, £6,065,000; 1933, £10,050,000; 1934,
£11,873,000; 1935, £12,035,000; and 1936, £10,370,000.
Answering a question as to how many men would be required to man fifty 10,000- ton cruisers, Mr. Alexander said Britain had no intention of building any such number.
When asked if the government intended to cancel the reconditioning of four cruisers of the Effingham class, Mr. Alexander replied the Hawkins had been reconditioned, but the other three were not due for refitting.
When asked what the personnel of the British Navy numbered, as compared with others, Mr. Alexander said the British personnel in July, 1929, was 99,268 men, as compared with 114,500 for the United States. He quickly explained the comparison was not fair because the American figures included the Naval Air Service and the active service ratings of auxiliary craft. France had in 1929 a naval personnel of 62,000 and Japan one of 85,000, he added.
Asked for a full statement of the naval vessels dropped from the 1929 construction program, Mr. Alexander replied they consisted of two cruisers, four destroyers, one target vessel, two sloops, and three submarines. Regarding the two cruisers, the Surrey and the Northumberland, Mr. Alexander explained that the government, “for reasons of high policy” had suspended work on them last July and that little work had been done on them. Yesterday’s announcement of the cancellation, he said, “is of no material significance and was taken as a matter of administrative convenience on the framing of the Navy estimates.” He declared yesterday’s announcement involved no reduction of work for the dockyards.
New "A” Class Destroyers
London Times, Dec. 23.—The acceptance trial of H.M.S. Acasta, the first of the destroyers in the replacement program, will probably take place on January 16, and the ship will accordingly commission with a navigating party at Clydebank on or before that date. Particulars now published of the “A” class show that they will be heavier, longer, faster, and better armed than the ships of the “W” class, designed late in the war. They will be of 1,330 tons, as against 1,300; 312 feet long between perpendiculars, as against 300 feet; of 35 knots designed speed, as compared with 34; and armed with four 4.7-inch, instead of four 4-inch. The machinery includes single-reduction geared turbines of 34,000 horsepower, an increase of 7,000 horsepower on that of the boats of war design. The eight vessels of the “A” class are due for completion at various dates between January and August next.
Warships Launched in 1929
London Times, Dec. 21.—During the present year the vessels launched for the Royal Navy have included two cruisers, the Dorsetshire and Exeter; one flotilla leader, the Codrington; seven destroyers, the Acasta, Achates, Active, Antelope, Anthony, Ardent, and Arrow; and six submarines, the Parthian, Perseus, Poseidon, Proteus, Pandora, and Phoenix, making a total of sixteen units. This is two more than during 1928, but in that year there were no destroyers, the vessels put afloat during 1929 representing the first batch to be built under the replacement program. The vessels of 1928 were the cruisers Shropshire, Sussex, Norfolk, and York; the depot and repair ships Medway and Resource; six “O” class submarines; and the sloops Bridgewater and Sandwich.
Building Program Curtailed
New York Times, Feb. 2, London.—Following the announcement last week that the British Admiralty had canceled the construction of two projected 10,000-ton cruisers, the Surrey and Northumberland, and a statement in the Daily Telegraph this morning that two more cruisers of this year’s program were being abandoned, the First Lord of the Admiralty has announced that in addition to the Surrey and Northumberland, the following vessels have been deleted from the 1929-1930 program:
Two cruisers, including one of 10,000 tons with 8-inch guns; four destroyers, one net layer, two sloops, and three submarines. The year’s program thus has been reduced from twenty-five to thirteen units.
The amended program will comprise one cruiser with 8-inch guns instead of three, four destroyers instead of eight, four sloops instead of six, three submarines instead of six, and one flotilla leader.
Chinese Cadets in Royal Navy
London Times, Jan. 3.—Under the arrangement entered into between the British and Chinese governments, a number of junior officers are now on their way to England for training in the S.S. Macedonia. Twelve cadets will join the Erebus at Devonport for training with the special entry cadets of the Royal Navy on January 17. Eight sub-lieutenants will join the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, on January 2. The program approved for the cadets is that they shall serve afloat for twelve months after completing the year’s course in the Erebus, and then go to Greenwich to study as sub-lieutenants. In past years several officers from China and other foreign countries have been given facilities for study in the ships and establishments of the Royal Navy.
FRANCE
Naval Estimates
London Times, Dec. 20.—The Chamber began the discussion of the naval estimates for 1930 this afternoon. The debate was opened by M. Dumesnil, the rapporteur, who said that France, because of the extent of her oversea territories, their scattered position, and their distance from the mother country, was entitled to larger naval forces than she at present possessed. Even if her present program were carried out, the naval strength of France in 1936 would be much less than that of Great Britain, the United States, or Japan.
The estimates propose a total expenditure of 2,683 million francs (£21,464,000), an increase of 198 million francs (£1,584,000) over last year’s estimates. The increase is made up of 113 million francs for maintenance, including the subsidy to the Air Ministry, and 85 million francs for new expenditure. The Naval Committee of the Chamber proposes a reduction of 100 million francs, which will bring the total down to 2,583 millions. The contemporary expenditure of Japan will be £22,160,000 and of Italy £13,544,000. It is 570 million francs less than the estimates of 1914.
On November 1 last the state of the French building program, begun in 1922, was as follows:
The total fighting tonnage of the French Navy, in service or under construction, on January 1, 1930, will be 527,780. It will include 9 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 9 large cruisers (10,000 or 8,000 tons), 3 smaller cruisers (ex-German), 78 destroyers and torpedo-boats, 55 ocean-going submarines, and 33 coastal submarines. Three of the battleships, the 3 ex-German cruisers, about 30 torpedo craft, and a few submarines are obsolescent. The total tonnage aimed at (excluding capital ships, aircraft carriers, and fleet oilers) is 588,000 tons, producing a grand total of about 800,000 tons.
The 1930 program will not be put in hand before next April, and the rapporteur recommended that the interval should be used for a careful reconsideration of the types of ships which the Ministry proposes to build. The building of large, fast cruisers in France has run ahead of their equipment, especially in gunnery instruments, and the French destroyers, although they outclass those of other powers, are themselves outclassed by their small cruisers, while the French fleet is left without economical light craft to cope with submarines.
Any limitation of light forces which may result from the London Naval Conference will make it more than ever desirable that no construction should be wasted, and that preliminary research, rather than trial and error, should be the rule. The rapporteur has therefore called for closer coordination between the making of guns and their installation, and has expressed the hope that, by concentrating on three or four standard weapons, the ordnance services will be able to increase the fighting value of the fleet.
The total effective personnel of the French Navy in 1930 is estimated at 58,500, which is 1,000 more than last year, and includes 500 attached to the Air Ministry. The reduction of compulsory service to one year, which applies to the Navy as well as the Army, threatens the Navy with a loss of efficiency, since only during the last six months of the former 18-month period could naval conscripts be regarded as returning value for their training. At the same time, the minimum period of service for the professional sailors has been reduced from 36 to 34 months, which means larger drafts on the conscripts.
Abolition of Submarines a Practical Impossibility
Naval and Military Record, J. B. Gautreau, Jan. 15.—In some parliamentary quarters in Paris, the views prevail that the Anglo-American proposal for the suppression of submarines is not meant in earnest, and that it is in reality a machine de guerre. Well-informed naval men all over the world realize that submarines cannot, any more than seaplanes, be abolished by mutual consent, and that it is a human scientific conquest that has come to stay. It is a gross delusion to believe that, even if existing underwater fleets could be suppressed by a stroke of the pen at the London Conference, submarine warfare could be made a thing of the past. Whatever is decided by the big powers, the next naval war is certain to see again submarines at play. Germany had 28 submarines all told when she opened fire on her neighbors; she constructed or ordered 800 more up to November, 1918. Germany was forbidden by solemn treaty to build anymore submarines. She has become, for a time, respectful outwardly to “scraps of paper,” and no U-boat has as yet officially emerged on her Navy list, but treaty clauses have no binding effects on intellectual work and even on laboratory experiments. U-boats are worshipped by the new naval generations of Germany, brought up in the mirage of the wonderful achievements of Arnaud de la Perrière and of other “U” commanders. U-boats are the object of the best attention of those methodical German ingenieurs, whose constructive minds know so well how to utilize every asset of the past and who have in store in the underwater line surprises infinitely more startling than the Ersatz Preussen wonder ship.
A nation fighting for dear life will utilize every weapon within its reach—a course justified by a popular saying of Old England (“Everything is fair . . .”) which, by the way, has no counterpart in French. It is thus folly to think submarining or flying boats could be suppressed and the devastation and horrors of war honestly limited to conventional lines. “Humanize war, humanize hell!” (Lord Fisher.)
Cruiser Aground
Baltimore Sun, Oran, Algeria, Jan. 7.— Efforts for the last twenty-four hours to refloat the cruiser Edgar Quinet, one of the finest and fastest units in the French high seas fleet, which went aground on an uncharted rock off the Algerian coast, have proved unsuccessful and the cruiser was abandoned late today.
One hundred men, who had remained aboard last night, were taken ashore when storm winds and a high sea made it possible that the ship might break up at any time.
The French cruiser, Lamotte Picquet, left Toulon, France, to pick up the officers and crew of the Edgar Quinet.
JAPAN
Makes Over Four Big Cruisers
Washington Post, Tokyo, Jan. 1.—The battle cruiser Hiyei, one of Japan’s group of four of a type of fighting ship not represented in the United States Navy, is to be modernized in 1930.
The Navy Ministry announces that she will be removed from the active list in January. Alterations will include additional protection against submarines and deck armor and will increase her displacement by 3,000 tons.
The Hiyei is the last of the four sister battle cruisers to undergo such changes, which when completed, will increase Japan’s total tonnage of capital ships by 12,000 tons.
Renovation of the Haruna was completed late in 1928, the Kirishima has just been recommissioned after two years in dry dock, while the Kongo, which has been in the hands of the naval artificers for a year, will be turned out late in 1930.
Work on the Hiyei will continue two years. The cost for each ship is several million dollars.
These ships, commissioned between 1913 and 1915, hitherto have been rated as of 27,500 tons. Henceforth they will be 30,500 tons. The Washington naval treaty permits the powers to reconstruct capital ships so as to increase protection against submarines and air attack, provided the alterations do not enlarge the displacement by more than 3,000 tons.
Japan is taking advantage of this provision up to the limit. The addition of 12,000 tons to her capital ship total displacement brings it to 313,320, just under the limit of
allotted her by the Washington treaty.
ITALY
New Submarines
London Times, Jan. 4.—-The submarine Ciro Menotti, which was launched at Spezia on December 30, is one of a class of six laid down for Italy in 1927-28. The others are the Santarosa, Bandiera, Manara, Settem- brini, and Settimo. They have a surface displacement of 870 tons and submerged of 1,040 tons. On the surface their engines of 3,000 horsepower give them a speed of 17^2 knots; underwater they have motors of 1,400 horsepower capable of giving them a speed of 9 knots. Each vessel has one 4- inch gun and eight torpedo tubes. The type is thus very similar to the “L” class which have hitherto formed the bulk of the British flotillas. Larger submarines are building in Italy, such as the Fieramosca, of 1,378 tons on the surface, capable of 19 knots speed, and armed with one 4.7-inch gun and six tubes. This type is also fitted to carry mines and a seaplane.
NAVAL CONSTRUCTION IN 1929
Great Britain
The Engineer, Jan. 3.—Only a meager amount of new construction was undertaken for the British Navy in the past year. No ship heavier than a flotilla leader was begun, and launchings were confined to two cruisers, a flotilla leader, seven destroyers, and six submarines. Two 10,000-ton cruisers of the 1928 program, Northumberland and Surrey, were to have been laid down at Devonport and Portsmouth, respectively, but in July it was announced that the construction of these vessels would be deferred, pending the outcome of the naval disarmament negotiations. At the same time a submarine depot ship Maidstone, which was to have been built at Chatham, and two submarines for which contracts had been placed with Beardmores and Cammell Laird, were canceled outright. It must be confessed that the outlook for naval shipbuilding in this country is by no means encouraging. Unless the Five-Power Conference which is to meet in London on January 21 proves a complete failure—which is, to say the least, unlikely—the chances are that no new capital ships or heavy cruisers will be in demand for years to come. The postponement of battleship replacement until 1936, instead of to the year 1931 specified in the Washington Treaty, is generally accepted as assured. It is significant that neither Great Britain nor Japan, nor even the opulent United States, shows any eagerness to resume the building of 35,000-ton ships at a cost of about £8,000,000 per ship. As for the 10,000-ton cruiser, this type has declined in favor everywhere save in America. In spite of its imposing size, speed, and armament, it is dangerously wanting in protection, and may be said to repeat, in an aggravated form, the worst defects of our pre-war battle cruisers. It has the further drawback of being inordinately expensive. Treaties or no treaties, the British empire will always, within the range of human calculation, need an abundance of cruising ships, but we cannot afford to build numerous ships at a cost of £2,000,000 per keel. We should not be surprised if the Dorsetshire, which was launched on January 29, 1929, proved to be the last 10,000- ton cruiser built for the British Navy. Including the two Australian units, we now have thirteen of these vessels afloat. They are handsome and, within limits, efficient ships, the design of which does credit to the Admiralty constructors. They can do everything but stand up to heavy punishment, but it is this unavoidable lack of adequate armoring, coupled with their excessive cost, that renders them, in our judgment, unsuitable for British requirements. The Admiralty is known to have in view a new type of cruiser, displacing by standard measurement about 6,000 tons, mounting 6-inch guns, and costing not more than £1,200,000. If the government’s tentative proposals for cruiser limitation are endorsed at the forthcoming conference, all, or nearly -all, our future cruisers will be of this type. We would observe, in passing, that France, Italy, and Japan show signs of reverting to a smaller type of cruiser, and that even in the United States the expediency of building ships of 6,000 to 7,000 tons is being favorably considered.
Of the Dorsetshire, the only British 10,000-ton cruiser to be launched in the past year, little need be said. Except in minor details, she is a copy of the London class, which has been fully dealt with in our columns on more than one occasion. Her sister ship, Norfolk, went afloat on December 12, 1928. Their principal characteristics are: Length overall, 633 feet; breadth, 66 feet; draught, 17 feet; standard displacement, 10,000 tons; full load, 13,630 tons; machinery, geared turbines developing 80,000 s.h.p., eight small-tube, oil-burning boilers; the designed speed is 32.25 knots. With all bunkers filled, the steaming radius at economical speed is 10,400 miles. Armament: eight 8-inch guns, four 4-inch A.A., eight torpedo tubes on quadruple carriages. Protection appears to be limited to a 3-inch deck over vitals. Owing to the small margin of weight available, the gun turrets are very lightly built, and could not withstand direct hits. Particulars of sub-surface protection are lacking, but in the Dorsetshire, as in the London group, the external bulge worked into the five Kents has been dispensed with.
The Exeter, launched July 18, 1929, and the York, which took the water twelve months earlier, represent a modified type which, but for the new disarmament proposals, would probably have been multiplied. The length is 575 feet overall; breadth, 57 feet; draught, 17 feet; displacement, 8,400 tons. Although considerably lighter than the County class, they have machinery of equal power, and, no doubt, the designed speed of 32.25 knots will be comfortably exceeded. They mount six 8-inch guns, two of the twin turrets being forward and the third aft. In contrast to the Counties, there are only two funnels, as the uptakes from the foremost group of boilers are trunked with those of the second group into one large funnel set well abaft the bridge. Both York and Exeter are unofficially reported to carry two seaplanes mounted on catapults, one on “B” turret, the other on deck abaft the second funnel. If this report is accurate, they will be the first British cruisers to be equipped with a pair of flying machines. For the present, no other cruisers are under construction or projected, but to provide vessels capable of performing the police duties for which the Royal Navy is responsible a number of sloops have been built or are in hand. The first pair, Bridgewater and Sandwich, launched by Hawthorne, Leslie and Co., in 1928, are now in commission. They are 266 feet long, 34 feet broad, draw 8y2 feet, and displace 945 tons. The turbines are of 2,000 s.h.p. for a speed of 17 knots. Two 4-inch guns are mounted. The living quarters and the ventilation are specially designed with a view to the comfort and health of the crew in tropical waters. The objection to these vessels is their very small tonnage. Six further sloops were begun in 1929, three at Devonport, one at Chatham, and two by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson, Ltd. In these the displacement has been increased to about 1,200 tons. Four more vessels of the same class are to be built under the current Navy estimates.
The flotilla leader Codrington, the first of her type to be laid down since the war, was launched by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson on August 7. Length, 332 feet; breadth, 33^4 feet; displacement, 1,520 tons; geared turbines transmitting 39,000 s.h.p. through two shafts; Yarrow boilers with a working pressure of 300 pounds; contract speed, 35 knots. Armament, five 4.7-inch guns, eight torpedo tubes on quadruple mountings. Allowing for the difference between standard and normal displacement, the Codrington is approximately of the same tonnage as our earlier leaders of the Shakespeare and Scott class. It will be seen that the Admiralty has elected not to follow the example of France, where leaders of 2,700 to 3,000 tons are being built in large numbers. The Keith, a sister vessel to Codrington, has been laid down by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow. The seven destroyers launched during the year—Acasta, Achates, Active, Antelope, Anthony, Ardent and Arrow—all at northern yards, are practically uniform with the Thornycroft vessel Amazon, completed in 1926. They have the same displacement, viz., 1,330 tons, but the dimensions have been slightly modified and the contract speed reduced from 37 to 35 knots. The armament of four 4.7-inch guns remains the same, but eight tubes are mounted instead of six as in the Amazon. The eighth destroyer of this group, Acheron, building by Thornycrofts, will go afloat in a few weeks. Eight further destroyers, comprising the “B” class, with Beagle as name ship, were laid down in pairs during 1929 by John Brown and Co., Hawthorn, Leslie, Palmers, and Swan, Hunter. Of the seven submarines launched in the past year, all save Orpheus—February 26—belong to the “P” or Parthian class. They are improved versions of the “O” design, the surface tonnage having been increased from 1,540 to 1,570 tons, the internal-combustion engines from 2,700 to 4,400 h.p., and the surface speed from 15 to 17.5 knots. On the other hand, the armament of one 4-inch gun and eight torpedo tubes of which six are in the bows, is unchanged. Both the “O” and the “P” boats, but particularly the latter, appear to be most successful designs, admirably adapted to the needs of overseas defence.
One of the most interesting naval craft to be completed during the year is H.M.S. Med- way, a submarine depot and repair ship, laid down by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow in April, 1927, and launched in July of the following year. She is shortly to proceed to the China station in company with a flotilla of “O” class submarines. She is virtually a floating base for submarines, and many novel features suggested by war experience find a place in her design. Her dimensions are: Length overall, 580 feet; breadth, 85 feet; draught, 23 feet; displacement, 15,000 tons. She is propelled by twin- screw double-acting M.A.N. Diesel engines with an output of 8,000 b.h.p., the contract speed being 16 knots. The Medway is the first auxiliary ship to be provided with special underwater protection, and the first to carry an armament of six 4-inch guns, four of which are on A.A. mountings. She has extensive mooring facilities for submarines lying alongside, including propeller guards and massive floating fenders. In addition to her own fuel oil supply of 530 tons, she can stow in her double bottom 1,900 tons of oil for attached submarines. The internal layout of the vessel includes twelve workshops, cold storage chambers of 10,000 cubic feet capacity, and magazines for torpedoes, war heads, and ammunition. The total berthing space is sufficient for 135 officers and 1,600 men, every officer being provided with a single-berth cabin. The Medway may, therefore, be described as the last word in submarine mother ships. In view of the arduous and trying nature of duty in submarines, more vessels of this type are urgently needed, especially on foreign stations, and it is much to be regretted that the construction of the second ship, Maidstone, should have been canceled by the government.
Another important fleet auxiliary, the repair ship Resource, launched by Vickers- Armstrongs at Barrow on November 27, 1928, was delivered in the past year. A turbine steamer of 13,500 tons, with a speed of 15 knots, she is fully equipped for all except the heavier categories of repair work afloat. Details of this ship are still scanty, but we understand that all the auxiliary machinery on board is operated by oil-electric power.
United States
Five of the eight cruisers authorized by the Act of December 18, 1924, were put afloat in 1929, beginning with the Salt Lake City, on January 23, and the Pensacola, on April 25. These two, which differ materially from the other six, have already been described in The Engineer, but it will be convenient to repeat their main characteristics. Length overall, 585feet; breadth, 64 feet; mean draught, 17 feet 5 inches; displacement 10,000 tons; geared turbines of 107,000 s.h.p., four screws, 32.5 knots, White-For- ster boilers. Both ships were launched with their main armament on board. This consists of ten 8-inch 55-caliber guns in four turrets, disposed as follows: a 2-gun turret on the forecastle deck, with a 3-gun turret in rear of it and superposed, and a corresponding arrangement aft. In addition, four 5-inch A.A. guns and six torpedo tubes are mounted. Protection is exiguous, for it does not appear that any armor thicker than \l/2 inch has been worked into the ship, either vertically or horizontally. American naval experts acknowledge these ships to be over-weighted with armament, and in the six later vessels only nine 8-inch guns are mounted, in three triple turrets, two forward and one aft. Five more cruisers of the same general type were ordered in 1929, and although three of these vessels have been suspended, in consequence of the disarmament negotiations, it is positively reported that the guns and gun mountings for all five ships are in process of manufacture. The only other naval craft to be launched in 1929 were the submarines V5 and V6, each of 2,760 tons surface displacement, with a speed of 17 knots, and an armament of two 6-inch guns and six torpedo tubes. Excepting the French Surcouf, they are the largest submarines built for any navy to date. The program of battleship reconstruction is being carried out according to plan. Up to the present time the Utah, Florida, Arkansas, Wyoming, New York, Texas, Oklahoma, and Nevada have been modernized, and there are now, or shortly will be, in hand the Pennsylvania, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, and Mississippi. The work includes bulging, the fitting of extra armor protection, conversion of coal-burning boilers to oil firing, and, in the five last-named ships, increase of turret gun elevation from 16 to 30 or 35 degrees. The cost varies from £1,200,000 to £2,000,000 per ship.
Japan
No large ship was launched in 1929, but four 10,000-ton cruisers were completed, the first of their type to be commissioned for the Japanese Navy. Nachi, Myoko, Ashigara, and Haguro are comparable to the American Salt Lake City class, in that they carry ten 8-inch guns and can steam at 32.5 to 33 knots. They have the characteristic “wave-lined” hull, trunked funnels, and towering bridge work of the earlier but smaller 8-inch gun cruisers. Protection is said to be very good, a 4-inch belt in conjunction with steel decks and a triple underwater hull, though it is difficult to believe that all these features have been incorporated in a
ton ship with such heavy armament and high-powered machinery. Four further vessels of the same type are under construction, bearing the names of Atago, Takao, Chokai, and Maya. Upon the completion of these ships Japan will possess four 7,100-ton and eight 10,000-ton cruisers, mounting in all 104 guns of 8-inch caliber. The aircraft carriers Kaga and Akagi, rebuilt from capital ship hulls, have both been delivered. They bear a superficial resemblance to H.M.S. Furious, except in the arrangement of the ducts for discharging furnace smoke and fumes. The Kaga has enormous flues, which are carried externally on either side of the ship towards the stern, where they are turned outboard; the Akagi has smoke ducts which are simply huge funnels trunked outward and downward amidships. A much smaller aircraft carrier, the Ryujo, has been ordered from the Yokohama Dock Company. She will displace only 8,100 tons, and is, apparently, to be a reduced copy of the Hoslio. Several destroyers were launched during the year, all belonging to a group of twenty-four craft, Fubuki class, authorized in 1926. They are large vessels, 368 feet in length, displacing 1,700 tons, with a contract speed of 35 knots, and are armed with six 4.7-inch guns and nine tubes. Their most noticeable feature is that their guns are paired in gas-tight, light, splinter-proof gun houses, and they are believed to be the first destroyers in which guns have been so mounted. A submarine, I 60, which was launched at Sasebo on April 24, is typical of the heavy, fast, ocean-going class which has been recently developed in the Japanese Navy: length, 330 feet; surface displacement, 1,650 tons; surface speed, 21 knots; armed with one 4.7-inch and one 3-inch gun and eight tubes. These vessels are remarkable for their high speed and the radius of action is also reported to be unusually wide. Other ships launched in 1929 were three anti-submarine net layers, one of 1,345 tons and 16 knots, the other two of 450 tons and 19 knots. They are the first specially designed vessels of this type to be built in any country.
France
Alike in the number and aggregate tonnage of warships launched, France was far ahead of other powers in 1929. The principal vessels floated were the Foch, a 10,000- ton cruiser, at Brest on April 24; Commandant Teste, a seaplane carrier or tender, of
tons, at Bordeaux on April 12; and the Pluton, a cruiser mine layer of 5,300 tons, at Lorient on April 10. Several destroyers and half a dozen submarines also took the water. The Foch belongs to the conventional type of 10,000-ton “treaty” cruiser, but in contrast to the earliest representatives of this class, Duquesne and Tourville, the speed has been reduced and protection improved. A sixth ship of this generic type, Dupleix, was begun in November, and a seventh has just been authorized. The Commandant Teste is in some respects a hybrid, her nearest of kin being the Australian seaplane carrier Albatross. In spite of her considerable tonnage the French vessel has no landing deck, the machines she carries being projected by means of catapults. Her speed of 20 knots is inadequate, and the armament of twelve 3.9-inch guns unimpressive. The mine layer Pluton, on the other hand, appears to be a very promising design. She is compared below with H.M. cruiser mine layer Adventure, and it must be admitted that the Trench vessel seems to have the best of the comparison.
The British ship’s advantage lies in her greater mine capacity and the installation of an auxiliary internal-combustion propelling plant for cruising, but in speed and gun armament she is outclassed by the Pluton. The 2,780-ton flotilla leaders Vauban, Valmy and Verdun were all completed or launched during the year. By reaching 40.18 knots on her steam trials, the Verdun established what is claimed to be a world’s record, though it was approached to within a fraction, more than ten years ago, by the British destroyers Teaser and Tyrian. The new French leaders are handsome and powerful vessels, heavily armed—five 5.5- inch guns, six tubes—with good sea-keeping qualities and ample steaming endurance. They may be regarded as the lineal descendants of the French torpedo gunboats which caused a flutter on this side of the Channel in the ’nineties of last century.
The submarine cruiser Surcouf, launched at Cherbourg on November 18, is the largest submersible craft which has yet been built. She is 393.7 feet in length, 29.5 feet in breadth, and draws 23 feet when in surface trim. Her tonnage is 3,250 tons on the surface and 4,300 tons submerged. The designed surface speed is 17 knots. According to semi-official details, she is to be armed with four 5.5-inch guns in turrets and fourteen torpedo tubes. The deck is armor- plated and the hull so strongly built that the vessel will be able to dive with safety to a depth of 60 fathoms. A hangar is provided for a small seaplane. The Surcouf is credited with a radius of 12,000 miles. She is obviously an experimental type, like the British XI and the American V4, and as such her career will be watched with interest.
Italy
No large ship was launched in the past year, but work proceeded on the 10,000-ton cruisers Zara, Fiume, Bolzano and Gorizia, which are modified versions of the Trento and Trieste, completed in 1928-29. The four later ships are slower, 32 knots as against 35.5, and have stronger protection—another example of the universal reaction from the original tendency to design these “treaty” cruisers as mere speed machines—and 8- inch gun platforms, without regard to defensive properties. Official details are now available of the six Condottieri cruisers, of 5,250 tons, which represent a refreshing departure from the more or less stereotyped
tonners. Their characteristics are: Length, 597 feet; breadth, 51 feet; draught, 14 feet; geared turbines of 95,000 s.h.p. for 37 knots; protection, a 2-inch to 3-inch steel deck and splinter-proof turrets. Armament: Eight 6-inch guns, paired in turrets; four 4- inch A.A. guns, and four torpedo tubes. Once again Italian designers have exhibited their genius for putting extraordinary qualities of fighting power and mobility into vessels of modest displacement. On paper, at all events, these are the most formidable cruisers of their size which have been produced since the war. Among the destroyers launched in 1929 were several of the Navigatori class, comprising twelve units. They displace 1,908 tons, have a speed of 38 knots, and carry six 4.7-inch guns. Eight smaller destroyers of the Dardo class, 1,350 tons and 38 knots, have been laid down.
Germany
The only naval unit launched during the year was the Leipzig, at Wilhelmshaven on October 18. This vessel is the fifth and last cruiser of the replacement program, and no further cruising ships are projected for the time being. The Leipzig and her predecessors have been dealt with in this journal, and it is only necessary to add that the most has been made of the 6,000 tons displacement to which their designers were restricted. Excepting the Emden, which has eight 5.9-inch, they all carry nine 5.9-inch guns in triple turrets. The speed is 32 knots—Leipzig 32.5—and in the Königsberg, Karlsruhe, Köln, and Leipzig an auxiliary internal-combustion plant is installed to drive the ship at cruising speeds. Electric welding has been extensively employed in the building of the hull, and by this means, together with the use of special alloys, a substantial margin of weight has been saved. They are admirable ships, which would do credit to any fleet. Very little new information has come to hand about the 10,000-ton armored ship Ersatz Preussen, which was laid down at the Deutsche Werke, Kiel, in September, 1928, and is to be launched in the coming summer. Her leading particulars and official plans were published in The Engineer of January 11, 1929. It is known that her displacement of 10,000-tons is a standard figure, and that her load displacement will be nearly 14,000 tons. She is to be propelled by internal-combustion engines of 50,000 b.h.p., which are being built in the M.A.N. shops at Augsburg. They will operate twin screws through reduction gearing supplied by the Vulkan yard, Hamburg, the revolutions between motor and propeller being reduced in the ratio of 9 to 5. The net weight of the motors is hardly more than 17.64 pounds per brake horsepower. Although the total weight of the complete plant, comprising motors, gearing, shafting, propellers, accessories, etc., will naturally work out at a higher figure per unit of power, it will still be less than that of a modern geared turbine installation of equal capacity. The contract speed is 26 knots, and at a speed of 20 knots she will it is asserted, have the surprising endurance of 10,000 miles. The armament is to be six 11-inch guns in triple turrets, eight 6-inch behind shields, four 3.4-inch A.A. guns, and six torpedo tubes. For protection she will have an almost complete belt on the water line, two decks, and extensive subdivision. When, almost exactly twelve months ago, details of the Ersatz Preussen were first made known by The Engineer, we ventured to remark that the appearance of such a vessel, with its powerful armament and phenomenal radius of action, introduced a new factor into the naval situation and might eventually necessitate a revision of the Washington Treaty rules governing warship design. These observations were discounted in certain quarters, but they have since found widespread acceptance. There is hardly any doubt that the Ersatz Preussen’s design will materially influence the decisions reached at the London Naval Conference.
Other Navies
After lying derelict ever since her launch from the Vulkan yard at Hamburg fifteen years ago, the Greek battleship Salamis is at last to be completed and handed over to the Hellenic Navy. Her original design, it is understood, is to be revised, but to what extent is not yet known. She displaces 19,500 tons (normal), and was to have had turbines of 40,000 s.h.p. for a speed of 23 knots. The armament provided for was eight 14-inch guns, twelve 6-inch and twelve 12-nounders, with three submerged tubes. The decision of Greece to take belated delivery of this ship is traceable to the expansion of the Turkish fleet. The latter has recently been strengthened by the Yawuz Sultan Selim (ex-German battle cruiser Goeben), which was thoroughly refitted at Constantinople by the French firm, Chantiers de St. Nazaire. Moreover, the Turkish government has under construction in Italian yards two 1,350-ton destroyers of 36 knots, and two submarines, of 950 and 880 tons, respectively.
The past year witnessed the completion by British firms of important naval contracts for South America. Of these the largest was that booked by Thornycrofts, late in 1927, for six Chilean destroyers. They were of uniform design, 1,090 tons and 35 knots, and all exceeded the contract speed on trial. For the same government Vickers-Armstrongs have just delivered three submarines of 1,540 tons, which closely resemble the British “O” class, and launched in November the submarine depot ship Araucano, of 4,000 tons gross. Further, Vickers-Armstrongs are building two Chilean naval oil tankers, each of 3,800 tons gross. For the Argentine government, J. Samuel White and Co., of Cowes, have completed three flotilla leaders of 1,520 tons. The designed speed is 36 knots, but the Mendoza and Tucuman, on trials, maintained 38 knots for six hours, and La Rioja reached a maximum of 39.4 knots. We understand that the South American governments concerned are more than satisfied with the warships they have recently had built in this country, and there are some grounds for anticipating the receipt of further contracts from the same source. The Argentine cruiser Veintecinco de Mayo, built by Orlando Bros., of Leghorn, was launched on August 11. She is a vessel of 6,800 tons, a designed speed of 32 knots, and a main armament of six 7.5-inch guns. A sister ship is shortly to be launched at the Odero yard, Sestri Ponente.
MERCHANT MARINE
Our First New Cargo Liner
Nautical Gazette, Jan. 11.—On February 1 the first “new-tonnage” result of the Jones-White Act will have begun to be fully realized. On that date the new up-to-the- minute motor ship City of New York, just completed for the American South African Line, will start her first service voyage. This liner represents materialization of benefits of the act to American trade and the merchant marine; benefits to owners, shipbuilders, shippers, labor, engineering concerns, ship supply and equipment firms, seagoing personnel, and all other branches of the industry,
On January 11, the date of this issue, the City of New York is running her sea trials, results of which will be available next week; but a full description of the ship is contained on other pages of this issue with numerous photographs.
The significance of this vessel is that she represents the first completed privately owned American transatlantic passenger and cargo liner built in an American shipyard since 1918 for exclusive use in overseas foreign trade. She is the first American typically modern fast general cargo liner—and likewise motor ship—so built. She is a match physically and, with government aid, economically for any modern unit of the same size and type produced by other countries.
Ideal efficiency is obtained for the 14,000- mile round-trip service with her 13-knot average sea speed maintained by Sun-Doxford Diesels, and 95 per cent electric auxiliaries supplemented by two small exhaust heat boilers, fitted with oil-burning furnace fronts. Her three decks, large hatches, fifteen booms, and generous cubic capacity make her admirably suited for general cargo handling. In addition, her fine accommodations for sixty passengers provide valuable revenue without great additional capital investment or a large overhead in the steward’s department. All her fittings, equipment and devices for efficiency and safety are of the most modern type. It is not too rash to say we need more steam or motor ships of the City of New York type than of any other.
Steam and Motor Tonnage
Nautical Gazette, Jan. 11.—Busch-Sulzer Bros.-Diesel Engine Company in their marine bulletin No. 87 compile the following from Lloyd’s register shipbuilding returns for the quarter ended September 30, and state: “In the face of the almost inexplicable American marine trend toward steam, Lloyd’s reports again confirm the advance of motor ship building abroad”:
Significance of French Merchant Marine Ministry
Nautical Gazette, Jan. 25.—From the point of view of maritime policy, the outstanding event of the year was the creation in November of the Merchant Marine Ministry, grouping the ports, merchant shipping, and fisheries departments. This initiative shows that port and shipping problems will receive more attention from the government than in the past. One of the first acts of the Merchant Marine Minister, M. Rollin, was to entrust the National Economic Council with an inquiry into the causes of the prolonged crisis in the shipbuilding trade, and particularly into the reasons for the difference between construction costs in France and abroad. To complete this brief survey of the year gone by, it is necessary to mention the enactment of two important legislative measures, the new Maritime Credit Law, and the Seamen’s Insurance Law. The first named act, particulars of which have already been given in The Nautical Gazette, reduced by 1 per cent the minimum interest rate payable by shipowners under the maritime credit system instituted in 1928, and removed several taxes which unduly weighed upon shipping.
The Seamen’s Insurance Law, which was adopted in the closing days of the year, provides for a complete reorganization of seafarers’ insurance against sickness and accidents, and for an increase in old age pensions. The law is the outcome of the labors of a committee composed of government, shipowners’, and seamen’s delegates, and is of particular import for the future of the merchant marine, as the additional advantages granted to seamen will, it is hoped, help to curb the growing tendency among the maritime population to secure employment in land industries.
AVIATION
Foreign Views on Seadromes
New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 19.— Paris, Jan. 18.—Floating island seadromes scattered over the seven seas threaten to give America fantastic power, commercial and naval, says Henry Lemery, Senator from Martinique. He calls for quick action to neutralize what he considers a grave menace.
The plan to build and anchor the first Armstrong airplane landing “field” on the route to Bermuda, as a test, stirred the Senator to consider possible developments.
There is no law, international or otherwise, to regulate the placing of these great eight-acre, storm-proof landings, he says, and he suggests the possibility of their extension on the Atlantic and the Pacific to within striking distance of all countries, since the high seas extend to within ten miles of shore.
He would have Prance respond now to the neglected invitation of President Coolidge in 1927 for all countries to examine the possibilities of transatlantic aviation and particularly the problem of “floating islands.” No one paid attention to the idea then, but now Lemery sees it as vital.
Also he urges the French government to raise the problem at the coming London Naval Conference so as to restrict the zone in which any country could place such islands. It is his theory that at present the United States has only to raise its flag over a seadrome, outside any countrys’ ten-mile limit and thereby create a new spot of American territory where fleets of war planes might be gathered under the protection of strong anti-aircraft batteries.
He recalls the strong and effective position of Heligoland, “a miserable heap of sand armed by Germany,” and says ‘‘let us consider the possibility of there being ten or hundreds of American Heligolands in the Atlantic and Pacific in a quarter of a century.”
Squadron Maneuvers Planned at 25,000 Feet
New York Herald Tribune, Jan. 19. By Francis D. Walton.—The Air Corps will attempt this year to move the sphere of the Army’s aerial fighters to an altitude of 25,000 feet.
While this distance is nearly 20,000 feet short of the world’s altitude record, it is far beyond the sphere of ordinary plane operation, and means that combat fighters will be trained in actual war maneuvers above the “service ceiling” of most standard planes and in rarefied atmosphere, which presents a whole series of unique hazards and dangers.
The 95th Pursuit Squadron, based at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California, has been selected to carry out these extra-hazardous maneuvers. A special program of high altitude training has been laid out for the squadron by its commanding officer, Captain H. M. Elmendorf. The equipment selected for the work consists of Boeing P-12s, employing superchargers and powered with 400-horsepower Wasp engines.
The question might be raised as to the value in going to such extraordinary heights in aerial warfare. The answer is ready to hand in one of the most frequently quoted maxims of the Air Corps—“in altitude lies strength.”
It must be remembered that 25,000 feet is not the absolute ceiling for the planes which will be used. At 25,000 feet they will not be merely “hanging on” to thin atmosphere, but will be able to fly and fight in formation. The service ceiling of an airplane has been defined as the point where the airplane with full load (in this case full military load), with full throttle ceases to climb at a rate of at least 100 feet a minute.
In the program for the 95th Pursuit Squadron it is planned to maneuver the whole squadron in formation at or about the 25,000-foot level. To perform stunts at such an altitude it is necessary for the ordinary plane to dive to increase its speed before undertaking loops and similar evolutions. There is a tendency for the plane to drop more quickly if it loses speed, as the rarefied air gives the wing less support than it has at lower levels.
Flexibility is required in individual planes in a fighting squadron in formation. If each ship were pushed to its maximum altitude flexibility of the squadron would be lost and individual planes would be unable to keep up with the others. To overcome this tendency, intensive, special training must be undertaken.
In outlining the plan for training his squadron to officers of the Pratt & Whitney Corporation recently, Captain Elmendorf said:
Operations at 25,000 feet cannot approach the simplicity and ease of sea-level operations. The intense cold, the bulky clothing pilots must wear to keep from freezing, and the fact that a pilot’s reactions are slower than normal complicate flying at five miles above sea level. I noted on one flight that a strut thermometer registered minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit at 20,000 feet. At 23,000 feet it had dropped out of sight. At 27,000 feet, had I been able to see the mercury, it would have been around 40 degrees below zero.
Captain Elmendorf believes that a new system of spacing planes will be necessary for formation flying at this height. He says:
For practical purposes, a distance of approximately 200 feet between planes will keep them in proper tactical formation. Close formations are undertaken principally for show purposes. When we fly five miles above the earth in formation the pilots dare not approach too near to each other because oxygen failure may cause one to become “balmy,” or even to spin down out of formation, unconscious.
A peculiar and interesting phase of altitude flying is the effect that the lack or loss of oxygen has on the pilot. His physical reactions are similar to those of one who has imbibed too freely of intoxicating spirits and has reached the stage where he imagines he is walking a straight line when he is following the most zigzag course. The pilot believes himself functioning perfectly, while he is gradually losing consciousness.
A complete system of training has been laid out for the squadron by Captain Elmendorf. First, each pilot, will be sent to the 25,000-foot mark, and there learn to fly under the extraordinary conditions encountered at this height. He will be expected to stunt his plane at this height, to roll, loop, and perform similar feats.
The next step will be formation flights, beginning with three plane elements, then flights of six and working up to the entire squadron formation of eighteen or more planes.
The final stage of the training will consist of tactical problems at the five-mile level, including individual combats and flights of three, six, and twelve planes operating against each other.
Tactical exercises at the five-mile level will include machine-gun work, especially practice in firing at towed sleeve targets. To date, machine guns equipped with electrical heaters have worked satisfactorily but perhaps somewhat more slowly than at sea level. Captain Elmendorf reports that the first tests for the new training reveals that extraordinary winds also are frequently at that height. He writes:
Sometimes at 25,000 feet, we encounter tremendous winds never experienced at the surface. Recently a plane found itself over Tijuana, fifteen miles southeast of Rockwell Field, and at an altitude of 25,000 feet. The pilot flew thirty minutes toward the field at an air speed of 130 miles an hour but remained stationary over Tijuana.
A pilot engaging in high altitude work wears about fifty pounds of clothing. Captain Elmendorf says:
He needs to use his hands constantly, not only because of the requirements made on him in piloting his plane, but also to keep them from freezing. Recently I had the experience of freezing the fingers of my left hand while on an absolute ceiling test.
No matter what the surface temperature is, from 20,000 feet up the temperatures do not change much. In other words, we get just as cold over San Diego as we would if the thermometer on the ground was around zero and the ground covered with snow. Winds vary as to velocity, but at that altitude above Rockwell Field they prevail from the west.
A Reversible, Variable-Pitch Aircraft Propeller
Aero Digest, Jan.—Public tests of a controllable, reversible, variable-pitch propeller have been completed and the Airplane Appliances Co., which will produce and distribute the propeller, has been organized at Los Angeles, Calif. C. M. Fuller, president of the Richfield Oil Company, will head the company. The tests were held at the field of the Aero Corporation of California and the first demonstration was made by Art Goebel, who, on one occasion, landed on the field at a speed of 100 miles an hour, and stopped the ship at the end of a forty-foot run when the propeller blades were reversed.
The propeller is designed to shorten by 50 per cent the take-off distance of a normally loaded plane, and decrease the distance required for landing by reversing the blades when the plane touches the earth. It increases the carrying capacity of a plane and gives a ceiling 30 per cent higher. Landings may be made at shorter angles than possible with the use of an ordinary propeller. A plane equipped with the variable-type propeller can be prevented from nosing over on soft ground, by reversing the blades.
Fuel consumption of a plane equipped with this type of propeller is decreased from 20 to 25 per cent because the cruising speed is accelerated approximately 25 per cent at fewer revolutions per minute. The propeller is automatically regulated by the throttle, or may be operated by any individual control without regard to the throttle. In the event that the throttle control is used, the plane takes off and climbs with the blade automatically regulated by the throttle. Then, when the throttle is pulled back to cruising speed, the pitch is automatically increased, resulting in fewer engine revolutions per minute in addition to an increase in speed. There is a resultant saving in the fuel consumption for distance covered.
A special counter-balance has been developed, requiring only a 3-pound effort directed from the cockpit to operate the propeller. Without the use of this counterbalance, an effort of 1,600 pounds would be required to accomplish this. The gliding angle of a plane equipped with the propeller can be reduced to 3 to 1 as opposed to about 7 to 1 of a plane propelled by the ordinary type.
A plane equipped with a similar type of variable-pitch propeller was test-flown for four hours on May 16, 1917. Further experiments along this line followed during the next decade and in 1927 Mr. Fuller acquired the rights to the original patents. Experiments, backed by Mr. Fuller, were then undertaken by A. K. McLeod, who, in addition to improvements on the original pat-ents, developed a special metal strong enough to withstand the terrific strain imposed upon a propeller of this type. Approximately $437,000 has been expended in the development of the propeller under the present patent rights held by Mr. Fuller.
The propeller is controlled directly from the cockpit by a lever mechanism. Trimotor planes may be equipped with a synchronized throttle control operating simultaneously the three propellers which are synchronized as one. If one engine goes dead it is possible to disengage the propeller of this engine and regulate the speed of the other two by the use of the synchronized mechanism. If the propeller is used on a single-engined plane, it is possible to decrease the pitch of the propeller in the event that any cylinders start missing while the plane is in flight, increasing the pull of the propeller.
At present, the propeller is operated by a chain drive. This will be eliminated, according to present plans, and a shaft and gear will be substituted.
Tests conducted on the propeller during its development under present patent rights, have shown that it will withstand a centrifugal load up to 50,000 pounds per square inch, and that it could withstand a centrifugal load of 420,000 pounds before the blades would come out of the hub. Microscopic examinations following these tests have showed that the blades, ball races, and bearings were unaffected.
This controllable, reversible, variable pitch propeller has shown a blade strength up to 240,000 pounds during the experiments, following which the company has been formed to manufacture and distribute the propeller to the aeronautical industry.
Winning Plane of Guggenheim Competition
New York Times, Jan 12. By Lauren D. Lyman.—The Tanager was the only plane to pass all of the eighteen tests and interest in this substantial looking red and black cabin biplane has reached such a point that the Army Air Service has asked that the plane be flown to Bolling Field, Washington, where the government experts can fly and study it.
In its announcement describing the plane the Curtiss Company has stressed the value of the full floating ailerons, a design particular in which the Tanager differed from all the other planes in the contest. These ailerons are placed at the tips of the lower wing and are distinctive in that in flight they assume automatically at all times a position parallel to the air currents while at the same time they may be moved in relation to each other by the pilot.
These “weather cock” ailerons, it is contended, provided the needed control at the slow speeds necessary to win the competition. Other experts point out that the balance between slot and flap attained by the Curtiss engineers has enabled them to take advantage of the aerodynamic efficiency of these factors in a unique manner.
Said one former World War pilot, who had Gosport training and 2,000 hours in the air:
Although the slot has been used successfully now for several years, it is entirely otherwise with the flap. Designers have been forced to abandon it because its use reduced the controllability of a plane at low speed. When a flap is pulled down it has the effect of modifying the camber and altering the angle of attack of the airfoil. This in turn causes the center of pressure to move backward and, unless some compensation is made, the plane becomes nose heavy and difficult to control.
The slot works in the opposite direction and pulls the center of pressure forward when the plane is somewhere near its stalling angle. It is therefore clear that when the flap is pulled down on the Tanager, causing an increase in lift at a lower than normal air speed, the slots open and whatever disturbance has taken place with regard to the center of pressure is at once remedied.
It is thus apparent that stability has been found for the airplane at low speeds—a stability which is aided laterally and made possible by the new balanced ailerons. The problem of stability at low speeds has been a difficult one and its solution marks a great stride forward in design and safety.
Clarence D. Chamberlin is also inclined to give great credit to the ailerons. In his opinion these made it possible for the flaps and slots to do the work resulting in the slow landing and gliding speeds with control which made the Curtiss machine stand out above all competitors.
As to the actual “safety” of the winner, Captain Emory S. Land, vice president of the Guggenheim Fund, in presenting the prize declared there was no such thing possible as a “fool-proof plane.” Lieutenant Stanley M. Umstead, Army test pilot, who flew the Tanager through many of its tests, declared, however, that it was the “safest plane I have ever flown.”
The question has been asked, “Does the Tanager make for simplicity or does it not make for complexity in flight, necessitating greater skill on the part of the pilot instead of less?’’
Robert R. Osborn, designer of the Tanager, answered the question last week. Mr. Osborn said:
The Curtiss Tanager is a more complex flying mechanism than the usual airplane, but a far safer airplane to fly. Its controls are not more complex. They are simpler. We have added one control to operate the flaps, and the safety of the ship is not endangered in any way if this control is not used or if it is left in any position. If the flaps are cranked down the ship can fly and land slower. In exchange for this one added control we have eliminated the necessity for using the rudder. The ship can be flown through normal flying maneuvers —take-off, tight vertical turns, and landing—with feet off of the rudder pedals. Any pilot will tell you it is the improper use of the rudder which kills the inexperienced flier—turns improperly banked close to the ground causing the incipient spin, with the ship nosing in before control can be regained. We can eliminate this control from the necessary air control. Four-wheel brakes make the modern automobile more complex than the car of a few years ago, but make it a much safer car, and the fact that the Tanager is more complex means in this case that it is also safer.
Seaworthiness and Airworthiness
The Aeroplane, Dec. 11.—The following letter, by Mr. Oswald Short, noted British aircraft constructor, is quoted as of particular interest in its relation to the development of the patrol-type seaplane.
In the last few issues of your journal there have appeared several articles from your pen with reference to the design of flying boats, following upon the recent loss of the City of Rome, in the Mediterranean.
In these articles you have, generally speaking, classed all existing types of flying boats as un- seaworthy, and in the first article on this subject you particularly criticized 3-engined machines as being, in your opinion, useless so far as the prevention of forced landings are concerned. The question thus raised is an interesting one to those who follow aircraft development, and naturally aircraft constructors have something to say on the subject.
In the first instance, the impartial observer must fail to see any indication of a “craze” for 3-engined aircraft, such as you suggest exists, as he will equally fail to see a craze for single-, double-, or quadruple-engine systems in aircraft. The 3-engined aircraft has arrived in the natural course of aircraft development where designers, faced with certain specifications of requirements, have set out to meet those requirements with the use of existing types of engines and materials.
No one to the writer’s knowledge has claimed infallibility for 3-engined machines. It would be equally illogical to claim infallibility for machines fitted with four, six, or any number of engines. The word is indeed scarcely applicable to any man-made apparatus.
What has been claimed, however, and also proved beyond all doubt, is that the multiple-engine system, in certain specific designs, greatly reduces the risk of forced landings. Certain twin-engined machines will fly with the full designed load on one engine, and certain 3-engined machines will fly quite strongly with one engine stopped.
This property is not necessarily achieved by a wastage of power, or by carrying a very light and uneconomical load. On the other hand there are 3-engined machines, and even 4-engined machines that will not fly with one engine stopped. It is a question of design, and of the reserve power available for flight in a particular machine.
The Calcutta type of flying boat may be taken as one instance of an aircraft that will fly well on two engines out of three, while carrying quite a big commercial load. The figures are: pay load 6,250 pounds plus petrol and oil for 300 miles in calm air.
Controllability in the case of one engine stopping is naturally not improved, but it is reasonably good, and quite effective, and the machine can be turned against the offset thrust line with either starboard or port engine stopped. With improvements in the design of both engines and machine, in course of time the 3-engined aircraft will leave little to be desired as regards performance and controllability on two-thirds of its maximum power.
In the case of a 4-engined aircraft, flight with one engine stopped should on the face of it be easier to accomplish, but at the present moment it must be admitted that there is no 4-engined boat in use that will fly as well on three engines as the Calcutta flies on two. In fact it appears that there is no 4-engined boat which can compare with the Calcutta type as regards pay load carried and range, and general performance, although existing 4-engined boats have 25 per cent more power available for flight.
That being the case, there is no justification for implying that British designers are behind the times in flying-boat construction, as you appear to do in your references to 4-engined machines and to the Dornier type in particular.
That leads us to consider the question of types of flying boats.
There is a strong tendency on the part of some writers to favor the monoplane flying boat, and to assume that the biplane flying boat with a central hull and wing-tip floats is obsolete in design. The principal cause of this tendency of thought is the feeling that wing-tip floats are unsatisfactory where the seaworthy qualities of a flying boat are being considered.
The tendency may also be due to a feeling that a type which has remained so long in existence without apparent alteration must necessarily be obsolete in design. It is, however, perhaps time to say that no machine is obsolete until something better exists to replace it. If that be the case, then certainly the type of flying boat which has come to be looked upon as peculiarly British is still the best.
Designers cannot successfully sacrifice every other good point in flying-boat design to obtain maximum seaworthiness. A flying boat is essentially a compromise to the requirements of two elements—air and water. A flying boat which gets off quickly, climbs rapidly, has a high ceiling, and a big speed range, is probably much safer as a vehicle of the air than one which is deficient in those properties, but is more seaworthy.
When we read, as we frequently do, of vessels of thousands of tons displacement foundering in rough seas, we must realize that a great problem faces the flying-boat designer, who, in the light of present knowledge of flying-boat design, has to build a vessel which cannot furl its sails in emergency. Flying boats as at present designed, however, have demonstrated that they have a considerable degree of seaworthiness.
Rough as the sea was which sank the City of Rome, she would probably have survived if she had not been taken in tow. It is quite possible that she was towed under, as has happened to bigger surface craft on many occasions.
It becomes clearer every day that the work of flying boats is to fly from one stretch of sheltered water to another. Designers will not spare any efforts to obtain the utmost degree of seaworthiness possible under all the requirements of flying- boat design, but when that is done a flying boat battling in a hurricane in the Mediterranean or mid-Atlantic is out of place. Its place between ports is in the air, and our greatest efforts should be directed towards keeping it there.
The Bernard 20 Cl Single-Seat Fighter
Aviation, Dec. 28.—The new Bernard 20 Cl, a single-seater fighter with 400- horsepower, water-cooled, Hispano-Suiza engine and of strikingly original design, is being flight tested. The craft is a low-wing, pure cantilever monoplane of monobloc allwood construction. The wing is built in one unit with engine bed bolted to the front of it, the fuselage bolted to its rear, and the under carriage bolted to the bottom. The wing structure comprises multiple beams tapering from root to tip. Three-ply covering takes its share of the stresses, the thickness decreasing along the span.
The fuselage is made of two lateral beams, with frames and additional stringers supporting the ellipse-shaped covering. Many ingenious features are incorporated in the design, including a particularly well made pilot’s cockpit. The high head rest and windshield are strengthened by steel tubes to protect the pilot in the most severe crash. An ingenious seat, adjustable in flight by means of a special device with compensating spring, has been installed.
Transportation of the machine by road presents no difficulties, despite the one-piece wing. This question was specially studied and a false center section replaces the wing when the machine is dismantled, allowing the fuselage with under carriage complete to be towed easily behind a trailer carrying the wing, according to the report.
General characteristics are as follows: span 35.4 feet; length 24.4 feet; height 8.18 feet; area 180 square feet; weight empty 2,260 pounds; load 760 pounds; gross weight, 3,020 pounds.
No official performance data are yet available, but it is an open secret that the
200 m.p.h. mark has been exceeded. The wind-tunnel tests showed a L/D ratio in excess of 13.5.
Midshipmen’s Air Course
London Times, Dec. 27.—A reminder is given in current fleet orders that every effort is to be made to ensure that all midshipmen undergo the junior officers’ air course while holding that rank. The names of those who are unable to do so are to be specially reported to the Admiralty on discharge to shore courses, in order that arrangements may be made for them to undergo the course after appointment as sub-lieutenant.