PROFESSIONAL NOTES
Prepared by Lieutenant R. A. Hall, U. S. Navy
FRANCE
Shipbuilding.—The shipyards and arsenals are so far removed from the centres of raw material supplies that they are admittedly unable to compete for foreign contracts, although their situation is so precarious that every possible means has been suggested of enabling them to secure foreign business, without which it is feared that the shipbuilding industry will languish indefinitely. Something has already been done to help shipbuilders by reducing the railway rates on raw material, but the cost of construction is still too high to permit of builders competing with British shipyards. It is now alleged that, in hastening through the first part of its naval program, the object of the Government was to prevent the closing down of some of the arsenals which are regarded as no longer serving any useful purpose. Instead of giving all the work to private shipyards that are badly in need of employment and can construct much more cheaply than the arsenals, these latter are to build a certain number of vessels that will require the presence of a costly naval staff. Cherbourg is to build four submarines, Brest two light cruisers and one submarine, L'Orient one light cruiser and two destroyers, and Toulon one submarine. Private shipyards will build four destroyers, twelve torpedo boats and six submarines.—The Engineer, 12 May, 1922.
Speed of the New Cruisers.—Whilst progressive officers see a mistake in the adoption of the 6-inch calibre for the 8,000-ton cruisers just ordered, and find no great consolation in the knowledge that these ships will have their artillery and motors better protected than is the case in the British Raleigh and American Richmond, they confidently expect to see France beating all speed records for cruisers, and speed in the eyes of many is the most important of strategic and tactical factors. It was not superiority in gun-power, but speed—and speed alone—that enabled the Goeben and Breslau, a relatively puny force, to escape from the Franco-British chase into the Dardanelles and thereby change the course of the war. So the next light cruisers are to be blockade-runners and to maintain against all comers safe communications between France and her vast colonial empire. To that end special care and no end of comparative experiments have been devoted to the designing and installation on board of the eight small-tube oil-fired boilers and improved turbines that will, considering their enormous power, occupy an abnormally small share in the displacement of the future ships, as well as a reduced personnel. Each boiler will develop 12,500 h.p. under easy conditions, and the designers will be disappointed if the total motor power of 100,000 h.p. does not produce a sea speed of 35 knots, even when the ships put to sea at their full load displacement of 9,600 tons, especially when is considered the trouble taken with tank experiments with a view to determining the hull shape and lines most favorable to extreme rate of going. It has been found possible to conciliate high speed with habitability and fighting endurance. In this respect the experience of the Falklands and of the Adriatic operations has been remembered and put to good use. One or two encounters would not empty ammunition bunkers and mean powerlessness, all the more so as the new 6-inch shells have benefited with recent armor and pyrotechnic improvements and are deemed superior to the 7.6-inch projectiles at present in service. In truth, oil fuel still counts opponents in high quarters, notwithstanding the conclusive demonstrations made in the Lorraines, and coal-fuel designs have been proposed, but the problem proved unworkable, as no less than 50 boilers, echeloned over 150 metres length, would have then been required, together with a personnel of 700 men, to produce over 30 knots!—Naval and Military Record, 12 May, 1922.
Sea-Keeping Qualities.—The presidential cruise in the 14,000-ton and 22-knot armored cruiser Quinet has brought to light several interesting naval lessons, and notably the value of homogeneity and high freeboard in warships. On the way from La Pallice to Casablanca, over a distance of some 1,200 miles, very rough weather was experienced, with the result that the high freeboard, roomy, and robust Quinet arrived alone in view of the Moroccan coast, at scheduled time and at a speed of 21 knots, having left far behind the slow accompanying liner with a full cargo of sea-sick parliamentary men and official guests, and also the escorting flotilla of ex-German destroyers of 900 tons, headed by the 2,500-ton Sends. These Boche-built craft are exceedingly fast on paper, and in fair weather good yet for about 30 knots. On the other hand, they behave badly in heavy seas, and are even dangerous, for the twofold reasons that they are low above water amidships and that they feel very much, while rolling and pitching, the weight of the three 2-ton, 105-mil. guns which they carry high up on their back. If anything, matters were worse on board the 2,500-ton and four 6-inch gun Sends, that has revealed herself as a fair-weather boat requiring careful handling. Their defects are not due so much to over-gunning as to hasty, faulty designing, as the French Lestin (900-ton, 82 metres length), though mounting a similar armament to that of the Boche-built Delage (990 tons, 92 metres length), has more freeboard and is a better sea boat. The same applies to the Aventurier type (ex-Mendosa) of under 1,000 tons, that mounts four 4-inch weapons. On the other hand, it is to be remarked that those great navies, such as the British and American, known as "strategic fleets," built for the command of the sea and for extensive radius of action, have all along preferred sea-keeping power and robustness to excellence in the matter of armament; and, as a counterpart, a purely Mediterranean fleet like the Italian, with limited strategic aims, surpasses all rivals in the military utilization of displacement.—Naval and Military Record, 10 May, 1922.
France's Idle Tonnage.—On March 1, 529 vessels of 1,102,568 tons gross were laid up in French ports. All but four of these flew the French flag. The showing of the leading ports was as follows:
? | Vessels | Tons |
Dunkirk | 48 | 181,564 |
Boulogne | 4 | 2,464 |
Earre | 35 | 120,961 |
Rouen | 5 | 7,117 |
Cherbourg | 2 | 5,262 |
Brest | 57 | 125,847 |
L’Orient | 7 | 6,315 |
Saint-Nazaire | 67 | 173,215 |
Nantes | 50 | 107,156 |
La Rochelle | 10 | 9,312 |
Bordeaux | 20 | 46,177 |
Bayonne | 4 | 3,001 |
Cette | 4 | 1,774 |
Marseilles | 116 | 249,306 |
Algiers | 3 | 5,648 |
Oran | 6 | 2,858 |
?
This fleet of inactive French vessels was made up of 286 steamers of 816,860 tons, 151 sailing ships of 184,595 tons and 82 other craft of 84,032 tons.—Nautical Gazette, 27 May, 1922.
Inquiry into Disasters to French Cargo Boats.—French shipping circles have been greatly disturbed by the sinking on April 25 off the coast of Brittany of the cargo steamer Depute Albert Tallandier with a loss of fifteen of her crew, while bound from Rotterdam to Brest with a cargo of coal. She is the third vessel of what is known as the Marie-Louise type to have foundered during the last few months and others have figured in the casualty lists.
It would appear from these disasters that the Marie-Louise vessels are lacking in stability. M. Rio, under-secretary of state for the merchant marine, has therefore decided to appoint a commission, composed of two mercantile marine officers (deck and engine-room), two engineers and a representative of a classification society, to look into the causes of these accidents. Pending the results of this inquiry, the Marie-Louise vessels, of which there are thirty in service, built for the most part in French navy yards, are to be laid up. They are small colliers of 2,170 gross tons, 270 feet long and of 39 feet 6 inches beam.
According to the testimony of the survivors of the Depute Albert Tallandier the vessel left Rotterdam with a slight list to port which gradually increased. When the captain tried to rectify this list by shifting the cargo, the vessel keeled over to starboard to such an extent that she could no longer be righted. Shortly after she went down bow first. It is suggested that the cause of the disaster was a defective bulkhead which allowed the boiler feed water to shift from one side to the other.—Nautical Gazette, 27 May, 1922.
GERMANY
Germans Building Eighteen Large Motorships.—According to Dr. Hans Stolzenburg, correspondent of Pacific Ports in Germany, there are at present eighteen large motorships under construction in German yards, of which about one-half will be completed in the course of 1922. Most of the new vessels are being built by the Deutsche Werft. This yard is constructing three freighters of 4,500 tons gross each for the Hamburg-American line, two tankers of 3,500 tons gross each, and three tankers of 2,800 tons gross each for other contractors, as well as a tank vessel of 2,300 tons gross for the oil works of Julius Schindler.
The Deutsche Werft is also building two freighters of 4,500 tons gross each with two motors of 1,700 h.p. each for the Kosmos Line. Two ships of 9,000 tons gross each have been ordered from the Reiherstieg Schiffswerft and Maschinenfabrik, Hamburg, by the Hamburg-Sudamerikanische Dampfschifahrts-Gesellschaft. They will be equipped with two two-cylinder Diesel motors of the Sulzer type of 2,600 h.p. Messrs. Blohm and Voss, Hamburg, are constructing a motorship of 6,500 tons gross with two motors, of i,7So h.p. each for the Hamburg-American line. This vessel was launched recently and was named Ermland.
A freightship of 6,300 tons dead-weight, destined for the Norddeutsche Lloyd, will be completed by the Vulcan Werft, Stettin. The A.G. Weser, Bremen, is occupied with the construction of a freighter of 6,200 tons gross with two motors of 1,600 h.p. each. Lastly there is being built in the yard of C. Tecklenborg A. G., Geestemunde, and the Howaldtswerke, Kiel, for the Hansa Line, Bremen, two motor vessels of 6,200 tons gross each with motors of 1,600 h.p.
The total German motorship tonnage is about 90,000 tons gross. In England there were 29 motorships of I33.99I gross tons under construction on April 1.—Nautical Gazette, 13 May, 1922.
Allies' Ban on Big Planes Brings German Reprisal.—Forbidden by the Allies to construct large aeroplanes for commercial purposes, the German Government has countered by closing German territory to all aerial transport by large planes. In diplomatic wording this means that the Germans answered the Allies: "We cannot fly and neither can you, because our restrictions will prevent the French and British extending several of their international passenger services, notably those to Prague and Constantinople."
The Germans claim that the Allies' restrictions as to size would kill commercial flying. They hope, therefore, to force a modification of the terms, so that commercial aviation in Germany may not be suppressed altogether.
Major George Neumann, a German air expert, said the Germans would keep their aeroplane technicians, but he feared there were obstacles to building large numbers of commercial planes for one or two years.
He said the present restrictions would prevent planes carrying fuel for more than three hours' flight. The only airship the Germans are building is a 45,000 cubic meter Zeppelin, intended to serve in aeronautic study, and to maintain a mail service between Berlin and Stockholm. Germany would gladly build a Zeppelin for America, Major Neumann said, but he regarded the fact that the Americans reduced the specifications to 170,000 cubic meters as a victory for the French, who had sought to block construction of airships by Germany. The construction of this craft for the United States has been begun, but is temporarily impeded on account of the metal workers' strike.
The allied control commission forbade delivery by the Schuette-Lanz company of a rigid dirigible to America. But that firm is evading control in manufacturing parts for eventual assembly in America. Three dirigibles are under construction in this manner for an American firm which intends to operate them between New York and Chicago.
The German air league congress recently was held in Muenster, 120 clubs, with a total of 10,000 members, being represented.—Aerial Age Weekly, 29 May, 1922.
An Echo of the Dogger Bank.—In the Marine Rundschau for April place of honor is given to an article by Commander Gross—author of the North Sea section of the official history of the naval war—on the Dogger Bank action of January 24, 1915. This particular battle has been so often described by writers on both sides that its general character and most of its incidents have become thoroughly familiar to all students of naval literature. Nevertheless, Commander Gross is able to throw some light on certain phases of the first encounter between capital ships of the dreadnought type. As one who has consistently maintained that the high sea fleet was always anxious for battle, he rather lets the cat out of the bag by quoting Admiral von Ingenohl's official report on, the action, from which it appears that the German battle-cruiser sortie was planned on the assumption that the grand fleet, having been sighted near the Bight five days previously, would then be lying at its bases taking in coal, and therefore could not come out in time to intercept the raiders. The object of the cruise, according to von Ingenohl, was to sink suspicious fishing vessels in the neighborhood of the Dogger Bank, and then to push forward towards the British coast in the hope of "mopping up" our light patrols. Von Ingenohl did not add the fact—or perhaps it is purposely omitted from the quotation—that the third item in the program was a bombardment of the east coast. Be this as it may, he was so confident of non-interference from the grand fleet that he made no provision for supporting Hipper's squadron with the battle-fleet. Dogger Bank cost von Ingenohl his post, which is scarcely surprising in view of the extraordinary lack of foresight which marked the arrangements for the expedition.
Nothing whatever was done to guard against surprise by a superior force. Although three airships lay ready for service at Fiihlbuttel and Nordholz, they received no orders to ascend, and the one that did go up at dawn on the twenty-fourth arrived too late to be of any value. Had an airship preceded the squadron it would doubtless have given timely warning of the approach of Beatty's force and thus enabled Hipper to avoid being brought to action.
Another mysterious point which Commander Gross passes over in silence is why the Blucher was included in the squadron. The Von der Tann had been severely damaged in a collision resulting from the confusion into which the fleet had been thrown by the Christmas air raid on its anchorage in the Schilling roads, and was therefore not available for the cruise, but it was undoubtedly a blunder of the first magnitude to promote the Blucher to a place in the battle-cruiser squadron, thus reducing its collective speed to 25 knots. The very fact that this comparatively feeble ship took part in the cruise is conclusive evidence that no encounter with strong British forces was anticipated.
Commander Gross asserts that the British admiralty were able to decipher every German W/T signal they intercepted, by means of the code which the Russians had salved from the wreck of the Magdeburg in August, 1914, and subsequently placed at the disposal of their Allies. "We were thus playing with all our cards on the table," he adds, "while events on the other side were completely hidden from us." Dealing with the action itself he writes: "It was long believed in Germany that the British opened fire much earlier than we did, but what actually happened was this: At 9.52 A. M. the range was estimated at 200 hectometers (21,800 yards), or approximately the extreme range of the heavy British guns, whereupon Lion fired the first sighting shot at Blucher. It fell short. At 10 o'clock, soon after the British battle cruisers had taken station with every gun bearing on the target, the Tiger began firing single shots to determine the range, but it was not till 10.05 that Beatty gave the general order to open fire. The first salvos fell short by 1,000 to 1,500 metres, and it was not until 10.12 that the Moltke reported the first 'overs.' The British had scored no hits by 10.09, at which time Hipper ordered his own ships to open fire. Three minutes later Lion got her first hit on the Blucher, the shell striking the forecastle between the anchors, but doing no serious damage. At 10.14 Lion shifted on to the Moltke, while Tiger and Princess Royal continued to engage Blucher. It was only now that the British fire began to take effect." Hits were soon registered by both sides, but the first really serious one occurred on the Seydlitz at 10.43, when a 13.5-inch shell struck the 9-inch armour of the after barbette, and, although failing to penetrate, drove a red-hot splinter inside the trunk, where it ignited a cartridge. Both after barbettes were burned out, and only the prompt flooding of the magazines saved the Seydlitz from complete destruction.
According to Commander Gross, the loss of the Blucher was primarily due to a peculiarity in her construction. A heavy shell broke through her armour deck at the most vulnerable point, viz., above a special passage in which ran an ammunition tramway for two-thirds the length of the ship, the Blucher being the only vessel to have this arrangement. The passage was full of cartridges, which exploded one after another, sending columns of fire up the ammunition hoists into, the forward broadside turrets, which were burnt out. As a result of this disastrous hit the entire fire-control system was dislocated, communication throughout the ship broken off, and the steering apparatus deranged, while splinters penetrated the main steam pipe and brought the speed down to 17 knots. Hipper's report explains why the stricken Blucher received no help from her consorts. Not only had they been badly mauled themselves—the Seydlitz having two turrets knocked out and 600 tons of water in her after part—but it was seen that any attempt to turn back in support of the Blucher would expose them to attack by the British destroyers, and in any case the turn could not be made in time to save her from disablement. Moreover, Hipper feared lest another of his ships should sustain damage to the machinery, as he was still 100 miles from home. So the Blucher had to be left to her fate.
Summarizing the results of the action, Commander Gross finds that the German battle cruisers, despite their inferior tonnage and weight of broadside, had the best of it in the artillery duel, scoring 20 hits in all and receiving but four in return (Seydlitz 2, Derfflinger 1, Blucher 1), "not counting the numerous hits which the Blucher subsequently received at close range." It is to be feared, however, that this is a somewhat partial method of calculation. "There is no doubt," he writes, "that, in spite of this successful result, the effect of the heavy British guns, coupled with the loss of the Blucher, the hit on the Seydlitz, and the retreat of our squadron, was to create. an exaggerated idea of the power of the enemy's weapons, an impression strengthened by our more numerous casualties—954 killed and 80 wounded, against only 14 killed and 30 wounded on the other side. Furthermore, it is a fact that the strategic honors of the day rested with the British. The new system of defending the English east coast appeared to have justified itself. After two unpunished German cruiser raids, the British had succeeded for the first time in intercepting the invaders with superior force and inflicting severe loss upon them." A tribute is paid to the "skillful way" in which this military success was exploited for political ends, especially by Mr. Churchill in his "brilliant" speech on the action in the House of Commons. Commander Gross denies that the morale of the German fleet suffered by reasons of the defeat, but the only evidence he adduces on this point is an extract from an Italian newspaper!—Naval and Military Record, 10 May, 1922.
Germany's Naval Airships and Their War Record.—The development of the German naval airship service and its work during the war form the subject of an interesting paper by Lieutenant von Schiller in the current number of the Marine Rundschau, the German semi-official naval monthly. According to this writer, the dirigible airship as a naval auxiliary was in a very early stage of evolution when the war broke out. It was only after a prolonged study of the performances of Zeppelins in private and army ownership that the navy department decided to order its first airship of this type. Completed in 1913, this vessel, designated the L-1. made a few successful flights, but was lost in September of that year in a North Sea gale. A second ship, the L-2, was equally unfortunate, being totally destroyed by a gas explosion on one of her first ascents. Dimensions and other particulars of these two first naval airships are given in the subjoined table. On the outbreak of war, therefore, the German navy had only one airship, the L-3, under its control, and as she was detailed to the North Sea station, an old Parseval dirigibhe was temporarily employed for reconnaissance in the Baltic. The command of the naval airship section (Marine-Luftschiffabteilung) was vested in Captain Peter Strasser, who held this appointment till August, 1918, when he perished in an airship that was shot down in flames by British warships. It seems to be established that he was an officer of outstanding ability, whose technical knowledge, energy, and powers of organization were largely responsible for the efficient state of the service throughout the war. Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities an agreement was reached with the army command, under which one out of every two new ships completed by the Zeppelin company was to be relinquished to the navy, which also secured control over a number of Schutte-Lanz airships. Measures were at once taken to increase the housing facilities. The first large shed, that at Nordholz, near Cuxhaven, had been hurriedly completed in August, 1914, and new sheds were ordered to be built at Tondern, in Schleswig, Haage, in East Friesland, and Seddin, in Pomerania, each of these stations being protected by an adjacent battery of anti-aircraft guns and searchlights. At the same time a chain of meteorological stations was established along the German coastline, from Ostend, Belgium, to Koenigsberg, in East Prussia. From these stations weather reports were transmitted every three hours by wireless or cable to the headquarters at Wilhelmshaven. Special arrangements had to be made for supplying gas to the various airship depots, as in most cases the local resources were inadequate for the purpose. This widespread organization absorbed a very large personnel, and it was no easy matter to find the requisite number of specially trained officers and men. Among the various aerial projects conceived during the war was one of sending up from Flanders an ordinary balloon, which was to drift over London and drop a 2,200-pound bomb on the city. This scheme was abandoned after three fruitless attempts had been made.
It was speedily discovered, states Lieutenant von Schiller, that the type of airship in vogue at the beginning of the war, which was of 22,500 cubic metres capacity, was not sufficiently powerful to perform the arduous duties of war, including long-distance raids. The next type was therefore increased to 32,000 cubic metres, which had already been reached in the first Schutte-Lanz to be acquired by the navy. Even this size proved inadequate, however, and early in 1916 the L-30. of 5S,ooo cubic metres, was built. The difficulty of handling such large vessels on the ground, especially in bad weather, was very great, for which reason it looked as though the limit in dimensions had been reached, and for the next two years the 55,000 cubic metre type continued to represent the standard German airship. Besides the Zeppelin, the only other rigid type that proved equal to the strain of war service was the Schutte-Lanz, and even vessels of that type were unsuited to North Sea work owing to their wooden construction. A few non-rigids were built for coast patrol, and a new type, built on the Gross-Basenach system, was evolved, but its performance is not described.
In the autumn of 1916 the naval airship service began to suffer severe losses in the course of its raids on England, where the anti-aircraft batteries and defending aeroplanes had become both numerous and efficient. One of the first vessels to be shot down was the L-31—in October, 1916—whose commander, Mathy, had carried out the first attack on the city of London twelve months previously. In spite of these losses, however. Captain Strasser worked unremittingly to overcome the defense, introducing various modifications which enabled the Zeppelins to rise to much greater altitudes when over enemy territory. By the summer of 191 7, attacks were being made from heights so great that the personnel had to be artificially supplied with oxygen. Airships scouting at sea were also compelled to fly very high—eventually at 16,400 feet—in order to avoid attack by enemy seaplanes, and, later on, by aeroplanes flown from the decks of British cruisers.
At the end of 1917 a plan was evolved of conveying to the hard-pressed troops in East Africa a supply of ammunition and medicines by a Zeppelin, the feasibility of the enterprise having been demonstrated by an endurance flight of 105 hours made by the LZ-120. An airship of the 55,000 cubic metre class, L-57, was selected for the voyage and lengthened by 98 ½ feet to increase her useful load. This vessel, however, came to grief on her trial trip, and eight weeks elapsed before a new ship, L-59, could be made ready. Starting from an emergency base at Jamboli, in Bulgaria, she had got as far as the Dachel oasis on the Upper Nile when a wireless message was received from Berlin, ordering her to return, as news had come of the evacuation of East Africa by the German troops. She returned to Jamboli without mishap, after a round voyage lasting ninety-six hours, the total distance covered being 4,375 miles. This was unquestionably the boldest and most remarkable airship flight of the whole war and one, moreover, that has not as yet been surpassed. On returning to her base, the L-59 was partially reconstructed, after which she made a raid on Naples. Her next exploit was to have been a bomb attack on the British naval base at Malta, but while en route in the Strait of Otranto she was destroyed in mid-air by an explosion, the cause of which was never ascertained.
In addition to casualties from enemy actions, heavy losses were suffered through bad weather and accident. There had already been several cases of individual ships having been destroyed in their sheds by fire, but in January 1918, five of the very latest vessels were simultaneously destroyed by an explosion at the Ahlhorn depot. By 1918 it was recognized that the war value of the Zeppelin had sensibly declined. Aeroplanes, in conjunction with "an excellently organized artillery," had rendered airship raids on England too hazardous to be attempted, except on rare occasions when the weather was particularly auspicious. At the same time airship reconnaissance over the North Sea had become exceedingly dangerous by reason of the speedy and fast-climbing aeroplanes carried on British warships. These machines not only brought down a number of scouting Zeppelins, but even attacked the latter in their own sheds, two being destroyed in this way at Tondern in July, 1918. In the vain hope of circumventing British gunners and avatars, Captain Strasser designed a new type, beginning a L-70, which was fitted with seven motors and had a maximum ceiling of 23,000 feet. On August 6, 1918, this giant craft set out to raid England, those on board including Captain Strasser himself, who had insisted on making the expedition in spite of the remonstrances of his brother officers. While over the North Sea in bright moonlight the L-70 was sighted by British warships and promptly shot down in flames with the loss of all hands, the atmospheric conditions having been such that she could not maintain her maximum altitude. The death of Captain Strasser made profound impression in Germany, which was intensified when, five days later, the L-53, commanded by Captain Prolss, another of the ablest officers in the service, was destroyed in the North Sea, this time by an aeroplane. These successive disasters appear to have caused a reaction against the Zeppelin, for all further raids and reconnaissances were forbidden, pending the completion of a new type, which it was hoped would prove less vulnerable. This vessel had a capacity of 62,000 cubic metres, but before she was ready the German cause collapsed, and airship development was forthwith arrested.
The principal war duties assigned to the German naval airships were, according to Lieutenant von Schiller, as follows:
(1) Daylight reconnaissance of a general nature in the Baltic, North Sea, Skagerrack, and Cattegat, and often as far as the British coast; in the summer months, night scouting.
(2) Scouting in advance when sorties by the fleet or special naval enterprises were contemplated.
(3) Screening the battle fleet at sea and giving escort to incoming or outgoing auxiliary cruisers.
(4) Protecting the mine-sweeping flotillas and occasionally searching for mines themselves.
(5) Making attacks against England and Russia.
In reviewing the Zeppelin raids on England, Lieutenant von Schiller argues that they were justified not only by the material and moral damage inflicted on the enemy, but also by the fact that the Zeppelin menace compelled England to retain at home a large number of guns, aeroplanes, and men whose weight would otherwise have been felt on the western front. When the revolution occurred the German navy had only seven effective airships left, and these were intentionally destroyed in their sheds on July 19, 1919, the day on which the high sea fleet scuttled in Scapa Flow.—The Engineer, 12 May, 1922.
Germany's Only School Ship.—Under the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty all of the training ships belonging to the German merchant marine had to be surrendered to the Allies with the exception of the Grosherzogin Elisabeth, a steel sailing vessel of 1,260 tons, built in 1901, and belonging to the German School Ship Society. During the last twenty years 2,542 officers for the German merchant marine have been graduated from this ship.
The vessel has accommodation for 167 cadets and made a cruise last fall to the West Indies. On her voyages she carries cargo in order to reduce expenses and to give those on board an opportunity of learning how to load and discharge freight.—Nautical Gazette, 13 May, 1922.
GREAT BRITAIN
The New Battleships.—Sir Percy Scott appears to have been misinformed on the subject of battleship construction. In a letter to the Times he stated that he had heard privately that the date of beginning the two new battleships had not been settled and that this meant that they were not to be built at all. On the contrary, we learn that the plans of the ships are in such a forward condition that it is fully expected the contractors will be asked to tender for their construction early in June. It should be noticed also that in the detailed naval estimates just issued the total expenditure on these two ships to March 31 of next year, excluding their armament and ordnance stores, is rather over a quarter of a million sterling. This indicates, as the ships are to be smaller than the four originally ordered and will probably not exceed 35,000 tons displacement each, that a fair amount of material will be worked up before the end of the financial year. Doubtless the same firms which competed for the four ships will compete for these two, but whether, as in that case, the contracts go to the Clyde and the Tyne must remain uncertain for the present.—Army, Navy, and Air Force Gazette, 30 May. 1922.
New Battleship Plans.—It is doubtful whether our constructors have ever been faced with a task so formidable as the design of these two new vessels. The pre-war capital ship was already approaching the 30,000-ton limit, and even then it was no easy matter to embody the speed, armament, and protection which naval opinion insisted upon. Now, however, there is a demand for much heavier protection above and below the waterline, together with a stronger armament, and the percentage of weight allotted to these two factors has increased enormously. What Sir E. T. d'Eyncourt and his staff are now called upon to do is to design a ship able to resist 16-inch projectiles, including those which, having been discharged at very long range, are liable to fall at a steep angle; so well protected beneath the waterline as to be capable of withstanding several blows from torpedoes or bombs of the largest size, and with decks sufficiently strong to defeat attack by heavy charges of high explosives dropped from the air; to mount an armament not inferior in weight of numbers to that of any foreign capital ship now afloat; to possess a speed well up to the average of foreign battleships; and withal to displace, when completed, no more than 35,000 tons.
The problem at first sight seems almost impossible of solution, but our constructors have already given so many instances of their skill that we do not doubt their ability to produce a satisfactory design in this case also. Obviously, however, the drafting of plans for ships of so novel a character must be a lengthy business, occupying far more time than would be needed were it merely a question of modifying some type already in existence. Even if the designers got to work immediately after the Washington decisions became known, it is doubtful whether the first complete drawings could be finished in less than six months, and their preparation may, in fact, take a good deal longer than that.
Owing to repeated modifications, it is said, the plans of the four super Hoods took nearly eighteen months to finish, and the design of those ships can scarcely have presented so much difficulty as that of the two "Conference" battleships. If, therefore, their keels are laid early next year, the admiralty constructors will have performed some very smart work. In any case, the delay will not be so great as to involve that "irrevocable loss of time and building facilities which might make it impossible to maintain our sea security if it should be threatened," to quote the prime minister's words last July, when he was explaining the need for the battle-cruiser program that was subsequently dropped as a result of the Limitation Treaty.—Naval and Military Record, 17 May, 1922.
Fishery Protection.—The Bolshevists, through their so-called trade delegation, are understood to be complaining because the British Government have despatched a warship into northern Russian waters for the protection of the British fishermen and their vessels. The Soviet Government have threatened, it is reported, to send armed vessels to enforce the rights which they claim to assert over a twelve-mile limit. The situation has a disagreeable aspect, for in the first place the British navy is represented by the little Harebell, a sloop carrying two 4-inch and two 12-pounders as her armament; while if the Russians carry out their threat they have the power to put a much stronger force in those seas. Moreover, it is believed that their vessels are commanded by German naval officers, some of whom may have been submarine captains in the late war. As to the legality of the Bolshevists' decree of May 24, 1921, prohibiting foreign fishing within twelve miles of their coast, our Government has already protested against it. So far, however, the Russians have ignored the British protests and are apparently prepared to support their breach of international law by further offensive action. Doubtless the German officers in Russian employ will be quite ready to put fire to the fuel, and in the circumstances it is somewhat surprising that a stronger force was not sent to the scene of possible action.—Army, Navy, and Air Force Gazette, 19 April, 1922.
Com. Burney's Air Scheme.—The air ministry last week made a tentative suggestion to the treasury to ascertain whether any support can be given by the state to Commander Burney's scheme for using British airships. The treasury is unable to consider any of the proposals if they involve lending large sums of money. Consequently government aid to Commander Burney and the important syndicate for which he speaks now appears to be impossible, and the air ministry does not expect that anything will come of the scheme.—Naval and Military Record, 16 May, 1922.
Warships' Cables.—The attention of officers in command of fleets and squadrons is called by the admiralty in a lengthy order issued on Friday to the immense strain brought on cables anchoring heavy ships with much way on. The parting of chain cable in H. M. ships is mainly due to the gradual weakening of the cables, consequent on the excessive strain to which they are subjected when mooring, and more care in the manipulation of the cables would increase their "life" and reduce the possibilities of accident through parting.
The lengths of cable which part are generally those amongst the first six shackles, which include the shackles used for hauling round the bows. Mooring ship, however carefully carried out, is liable to strain the cable, and heavy strains are from time to time brought on the cables in the desire to avoid veering unnecessarily on the first anchor, and also in the use of slack shackles for hauling round the bows. These strains gradually distort and weaken the links, but so long as the cable does not part they are ignored. When eventually parting takes place without any immediate cause assignable, the accident is attributed to defective material or unsuitable size of cable, but in such circumstances it is improbable that an increase in the size of cable would prevent the best material from parting.
The efficiency of ships' cables is of such supreme importance that rapidity in mooring should give place to a method in which the strain on the cables is reduced to a minimum.—Naval and Military Record, 10 May, 1922.
Value of Small High-Speed Torpedo Vessels.—Whatever may be the ultimate decision as to the employment of light craft in naval warfare of the future, there can be little doubt that the class of small high-speed torpedo vessels propelled by internal-combustion engines, and known as coastal motor boats (or more familiarly as C.M.B.s), will play an even more important part than they did in the last war, says Engineering.
The form of hull employed in these vessels, which are of the skimming type, was developed by model experiments carried out by Sir John I. Thornycroft over a period of ten years or so prior to the war, the object being to produce a form having a very low resistance combined with good seagoing qualities. Tank experiments alone were not sufficient to determine the best proportions and form, and actual boats which were built and tried at sea by Sir John's son, Mr. Tom Thornycroft, played an important part in the developments.
The boats of this class constructed before the war, however, were only employed for racing and experimental purposes, carrying not more than two or three men, and just sufficient fuel for the completion of a race. Considerable modification was therefore necessary to render them suitable for carrying one or two torpedoes, each weighing about 15 cwt., as well as the fuel supply necessary to give a useful radius of action, the crew of three or four men required to work the boat under war conditions, and the discharging gear for the torpedoes.
At the period of the war when Admiral Sir Henry Jackson was first sea lord, it was decided that motor torpedo boats should be built, and Messrs. John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd., were given instructions to build as quickly as possible twelve experimental boats of the special form of hull to which reference has been made. Further experiments were carried out, and the designs prepared for 40-feet and 55-feet boats, of which a large number was eventually built by Messrs. Thornycroft themselves and several other firms acting as their sub-contractors from 1915 to 1918.
A full account of the exploits of these vessels would form extremely interesting reading, but the utmost secrecy was naturally observed regarding their construction and employment during the war, so that, for a considerable period the general public was quite unaware of their existence. Very little has been published on the subject since the conclusion of hostilities, but it is now known that the vessels were first employed in the winter of 1916-17 at Dunkirk, from which base they were frequently in action with German patrol boats and destroyers. For work in the North Sea they were based at Harwich, and, armed with depth charges, as well as with torpedoes, were effectively employed in countering the submarine menace.
They were also used for laying mines in positions which were inaccessible to ordinary mine-laying craft. More striking, however, was their work in connection with the blocking actions at Zeebrugge and Ostend in 1918, and, after the armistice, in the attack on Kronstadt. It will be remembered that the Russian cruiser Oleg was first torpedoed by a coastal motor boat outside Kronstadt Harbor and that afterwards several Russian vessels were destroyed in the harbor itself in an action that was unique in naval history.
That the possibilities of coastal motor boats are now being considered by other naval powers may be gathered from the fact that Messrs. Thornycroft have received orders for them from the French, American, Japanese, and other Governments.—Engineering.
Surplus Naval Officer.—In a fleet order, issued on Friday, May 12, the following special retirement terms are those offered to executive officers.
Terms Open for Six Months
The special terms of retirement will be open for a maximum period of six months from May 12, 1922.
Captains, R. N.
Captains of six years' seniority and above on August 12, 1922, who, on the date of retirement, have the qualifying service for promotion laid down in Article 263, King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions, to receive retired pay at the rate of £800 per annum for twenty-one years' service counting towards retired pay, with an addition or reduction of £15 per annum (limited to five years) for each complete year in excess of or short of the standard on August 12, 1922. Captains of three years' seniority and above on August 12, 1922, including captains of six years' seniority and above, who have not, at the date of retirement, the qualifying service for promotion, to receive retired pay at the rate of £700 per annum for eighteen years' service counting for retired pay, with an addition or reduction of £15 per annum (limited to five years) for each complete year in excess of or short of the standard on August 12, 1922. Officers retired with the foregoing special rates of retired pay to be eligible to rise by seniority to the rank of rear admiral on the retired list, provided that, at the date of retirement, they have had three years' service as captain in command of a ship of war at sea. Captains under three years' seniority on August 12, 1922, to receive the rate of retired pay for which they are eligible under the regulations if they retired on that date, with an addition of £100 per annum to retired pay.
The alternative for officers selected for retirement will be: To be placed on half-pay (if not already on half-pay) and to be retired for non-service, on the expiration of two years from their last date of "service," or three years from date of promotion to captain, if later, with the rate of retired pay laid down under existing regulations. Officers choosing this alternative will be promoted to the rank of rear admiral on the retired list, only if before retirement they had completed the full qualifying service for promotion laid down in Article 263, King's Regulations and Admiralty Instructions.
Commanders, R. N.
The following special terms are offered to commanders who by age and service have qualified or will have qualified by August 12, 1922, for the maximum rate of retired pay of their rank, and commanders of seniorities 1918 to 1919 inclusive. Commanders who have qualified or will have qualified under the ordinary regulations for the maximum rate of retired pay of their rank on August 12, 1922, will be eligible to receive, in addition to this rate of retired pay, a gratuity of £250 for each complete year by which they are short of fifty years of age on the day previous to the day of commencing retired pay, with an addition of £62 10s. for each complete three months of an uncompleted year, subject to a maximum gratuity of £750 not being exceeded in each case. Time for these gratuities will be reckoned as laid down in K.R., 6 of October, 1921. Commanders of seniorities 1915 to 1919 inclusive will be given the rate of retired pay to which they would be entitled under existing regulations (vide p. 2264A of the Quarterly Navy List) if they retired on August 12, 1922, together with an addition of £100 per annum, subject to a total maximum of £600 per annum not being exceeded. Gratuities will not be paid in addition.
The alternative for officers selected for retirement will be: To be placed on unemployed or half-pay (if not already on unemployed or half-pay) in accordance with the ordinary regulations, and to be retired for non-service on the expiration of two years from their last date of "service," with the rate of retired pay laid down in the regulations.
Lieutenants, ex-Cadets
The following special terms shall be open to lieutenants ex-cadet of seniorities 1918 and later:
Seniority on August 12, 1922, Retired pay per annum
Less than 1 year £82 10
1 year, but less than 2 years £ 90 0
2 years, but less than 3 years £ 97 10
3 years, but less than 4 years £105 0
4 years, but less than 5 years £112 10
(Plus a sum of £350, with a gratuity in addition reckoned as follows from the date of first joining a seagoing ship to August 12: For each of the first three complete years, £50; for each complete year subsequently, £100; for each complete three months of an uncompleted year, £12 10s. Or £25, according to whether the period of service is under or over three years. Time for these gratuities will be reckoned as laid down in K.R. 6, of October, 1921 (Explanation of Terms). Acting lieutenants to be eligible for these rates on the basis of their acting seniority.
The alternative for officers selected for retirement will be: To be placed on unemployed or half-pay (if not already on unemployed or half-pay) and receiving unemployed pay for the first six months from original date of ceasing employment or full pay leave, at the rate of the full pay of their rank and seniority (without allowances) ; for the next six months 17s. a day, and for a further period of two years, half-pay at half the full pay of their rank and seniority. As soon as three years have elapsed since their last "service" they will be placed on the retired list for non-service with retired pay at the following rates per annum:
Less than 1 year's service as lieutenant £ 75 0
1 year, but less than 2 years as lieutenant £ 82 10
2 years, but less than 3 years as lieutenant £90 0
3 years, but less than 4 years as lieutenant £ 97 10
4 years, but less than 5 years as lieutenant £105 0
5 years, but less than 6 years as lieutenant £112 10
For the purpose of retired pay, service on full pay counts in full, but service on unemployed pay (either at the full pay rate or the intermediate rate), and service on half-pay counts as one-third.
Sub-Lieutenants, Midshipmen, and Cadets
The sub-lieutenants', midshipmen's, and naval cadets' lists, taken as a whole, are not materially overborne, provided that the proper proportion of sub-lieutenants and midshipmen volunteer for engineering, in which branch the prospects of junior officers are at the present time much brighter than in the executive branch. A certain number of sub-lieutenants, other than those who have volunteered for (E), will be allowed to retire with a gratuity of £500. Should the number of sub-lieutenants retiring voluntarily be insufficient, it may be necessary to select some officers for retirement. No reductions are contemplated in the case of midshipmen and cadets other than those already approved for the term passing out of Dartmouth in August, 1922.
General
The admiralty desire to state emphatically that the fact that an officer is selected for retirement under this scheme in no way constitutes any reflection upon his character, conduct, or ability during his naval service. All officers retired under these schemes are liable for service, if required, in the event of war or emergency. The admiralty reserve the right to close the scheme at any time without previous notice, either generally or in respect of any particular rank or seniority, as soon as the necessary reductions have been effected. They also reserve the right of withholding permission from any officer to retire under the scheme, and they may direct that any officer, during the time the scheme is open, is to be retired under any other regulations which are applicable to his case. (E) officers and officers specializing in (E) are excluded from this scheme. Twenty per cent of all rates of retired pay granted under these schemes is to be considered as due to the high cost of living, and as these rates are based upon the ordinary rates fixed in 1919 with regard to the cost of living at that date they will similarly and to the same extent be subject to revision either upwards or downwards on July 1, 1924, and subsequently.—Army, Navy, and Air Force Gazette, 20 May, 1922.
The American Naval Personnel.—It is not entirely clear even now to what numbers the personnel of the United States navy will be limited. The bill as originally placed before the House of Representatives provided for 67,000 enlisted men, whereas the department of the navy considered that at least 96,000 were necessary. An amendment to this effect was proposed by Mr. Rogers. A further amendment, increasing the number in the bill to 86,000, 80,000 enlisted men and 6,000 apprentices, was proposed by Mr. McArthur, the representative of Oregon. This amendment was accepted by a record vote' of 221 against 148. In the course of the discussion it was stated that the personnel of the British navy would be by March of next year 117,758, after the proposed reductions. There is an error here, for by March of next year the personnel of the British navy is to be reduced to 97,000, as is shown in the estimates and by Lord Lee's memorandum. If also all the naval personnel of the United States is counted in, the total works out at considerably more than 86,000. Not until we have the exact figures showing, in addition to the number of officers and enlisted men, the other groups administered by the navy department, can we draw any comparison of value with the numbers of our own personnel. Meantime attempts are being made in America to demonstrate that the British and Japanese navies are to be supplied proportionately with thirty per cent more men than is allowed to the United States fleet. The fact is that while we are cutting down our lists of officers the Americans are aiming to maintain their commissioned list, as Mr. Denby contended must be the case, especially as regards the executive officers. "If I have to cut the commissioned list," he said, "the line or civil officer must go, for they can be replaced more easily in war time." It would be of advantage if the facts about the personnel of the three navies were explained by question and answer in Parliament.—Army, Navy, and Air Force Gazette, 13 May, 1922.
No British Dry-Dock for the "Majestic."—Negotiations for the purchase of a large dry-dock from the Port of Hamburg having broken down. Viscount Devonport at a luncheon on the White Star liner Majestic at Southampton stated that there was no single dry-dock in the United Kingdom where the Majestic could be docked. He regretted that most exceedingly, because the Port of London authority had recently opened a dock which, had it not been for adverse circumstances, would certainly have been big enough for any ship in the world. Thanks to the enterprise of the London and South Western railway, however, all difficulties have been overcome. It seems that the railway undertaking, with that characteristic spirit which has been responsible for raising Southampton to the position of the premier British port for the largest and fastest mail steamer, has entered into provisional agreement whereby an adequate floating dry-dock will be provided within the next twelve months. This is enterprise indeed, and shows that the southern port will leave no stone unturned to maintain the laurels it has so deservedly won.—Nautical Gazette, 27 May, 1922.
JAPAN
Japan's Shipbuilding Policy.—Further particulars of the Japanese naval shipbuilding program which have recently come to hand confirm the statement previously made in these columns to the effect that the Limitation Treaty negotiated at Washington has not resulted in that complete cessation of warship building which the authors of the conference were desirous of bringing about. Japan, it is true, has cancelled the whole of her uncompleted capital ships and thus fulfilled her treaty obligations to the letter, but at the same time she has found it necessary in the interests of national defense, and perhaps still more for economic reasons, to put in hand a considerable number of new vessels representing types which are outside the scope of the treaty. A Japanese correspondent who is in a position to speak with authority assures me that had the Government attempted to fulfill not merely the letter of the Disarmament Treaty, but its spirit also, a domestic crisis of the utmost gravity would have been precipitated thereby.
"It is not too much to say," he writes, "that the annulment of all outstanding naval contracts would have swamped us in a sea of industrial troubles that might have culminated in revolution. The Government was faced on the one hand with the claims of those many thousands of people, including some of the most influential in the country, whose capital is locked up in shipbuilding enterprises which are at this moment almost entirely dependent on naval orders for their subsistence, and on the other hand by the demand of 100,000 work people employed in shipbuilding, engineering, and marine equipment trades that no action likely to imperil their livelihood should be taken. It is most necessary that the dilemma in which our Government was placed should be understood abroad, since otherwise its action in continuing to order warships of the smaller types may be misconstrued. It is a mistake to suppose that the military party is urging the Government to expand its naval armaments regardless of the Limitation Treaty. The truth is that the militarists are more anxious to improve the fighting equipment of the army, and they think that the money saved on battleships should be spent for this purpose. If a considerable number of orders for cruisers, submarines, etc., have been placed during the past few months, it has simply been to save the shipyards from closing their doors, and thus throwing many thousands of workmen out of employment at a time when Bolshevist agitators are trying hard to stampede Japanese labor in the direction of revolution.
My correspondent adds that in all probability the ships recently ordered will be constructed very slowly, with the object of spreading the work over as long a period as possible. Although the actual dates on which the contracts were awarded are uncertain, it is understood that at least ten light cruisers have been contracted for within the past six months, all of which, it is important to note, have been authorized under the 1920 program, though in the normal course of events their construction would not have begun so soon. There are at present on the stocks or about to be laid down the following ten light cruisers: Minase, Otonase, Ayase, Jintsu, Sendai, Naka, Kako, Ahukuma, Ytibari, Kinu, while three similar vessels, Yttra, Natori, and Isudzu, are completing afloat. Authentic particulars of these ships are not yet available, but there is reason to believe that they average 6,000 tons in displacement, are designed for a speed of 33 knots, and carry seven 5.5-inch or 6-inch guns. Destroyers to the number of at least 30 are building or shortly to be laid down, the majority being very large and fast boats, the remainder with displacements of less than 1.000 tons. Strict reticence is maintained by the Japanese authorities regarding the number and type of submarines actually building, but it seems certain that not less than 30 of these craft are now in hand and that orders for a further ten have been placed. Unless, however, recourse is had to foreign manufacturers, the execution of the submarine program will probably be a very slow business, for it is doubtful whether Japanese industry is in a position to build a large number of the powerful motors required for the latest type of Japanese ocean-going submersible, which is a vessel of large dimensions and high speed.
It will be interesting to observe the effect of this post-conference shipbuilding activity in Japan on the naval policy of the United States. By the time that the ten new American light cruisers are completed Japan will have at least twice that number of similar ships in commission, besides a submarine flotilla which in numbers and fighting power will compare very favorably with the American establishment. The general board of the United States navy is known to be strongly advocating an immediate extension of the light-cruiser program, but thus far no new construction has been authorized.—Naval and Military Record.
Notes from Japan.—Upon his return from Washington, where he had acted as chief Japanese delegate to the conference, Admiral Baron Kato, minister of the navy, gave the Imperial Diet some further details of the negotiations which had preceded the signing of the naval treaty, and dealt with certain criticisms raised by the various members. With regard to the question of Pacific fortifications, one member argued that if these were to be limited at all such limitation should cover the whole of the Pacific. Hawaii, however, being a great distance from the American continent, was excluded from the scope of the agreement, while the Bonins and Amami Oshima, which no one had any doubt of being part of Japan proper, were included. This was criticized by the speaker as a one-sided arrangement. In reply Admiral Kato said that he took a different view of the fortification question. The Philippines had undoubtedly been a menace to Japan, who was therefore particularly desirous that the fortification of those islands should be limited, seeing that they were the only point where a powerful naval base, such as would constitute a serious danger to Japan, could be created. As for the Bonins and the Amami Oshima, they could never be made into powerful naval bases, even if forts were built there. As Japan was so anxious that the fortification of the Philippines should not be extended, he considered it would have been very disadvantageous if his insistence of the inclusion of Hawaii had resulted in the defeat of the entire proposal, and he had therefore deemed it the wisest policy to make concessions on the question of Hawaii.
Interpolated as to the intentions of the Government with regard to the future program of cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, Admiral Kato declared that there was no intention of enlarging this program, though alterations might be made in the size and type of the vessels concerned, a remark which applied to submarines as well as to surface craft.
A lieutenant of the Japanese navy was court-martialed at Yokosuka last month on a charge of attempted fraud, and sentenced to one year's penal servitude and dismissal from the service. He had endeavored some time ago to sell various "naval secrets" to the American Embassy, which at once communicated with the Japanese police. Investigation showed that the documents which he had offered to Captain Watson, the naval attaché to the Embassy, contained no information that was really confidential and had probably been "faked" by him. This is believed to be the first case in which an officer of the Japanese navy has been convicted of a crime involving treason, though even in this instance it is clear that the culprit had no real intention of divulging official secrets. The action of the American embassy in so promptly notifying the Japanese authorities of the plot is said to have made an excellent impression in Tokio.—Naval and Military Record, 13 May, 1922.
Japanese Seamen's Wages.—According to testimony given at the hearings of the pending ship subsidy bill Japanese seamen's wages in the trans-Pacific trade are as follows: There are four grades of able seamen with wages panging from 49 to 58 yen, two grades of firemen receiving 58 to 59 yen and two grades of coal passers paid at the rate of 50 and 52 yen. A yen is worth about fifty cents.—Nautical Gazette, 27 May, 1922.
Osaka Shosen Kaisha.—The annual report of the Osaka Shosen Kaisha company shows that the company's gross earnings in 1921 totaled 59.335,075 yen as against 89,716,444 yen in 1920. Last year's receipts were derived from the following sources of income:
Freights 72.8%
Passenger Fares 16.3%
Miscellaneous Receipts 7.3%
Subsidies 3.6%
Net earnings last year were only 2,029,742 yen as compared with 11,052,890 yen in 1920. At the close of the year the company's fleet consisted of 133 vessels of 414,149 gross tons valued at 68,728,912 yen or at the rate of 165.95 yen per ton. The amount spent on repairs last year was 3,231,992 yen or 4,7 per cent of the book value of the steamer fleet. The company is conducting 48 regular services and last year carried 1,731,790 passengers.
While the results for last year were disappointing, the directors report that the net earnings in the second half of last year were 1,762,379 yen greater than in the first half. The better showing was due to a reduction in working expenses and not to an improvement in business.—Nautical Gazette, 5 June, 1922.
There are three fleet submarines and thirty-eight submarines under construction.
There are six fleet submarines and one submarine authorized but not under construction or contract.
Submarine "S-51" Completes Its Test.—The official report to the navy department of the successful completion on Long Island Sound of a 52-hour continuous running test of the submarine S-51 adds a second modern submersible of this type to the American submarine flotilla. It is one of four of this class under construction for the navy by the Lake Torpedo Company, of Bridgeport, Conn., all of which will soon be commissioned in active service. The S-51 is 248 feet long.
The S-51 is a double hull navy-designed boat with many new features that are not found in the other S-class boats. The plan on which she was built contains the most meritorious and effective features of German U-boat construction. One of the most notable new features is the method of opening valves to submerging tanks which makes possible quick drives by the boat. During the trials it was found possible to drop it under water in less than a minute.
Submarines of this type are equipped with four 21-inch torpedo tubes in the bow and one in the aft. They carry a four-inch gun in "wet mount" on the forward deck and afford greater comfort to the crew than previous types. The arrangement of the submerging valves controls lead to a central pneumatic manifold, where the turn of a single lever opens all Kingston valves simultaneously, permitting between 300 and 400 tons of water to flow into the diving tanks in less than 60 seconds.
During the builder's trials of one of these boats the ship was driven at full speed of fifteen knots towards the observing tug until a whistle blast signaled for a crash dive. The submarine was foaming through the water with both of her thousand horsepower oil engines drawing at full power and was riding high in the water. She was steering to pass close along side of the tug.
When the signal was given for the dive the white vapor of the exhaust blast pouring out of either side astern the submarine ceased abruptly. She was switched to her electric motors for submergence and still came on at unchecked speed about three times her length astern the tug. But those on the tug could see that she was sinking swiftly into the water. The big craft was clear under except for her conning tower as she reached the tug's stern. At that point her diving rudders swung her nose down and in anther fifty feet only the slim, rod-like length of the main periscope appeared on the surface.
When the periscope reached a point opposite the pilot house the commander of the submarine ordered rudders up and the big craft "porpoised" to the surface to show a brief glimpse of her super-structure, deck and finally her tilted stern, then vanished completely from sight in an eight degree "crash" that carried her at full speed to a depth of ninety feet, where she flattened out like a gliding airplane and swung off on a long curve. The whole operation had taken less than sixty seconds and the boat was so perfectly handled and responded so perfectly to her controls that she passed the 'tug less than her own width. Fifteen minutes later she slid into sight again a half mile away and lay waiting for her observers.—Army and Navy Journal, 3 June, 1922.
Examinations for Promotion in the Navy.—As we have previously announced, the bureau of navigation has decided that all those ensigns of the Naval Academy class of 1919 (who were graduated June 6, 1919), will be examined on their stations on June 12, excepting those on the Asiatic station, who will be examined on July 10. These examinations will start simultaneously under instructions which have been issued by the bureau this week. Those line officers who were recently commissioned in the permanent regular navy from' lower grades will, as we have already stated, be given more time in which to prepare. They have been due for promotion in grade for some time, but their examinations have been delayed again, partly due to the considerable number who are detailed to duty in connection with the decommissioning of the destroyers. Orders are now being issued for their examinations on or after August 1, and examining boards on the stations will, as in the case of the Naval Academy ensigns, start the examinations at the same time, but not before August 1.
Line officers whose promotion is dependent upon the distribution of the officers in grade will not be examined until later. A selection board will probably be convened at the navy department at the end of June, at which time it will be practicable to make a redistribution based upon the increase to the line from the graduating class of the Naval Academy. The personnel of the selection board has not yet been decided upon. The names of all officers in the grades of captain, commander and lieutenant commander who, on November 30, 1922, will have completed four years' service in their respective ranks (including service under temporary appointments), will be submitted for the consideration of the selection board, and all, officers who are eligible are invited by the bureau to study paragraphs 4 and 5 of article 1655, Navy Regulations, which permit those officers to forward statements for the board inviting attention to any matters of record pertinent to their advancement. These statements should be forwarded to the bureau of navigation at an early date. Medical officers are instructed to submit, on or about June 20, the data required under General Order 385 relating to the eligible officers. Officers selected by the board will be examined later, whenever their services can be spared. Line officers who are due for promotion to the grades of lieutenant and lieutenant commander will be ordered to appear before supervisory boards as soon as the redistribution is made. The bureau expects that all these examinations will be completed during July and August.
Selection boards will also be convened at about the same time for the chaplain corps, the civil engineer corps and the medical corps, the membership of which boards has not yet been selected. Examinations will be held in August for those officers of the supply corps who have become eligible in regular course for promotion in rank. The names of the junior officers of the supply corps who are due for promotion have heretofore been published in these columns.—Army and Navy Register, 27 May, 1922.
Naval Catapult Trials.—The airplane-discharging catapult installed recently on board the battleship Maryland, flagship of the Atlantic fleet, was given its first test with an airplane at Yorktown, Va., on May 24 in the presence of Admiral Hilary P. Jones, commander-in-chief of the fleet, and his staff and aviation officers from the bureau of aeronautics, naval air station at Hampton Roads, and the airplane carrier Langley. A Vought pursuit seaplane of the single float type was used. The machine was piloted by Lieutenant Andrew C. McFall, with Lieutenant DeWitte C. Ramsey, aviation aide to Admiral Jones, as passenger. Only one discharge was attempted. The machine took off satisfactorily and everything pertaining to the mechanism functioned perfectly.—Army and Navy Register, 27 May, 1922.
Battleship "Utah" to be Docked at Portsmouth.—The United States battleship Utah will arrive at Portsmouth today (Wednesday) to be placed in the floating dock. She is to remain in port about two weeks, and will give leave to officers and men during this period.—Naval and Military Record, 11 May, 1922.
New Navy Uniform Regulations.—Departmental approval has been given to the changes in the navy uniform regulations, which have been brought about as a result of the deliberations of a special board convened at Hampton Roads last winter, composed of Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman, president, and Rear Admiral Philip Andrews and Captain R. Z. Johnston, members, with Lieutenant F. C. Fechteler, recorder. The board's report bears date of March 23, but the matter has been under consideration in the bureau of navigation and by the secretary of the navy for several weeks. Secretary Denby prior to his departure for the Orient approved the regulations, subject to some changes which will be made in the bureau of navigation. It is probable that some minor changes will necessarily be made after the officer's uniform shop has gone over the specifications, so as to avoid the inclusion of any innovation which would be impracticable from a tailoring point of view.
The task of rewriting the uniform regulations and preparing them for the printer and the publication of the regulations to the naval service will probably consume several months. While the changes will not become effective until they have been published to the service, existing orders require every officer in the navy to be equipped with the required uniform outfit by the first of July of this year.
As we have heretofore predicted, the changes as recommended by the bureau of navigation and approved by the secretary contain nothing of a radical nature or which would arouse controversy, and no changes are made which would cause undue expense. A recommendation of the majority of the board that the buttons on the officers' overcoat be changed from brass to black was not adopted and the overcoat buttons remain as they are. No change in the sleeve insignia of staff officers was approved. No recommendation regarding the uniform of bluejackets will prevent the eventual issue of the millions of dollars worth of uniforms still in stock as the result of war purchases. The chief petty officers, however, will have a neat, light raincoat for wear ashore.
The officers' cap is increased in size, but the insignia on the visor remains the same ; the chief petty officers' cap is also broadened in the crown. Some slight changes have been made in the method of wearing decorations, badges and ribbons, and the word "medals" as it now appears in the regulations will be changed to "decorations." The word "forestry" is omitted from the uniform regulations, that being a trade name. Overcoats and raincoats for officers will reach one-third the distance from the knee-cap to the ground.
The New Overcoat
The new specifications adopted for the officers' overcoat read as follows:
Overcoat—Double breasted, smooth-faced cloth, lined with black material, semi-fitting at waist, full skirt, reaching one-third the distance from the knee-cap to the ground, shaped at waist, and held by half-belt at back, lapel and convertible collar, so that it may be worn buttoned to the neck if desired, fitted with latch in front of collar, collar to be 4 ½ inches wide at center of back, point of lapel to be as wide as point of collar, the two to be closely together, notch of lapel about 4 ½ inches deep, length of lapel about 11 inches, two rows of 5 medium-sized navy brass buttons about 6 inches apart, first button at neck under collar, second at bottom of lapel, bottom button at height of crotch, four lower buttons equally spaced, vent in center of back from 16 to 25 inches from bottom, fitted with three small navy black buttons, the right side overlapping the left 2 inches, vertical slit 4 inches long over left hip for sword belt slings, so that sword may be worn on outside, slit fitted with flap, coat to be full in back, fitted with straps let into side seams at waist each 2 ¼ inches wide, right strap fitted with two medium-sized navy black buttons 3 inches apart, left strap with two buttonholes similarly spaced, two outside welted pockets, welts 1 5/8 inches wide, openings 8 inches long, center of opening in same, vertical line with front seam of armhole at height of hip bone, bottom of opening 2 inches to the rear of upper one, inside pockets at discretion, edges of collar, back straps, pocket welts and front edges of coat stitched with one row of plain stitching ½-inch from edges, all seams plain, sleeve markings of lustrous black mohair braid to designate rank only, shoulders fitted for shoulder marks, which will always be worn with overcoats.
New Regulations for Cap
Caps, Blue, White and Aviation—Frame so constructed that a blue cloth, white duck, green and khaki cover may be fitted, to be stiff, standing and flaring throughout its circumference so that the center edge of the cover may have a rolled or rounded effect rather than one having a thin edge, general measurements with cover on, length of crown lo inches, width 9 ½ inches, height in rear from bottom of frame 2 ¾ inches, in front from visor to top 3 ¼ inches, covers to be without welt, neatly stitched on each side, crown distended by stiffening in frame all around, band 1 ½ inches wide with welt 1/8 inch at top and bottom, lower welt 1/8 inch from base of cap. band of lustrous black mohair braid around cap between welts and visors as described in paragraph 33 for the different grades, sloping downward at an angle of 35 degrees, rounded, lined underneath with green leather, bordered with narrow strip of patent leather 3/16 inch wide, light colored leather sweat band from base of cap within 1 inch of top, chin strap of leather faced with 3/16 inch gold lace for commissioned officers, ¼ inch for warrant officers, fitted with two gold lace slides of corresponding widths, strap fastened at its ends with two small-sized screw-eye navy buttons spaced about 12 inches apart, strap to rest on upper edge of visor, device embroidered on band and backing combined, so that one-half will show above the band. Device embroidered that it may be inscribed in a circle 2 ½ inches in diameter for commissioned officers, gold crossed foul anchors, superimposed by silver shield, surmounted by silver spread eagle; for warrant officers the crossed anchors without shield or eagle.
New Mess Jacket
Mess Jacket—Similar in cut to body of evening dress coat, but to descend to hips to fully cover top of trousers, slightly reached over hips, peaked behind, two buttonholes, on each side below lapel, 3 inches apart, 1 ½ inches from edge, two medium-sized brass buttons on each side below lapel abreast buttonholes, 2 inches from edge, shoulders fitted for shoulder marks which should be worn with this uniform, to be held together by two linked medium-sized brass buttons.—Army and Navy Register, 27 May, 1922.
Board's Loss Less in April.—Expenses of the shipping board for April in excess of income from vessel operations, including overhead, repairs, insurance and lay up expenses, amounted to $2,977,246, compared with an excess of expenses over income for March of $3,704,155. This is the most favorable monthly result obtained since the present board took office.
Voyages reported for March totaled 188, compared with 185 for April.
The net excess of outlay over income, on voyage operations for April, excluding overhead, repairs and insurance, was announced as $667,751, compared to $1,019,860 for March, the improvement being attributed to increased revenues from cargo vessels and to better results obtained in the operation of passenger vessels. Operation of the passenger vessels for April showed an excess of income over outlay, excluding overhead, repairs and insurance, of $64,853.
These favorable results were obtained despite a decrease in tanker voyages. Tanker voyages in March were 37 and in April 32, and the excess of income over outlay for April was $142,732, as against $290,868 for March. Charter hire receipts for the month of April were $74,108, as against $88,139 for the month of March. The lay-up expenses increased from $381,038 in March to $433,839 in April.
The favorable outcome for April was attained with but slight increase in the gross revenues received, the gross revenues for April exceeding March by only $86,116. The improvement in the operating results as compared with the previous month amounting to $726,908 has been largely accomplished by the operating economies instituted and the consequent reduction in the operating expenses.
The largest saving was in the outlay for , repairs, which in March amounted to $1,313,299, as compared with $917,985 for the month of April.
In its accounting the board does not figure capital charges and several forms of insurance which the board carries itself. These omissions are in line with established Government practice, but this inability to make a proper allowance for capital charges in these monthly statements results in a failure to give a true picture of the losses incurred by the board such as all commercial statements should reflect.
While the cost of operations for April was the lowest for any month in almost two years, Chairman Lasker does not desire the impression to be conveyed that this low figure could be consistently maintained throughout the year, inasmuch as April is one of the best months of the year in world shipping.—Nautical Gazette, 5 June, 1922.
Panama Canal Traffic.—During March 234 commercial vessels of 776,034 net tons passed through the Panama Canal carrying 960,089 tons of cargo. In the corresponding month of last year 255 ships of 1,112,818 tons and carrying 1,084,563 tons of cargo passed through the waterway. The showing by countries follows:
Nationality | No. of Ships | Net Tons | Tons of Cargo |
British | 75 | 233,310 | 287,319 |
Chilean | 4 | 7,842 | 1,693 |
Danish | 2 | 7,251 | 13,970 |
Dutch | 5 | 13,026 | 18,173 |
French | 6 | 19,625 | 26,259 |
German | 5 | 11,064 | 12,170 |
Italian | 1 | 3,579 | 1,400 |
Japanese | 12 | 47,268 | 81,812 |
Norwegian | 13 | 35,498 | 43,336 |
Peruvian | 5 | 11,708 | 4,326 |
Swedish | 3 | 6,507 | 10,366 |
United States | 103 | 379,356 | 459,265 |
Totals | 234 | 776,034 | 960,089 |
—Nautical Gazette, 20 April, 1922.
"Great Northern's" Accident.—While the H. F. Alexander, formerly the Great Northern, was proceeding down the Delaware River on her maiden trip since her reconditioning, she collided with the British freighter Andree, which sank. Both Captain Lustie and Chief Engineer Clayton, who were on the H. F. Alexander, were acting in a similar capacity on her sister ship, the Northern Pacific, when she burned. It looks as though these gentlemen must have walked under a ladder.—Nautical Gazette, 27 May, 1922.
"George Washington" Repaired in Record Time.—The liner George Washington had recently to undergo some repairs, which the German Bremerhaven yard estimated would take nine days of twenty-four hours each and a New York yard six days. As the vessel was in the trans-Atlantic service, making regular scheduled trips, it was impossible to lay her up for that length of time. The shipping board therefore arranged to have the work done in the Boston navy yard, where she arrived Monday, May 1, at 3:30 p.m.
After this great ship had been docked the repairs, consisting of removing propellers, hauling shafts, rewooding bearings and putting on two coats of bottom paint, were completed at noon Thursday, May 4, the actual number of hours being sixty-four.—Nautical Gazette, 27 May, 1922.
"Leviathan's" Name to Remain.—In a formal letter, President Harding has requested the shipping board not to rechristen the Leviathan after himself but to allow her present name to remain. While not insensible to the proffered compliment, the President says that it would be a mistake to give the Leviathan another appellation as her present name stands as a national sentiment and one that symbolizes the participation of this great vessel in the world war. The board has acceded to the President's wish and has rescinded its action in changing the name of its largest ship.—Nautical Gazette, 20 May, 1922.
AERONAUTICS
The Airship of the Future.—"The airship of the future will be of all-metal construction, which will be of fundamental assistance in the development of these craft for world-wide commercial use in aerial transportation," according to Herman T. Kraft, chief aeronautical engineer of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber company.
Two factors must be considered above all others in the construction of airships of any kind, namely safety and durability, in Mr. Kraft's opinion. There must be absolute protection against structural failure as well as against fire. As long as airships are constructed of inflammable materials, there will always be some danger of fire, especially with the use of hydrogen gas.
Uniform distribution of strength, which is the major basis of safety, is exceedingly difficult to obtain even in a rigid airship because of the very complicated calculations necessary to be sure of safety, since we have to figure unknown factors and allow for them in every airship we build. With an all-metal ship it will be possible to make those calculations much more exact than was hitherto the case, owing chiefly to the reduction of the number of small riveted parts.
The entire surface of the ship will be of metal, thereby assuring greater durability and reduction of fire hazard. Tests have been made which indicate that even hydrogen ignited on the surface of an all-metal container will burn freely without heating up the metal, so that there would be no danger of the envelope being consumed by the flame.
Unquestionably the building of such a ship would be a mammoth undertaking, but with the present engineering knowledge available its construction would be entirely practicable. Indeed it has been attempted before, so far back as 1897, and a flight was actually made with an all-metal ship with conical ends and cylindrical body. This ship was not a success, chiefly because engineering knowledge had not progressed sufficiently in aeronautics, and proper construction materials were not available.
Aluminum sheeting would doubtless be the metal employed, with strips of very flexible non-inflammable material or wire lacing interposed at various points to take care of the flexing of the envelope while in flight. Approximately 1,000,000 cubic feet capacity, with a theoretical length of 350 feet and a maximum diameter of about 75 feet would be the proper size of ship to make to prove its practicability.
In any consideration of all-metal ships, the question of gas-tight seams has generally been a bugbear, but it has now been conclusively proven that the seams in such a ship can be made gas-tight, especially in a container carrying low pressures. The actual building would be somewhat of a problem even in a thoroughly modern plant, but by using airbags to keep lifting the ship progressively, while under construction, and erecting superstructures in the hangars the riveting, lacing and assembling could easily be handled. The rigidity of the structure, which would have some degree of flexibility, would eliminate many of the structural difficulties in rigid airships of the present design.—Aviation, 29 May, 1922.
Some Naval Aviation Developments.—One of the important accomplishments in aviation by the navy during the past year was the successful development of torpedo-carrying seaplanes. Three types have been produced under navy control and with navy funds by contractors. One type is an unbraced monoplane of low visibility and high speed. Another is made entirely of metal. The third is a small, compact biplane with interchangeable landing gear so that it can be used to land on a carrier or on the sea. To meet the special demand of the navy for a small combat) plane of high performance, and yet very compact and easily taken down for stowage, there has been designed and built in the naval shops, and successfully flown, a new machine equipped with the new Lawrence air-cooled engine developed with naval funds for this project. The successful consummation of the combined project of a radically new type of both engine and plane was very difficult from a technical standpoint, but it has proved remarkably successful.
Production of American-made duralumin by and for the navy has made it possible for airplane builders to make use of that material in airplane construction. One navy contractor today is flying for test a torpedo plane built all of duralumin, and this is the first all-metal airplane built by an American contractor. Another navy contractor is building all-metal spotting planes for the fleet, and others are using metal in a large part of their construction.—Army and Navy Register, 20 May, 1922.
British Safety Fuel Tank Awards.—The British air ministry announces: The prizes in the Air Ministry Competition for Safety Fuel Tanks for Aircraft have been awarded as follows:
First Prize—£1,400. The India-Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works company. Limited, Silvertown, London, E. 16.
Second Prize—£400. Imber Anti-Fire Tanks, Limited, West Road, Tottenham, London, N. 17.
Third Prize—£200. Commander F. L. M. Boothby, (R. N. Retired) Overway, Tilford, Surrey.
The competition was arranged in order to promote the evolution of a reliable type of fuel tank for service and commercial aircraft, which would reduce the risk of fire, due to crashing or hostile action, to a minimum.
Twenty-six entries were received for the competition, which was open to the world, and eighteen different types of tanks were actually submitted for test.
The judges appointed by the air council consider that the competition has resulted in the achievement of the objects for which it was instituted and has produced a type of safety fuel tank which, although capable of improvement in several minor respects, is available for immediate introduction on service and civil aircraft and which, for a slight increase in weight over and above that of the standard service steel tank, gives almost complete immunity from fire, either in a crash or in action with enemy machines.
All the tanks tested, with a few exceptions, showed marked superiority in almost every respect over the standard Service steel tank now generally in use.
The judges were: Group Captain E. F. Briggs, (deputy director of research; Major B.C. Carter (directorate on research); Major J.H. Ledeboer (directorate of research); Mr. G. Cockburn (accidents investigation branch); Major J.P.C. Cooper (accidents investigation branch); Mr. H. Grinsted (royal aircraft establishment).
The regulations governing the competition provided that each entrant had to submit two tanks for preliminary trials and that the three most successful competitors in the first stage should submit four more tanks for final trial.
Description of Winning Tanks
Details of the tanks submitted by the three winning competitors for the preliminary tests are as follows:
Tanks Submitted by India-Rubber and Gutta Percha Co., Ltd., Silvertown, London
No. 1 No. 2
Weight of tank 78.75 lbs. 81 .25 lbs.
Capacity of tank 37.7gals. 38.2 gals.
Weight of gallon capacity .58 lbs. .66 lbs.
Shape of tank Cubical
Each consisted of a welded sheet steel rectangular tank with no frame or baffles of any sort, but with each side slightly dished inwards, inserted in a detachable rubber case.
These tanks were slung in the fuselage by means of webbing.
Tanks Submitted by Imber Anti-fire Tanks, Ltd., Tottenham, London
No. 1 No. 2
Weight of tank 50 lbs. 51.5 lbs.
Capacity of tank 30 gals. 29.3 gals.
Weight per gallon capacity 1.66 lbs. 1.76 lbs.
Shape of tank Elliptical
The tank consisted of a light gauge, tinned steel shell which was separated from the inside of a framework of aluminum tubing and light gauge aluminum baffle plates. After assembly the whole of the tank had been covered with india-rubber of a suitable thickness, and all joints vulcanized.
Tanks Submitted by Commander Boothby, Tilford, Surrey
No. 1 No. 2
Weight of tank 33.23 lbs. 35.75 lbs.
Capacity of tank 58 lbs. 66 lbs.
Weight per gallon capacity 56.8 gals. 53.7 gals.
Shape of tank Cubical
The tank consisted of an inner bag of 4-ply rubbered fabric capable of containing the petrol with an outer cover of rubbered fabric which was gas-tight. Non-inflammable gas was introduced into the space between the two shells and maintained under slight pressure. A drain pipe was fitted to the outer casting. The tank was fixed to the fuselage by rubber shock absorber and stringing and encased in 3-ply glued on.—Aerial Age Weekly, 22 May, 1922.
Navy to Use Metal Seaplanes.—Secretary Denby of the navy department on May 7 authorized an announcement that the Glenn L. Martin Company of Cleveland, Ohio, has undertaken the development for the naval bureau of aeronautics of a number of seaplanes to be constructed of duralumin, a special alloy of metal, and to be used by the fleet for spotting gunfire at long ranges.
The construction of metal aircraft of duralumin is a departure for this firm, which hitherto has built planes of the ordinary wood and wire type, such as the well-known Martin bombers which were used last summer in the aeroplane bombing attacks that destroyed a number of former German ships off the entrance to the Virginia capes.
The development of metal aircraft construction in the United States, Secretary Denby said, has been made possible by the navy department in that the special alloy metal, duralumin, originally developed in Germany, has been introduced to American manufacturers in connection with the construction of the rigid airship ZR-1 at the naval aircraft factory at Philadelphia. This work has now progressed to the point, according to naval aviation experts, where duralumin of proper quantity, and in all of the useful shapes is now available to any aircraft builder from at least two American commercial sources. The naval aircraft factory at Philadelphia has also developed special machinery and processes for its fabrication.
Aircraft manufacturers transacting business with the bureau of aeronautics of the navy have been invited frequently to visit the factory at Philadelphia to. observe the metal fabrication of the work that is going on there. Besides the construction of the giant rigid airship ZR-1, the parts of which are being manufactured at Philadelphia for erection at the naval air station at Lakehurst, the factory is also building metal wings, pontoons and other parts for seaplanes.
Just as the surface fleet of the navy passed by the stages of evolution through the era of wood into that of steel, so it is predicted by experts that the air fleet of the naval service will proceed from the period of wood and linen to that of metal.
Secretary Denby said that the Stout Engineering Laboratories, Inc., of Detroit, were also working with duralumin. This firm has received a contract from the navy department for the construction of experimental torpedo-carrying seaplanes to be built entirely of metal, and a simple machine of this character is now under trial flights. Other manufacturers in work for the navy, it was disclosed, have employed duralumin for parts of aeroplanes with success, notably the Gallaudet Aircraft Corporation of Providence, R.I., and the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company of Keyport, N.J.
"It is expected," said Secretary Denby, "that future naval aircraft will be built of metal, to an increasing extent. The advantages of metal over wood are especially important for tropical service."—Aerial Age Weekly, 18 May, 1922.
The Boothby Gas Armored Tank.—The Boothby Gas Armored fuel tank, which gave extraordinarily good results in the recent British air ministry crash-proof tank tests, is an entirely new departure in aircraft tank construction. The design is based on Commander F.L.M. Boothby's observations that ballast bags dropped from airships did not burst badly on hitting the ground, especially if the bags were not full, combined with the result of tests made to fireproof gas bags by surrounding them with a layer of inert gas.
The tank is a fabric tank, and consists of an inner skin of balloon fabric, lined within with gold-beater's skin, a second container also of fabric, which serves as a safeguard in the event of the inner case leaking, and finally of an outer gas-tight casing filled with cooled exhaust from the engine.
This outer case may be of fabric or three-ply, and it is possible to use the fairing of the fuselage itself as part of this outer casing.
The two inner casings are supported from the fuselage on rubber shock absorbers, and to prevent swaying it is also suspended by light cords. These latter are so light that they will carry away in a crash before damage is done to the casing.
The design of petrol connections for a crash-proof tank presents difficulties for they are very liable to break in a crash, and a broken petrol pipe may be as dangerous as a punctured tank. In the Boothby tank there is a single sleeve passing through the top of the whole assembly. Into this fits tightly a length of smooth "Petroflex" tubing which reaches to the bottom of the tank, but which is only friction held in the sleeve, and can therefore pull through to a considerable extent if the tank carries away.
The outer casing is kept filled by exhaust gas taken from the engine through a small pipe) long enough to cool the gas. The bottom of the gas compartment has an escape and drain pipe, fitted at its end with a lightly loaded release valve, and leading down to the undercarriage or some such place of safety. Thus the gas case is kept charged with exhaust, and if there is any petrol leakage from the inner castings the petrol is also drained off to a place of safety.
In the latest type of this tank the space between the two inner casings is filled with "Sorbo" sponge, which if punctured, as by a bullet, will swell on contact with petrol and close the hole.
The tank entered in the air ministry competition was not fitted with this sponge filling, and originally the air ministry agreed to allow the fairing of the fuselage to be used as a gas casing. The tank was designed to carry the specified quantity of 31.5 gallons, but as this type of tank requires to be only partially full to give the full extent of safety it was actually capable of being filled to over 50 gallons, though it would not then have been crash-proof.
In the preliminary crash tests the tank did not leak at all, and was quite fit to repeat the test. About a week before the final tests the air ministry withdrew the concession that the fuselage fairing might be used as a gas container, and also said that if the tank was capable of containing more than 31.5 gallons it must be disqualified under the rules of the competition. There was not time to design and build new tanks, so extemporized means were taken to reduce the volume, the outer casing was removed, and a rough gas casing was built inside the fuselage. The result was not as good as the original design. The crash proof qualities were about half those of the original, and the fireproof qualities were small. Nevertheless it stood five rounds of incendiary ammunition and only failed after ten rounds through one point of aim.
The sketch attached shows the general scheme very clearly. The single Petraflex tube leading out of the tank is connected to a three-way cock, so that one may either fill, drain, or supply the carburetor through it. The tank could be used for gravity feed, after starting a siphon action, or for petrol pump feed.
It may also be used for pressure feed. In this case, owing to the flexible nature of the tank, pressure may be applied outside, thus avoiding the risk of pumping impurities into the petrol container.
Finally it is a distinctly valuable feature that using this construction a crash-proof tank can be built for considerably less than that of the ordinary unprotected tinned steel type. The weight of the crash and fireproof type can be brought down to practically the same weight as the usual type.—Aerial Age Weekly, 29 May, 1922.
Portuguese Airmen to Continue Flight.—The Portuguese aviators, Captains Saccadura and Coutinho, sailed on May 9 from Rio Janerio for St. Paul Rock from Fernando Noronha on board the Portuguese cruiser Republic.
The airmen took with them their new seaplane sent -from Portugal on the steamship Bage, which was unable to land the machine at the Rocks because of rough weather, bringing it on to Fernando Noronha. They expect shortly to resume their flight from Portugal to Brazil, cut short by the accident to their first seaplane in landing at St. Paul Rock last month.—Aerial Age Weekly, 22 May, 1922.
New Naval Air Equipment.—Admiral Moffett, chief of the naval bureau of aeronautics, plans to equip floating forces with 213 air and sea planes during the coming year, it was learned recently in connection with the presentation of the annual requirements of the bureau of aeronautics to the senate naval affairs committee. These planes are to be distributed among the eighteen battleships and other craft of the treaty fleet and two aircraft tenders or carriers, one on the Atlantic coast and the other on the Pacific.
Eighty-six VF planes, a fighting type, will become a permanent part of the fleet. They are new developments of the navy department, perfected since the war and are expected to cope with anything afloat in the air for some time to come. Besides these fighting craft, the ships afloat will carry 46 VO type spotters or observation planes carrying a crew of three men, and 27 of a similar single-seater type. There will also be 36 bombing and torpedo planes, to be known as VT planes. In place of the F5L's now serving as scouts, there will be requested eighteen newly perfected VS scout planes, bringing the total number of planes afloat with the fleet and tenders to 213. Four kite balloons have been requested for observation work.
Present plans indicate that each of the battleships will be equipped with four planes, two VF single seaters, one big VO spotter, and one VT, for torpedo and bomb carrying.
The recently developed catapults for launching planes from a ship at sea will soon be installed on each battleship. The ten new scout cruisers will also be equipped with planes and launching devices, according to present plans of the department.
Surface ships of the navy will no longer be at the mercy of aircraft, it is explained, as soon as they are equipped with these aircraft for defensive purposes. Fleet offensive power will be concentrated aboard the new aircraft carriers soon to be converted from the former battle cruisers Lexington and Saratoga. At present the U.S.S. Wright will be practically operated in this capacity although she is a tender or mother-ship. The Langley, an experimental carrier, will also be tried out as an aircraft carrier in anticipation of the receipt of the new ships.
It is understood that the marine corps is planning for the operation of twenty-four land planes, twelve as fighting craft and twelve for observation.
Shore stations of the navy will operate other craft, including about thirty torpedo and many training planes. At Pensacola today the navy has about sixty seaplanes and thirty-six land machines, which are used in the training of its pilot.—Aviation, 29 May, 1922.
Heavy-Oil Engines for Aircraft.—Much interest attaches to the announcement made by the national advisory committee for aeronautics in connection with its recent annual meeting that it was pursuing the development of a heavy-oil engine for use in aircraft. While the details of the invention are still held confidential, it is known that this engine is of the direct injection type which does away with both carburetor and spark plugs, the fuel being ignited by subjecting it to a suitable pressure.
The subject of heavy oil engines has such an important bearing on the future of aircraft, and in particular of airships, that it seems desirable to summarize here briefly the different aspects of the question.
The principal advantages to be derived from such an engine are: first, and foremost, safety from fire; second, fuel economy, which not only means lower fuel costs from the use of a much cheaper fuel than gasoline, but also, in all likelihood, greater weight economy in pounds of fuel consumed per horsepower hour.
We may reasonably expect at the same time some disadvantages in the heavy-oil engine. Chief among these appear a greater fixed weight of the power plant, and perhaps also a decreased flexibility of control. The great problem that must be solved will be so to work out the design that the latter two items will at least remain within practical bounds, while preserving the reliability and, if possible, increasing it over that of present aircraft engines.
The light-weight heavy-oil engine, merely desirable today, will be the more necessary in the future as the demand for liquid fuel increases and the supply falls off. In the more distant future there may be foreseen the need of still another change—which we hope will be worked out before the need actually arises—the utilization of coal dust by direct injection in the engine.—Aviation, 8 May, 1922.
Origin and Possibilities of "Currenium."—(Dr. Edward Curran of Los Angeles, who has developed the new gas called "Currenium," has prepared for Aviation the following statement regarding it.)
This gas has been developed through a number of years of research made in the hope of producing a levitating gas for aircraft as good as, if not better than, hydrogen, but without its inflammable and explosive qualities, and which might be commercially efficient as well. I became first impressed with the possibilities of aeronautics at Chicago in 1893, and as I observed balloons the desirability of a safe and inexpensive gas seemed to be more and more important as an essential in effecting practical travel through the air. I studied over this a great deal, and my liking for chemistry and bacteriology probably led me to consider the problem more from the laboratory viewpoint than as a balloonist. At any rate, I began to reason the matter out and, as soon as I could, to make experiments.
Atomic Activity and Organic Changes
These were interesting, but not profitable and not always exactly safe. I had several "blow-ups" in getting acquainted with the qualities of hydrogen, but they strengthened my belief that a safer gas must be found. Finally, after some years of trying to get at elementals, I began to appreciate certain fundamental principles regarding atomic activity and organic changes. Atomic weight and specific heat are inverse concomitants—as one increases the other concomitantly decreases. We know, too, that through all material differentiations from a condition of utmost diffusion, or ultimate attentuation, with the least definity of matter and its motions to its greatest concentration, density and definiteness of motion, progressions which involve a state of gasefaction, of liquefaction, and even down to the state of greatest solidification of matter, accompanied, I believe, by increasing radiation of energy, both in amount and kind, there is an inexorable tendency to invest the greatest quantity of atomic matter, of the highest heterogeneity and of the least relative volumetric proportions, with the greatest amount of contained energy of paralleled heterogeneity. As we ascend the incline of organic developments, the higher we go the greater we find the demand for, and the greater are the quantitative absorption and redistribution of, radial forces of increasing heterogeneous wavelengths, amplitudes and intensities. All tend, as I have said, toward the endowment of the least quantity of matter of highest quality, universally and advolutionarily, with the greatest amount of contained and radiant energy having the least amount of heat-generating effect on surrounding and adjoining matter.
Is Hydrogen the Lightest Gas?
We cannot say finally that hydrogen is the lightest gas, although we have said that it is the lightest and terrestially identified gas. When light from our chomosphere is spectroheliographically analyzed the existence of gases or elements lighter than hydrogen is revealed, while the spectroscopical analysis of light from some stellar formations yields similar, or even more decided, manifestations in this direction. This would indicate to us that elementary formations and their atomic weights—no two of which are the same—are varied to infinity and beyond the conception of our minds.
In my investigations I found that the atomic valency may be varied, and also that the affinity of one given element for another given element may be increased or decreased or even totally destroyed. I found, too, that electricity is the primary cause of all material differentiations and that heat is the secondary cause; also that when such differentiations occur, as, and when the electrical and thermal conditions appertaining to matter conjoin, regardless of whether such conjunction may be naturally or artificially induced, at various stages of motion, phases of progression or states of heterogeneity, a transformation of the element is accomplished. This transformation may be said to be permanent until the contained electrical and remaining radial energy conjoin to induce other corresponding transformation.
By a method developed from these research results I have been able to vary atomic valency and produce a gas which is load-lifting or levitating and which is without dangerous inflammable and explosive qualities of hydrogen. It is commercially producible, which is equally as important a consideration as to make it dependable. At present I am justified in asserting that this gas is fully as serviceable and as cheap as hydrogen, with added qualities of practical value, but I feel that the process by which I produce it may make even a lighter gas. It will be feasible so to vary atomic weights that a gas may be produced of even greater lift—how far we may ultimately go in this I hesitate to conjecture. Hydrogen may be harnessable under certain circumstances, and it is obtainable in unlimited quantities at an economical rate, but it will not be considered safe enough to secure public confidence. Helium is difficult to produce with commercial efficiency, and it cannot be produced in all parts of the world; under present production methods, there is a limited supply which is restricted to the United States. There is a great need for a gas as safe as helium, but with greater buoyancy and producible anywhere at a cheap rate.
Formula Still a Secret
It will be readily seen that I cannot give the formula for producing this gas at present, for it is not fully protected. The demonstrations, chemically made, which have been made thus far are not as satisfactory as will be the case when a complete production plant can be made available—a situation, which I hope will be realized before the end of 1922. It should be possible, however, from what I have outlined, to note the manner in which this gas is produced. Machinery in large part already obtainable can be used in production, but the process will not be so expensive as that involved in securing helium. The materials required may be made available in any part of the world at an expensive rate. Electric power will be necessary for production on an economical basis.—Aviation, 22 May, 1922.
The Flight around the World.—Major Wilfred Blake and Captain Norman Macmillan set forth on their historic around-the-world flight on May 24. The Aircraft Disposal company has, with commendable sporting spirit, placed four machines at their disposal, and the project appears to give fair promise of success. The machines to be used, although not of new types, have stood the test of time, and. given reasonable luck, the aviators should have a very good chance of getting through. Although as a sporting effort the use of a single machine for the entire flight would have been more spectacular, the employment of four machines, of three different types, will be a much closer representation of the actual conditions which will obtain when we come to run really long-distance services, and from that point of view is, perhaps, of even greater practical value.
Two of the machines will be DH9's (three-seaters) with Siddeky "Puma" engines. One will be a Fairey twin-float seaplane of the famous F. III type, which has a Rolls-Royce "Eagle" engine, and the fourth will be a flying boat of the F type.
In the main, the route to be followed by Major Blake and Captain Macmillan will be the same as that planned by Sir Ross Smith. The last "leg," however, will be different from that planned by Sir Ross Smith, who, it will be remembered, had intended to make the Atlantic crossing direct from Newfoundland to Ireland if possible, or, as an alternative, fly from Newfoundland to London via the Azores and Portugal. Major Blake and Captain Macmillan intend to follow the northern route via Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Scotland, which will considerably shorten the non-stop stages that have to be negotiated. At the time of year when it is expected to cover this part of the flight the weather in the northern latitudes should be favorable, except for local fogs, and by taking this route the strain on the engines should be considerably reduced.
The manner in which it is intended to use the various machines is as follows: One of the DH9's will be used for the journey from London to Calcutta. Here the aviators will change over to Fairey F. III seaplane, which will take them around the coast up to Kamchatka and across to Alaska. Here another DH9 will await them, on which the flight across Canada and America to New York will be accomplished. From New York or Newfoundland the last stage, across the northern part of the Atlantic, will be attempted in the F boat.
This, in very brief outline, is the plan of Major Blake and Captain Macmillan, and, barring unforeseen accidents, the scheme promises success. That difficulties will be met and obstacles have to be overcome goes without saying, but there is certainly a very good chance of getting through. All the machines to be used, although of fairly old type, have been proved by years of flying under all sorts of conditions, and should be capable of the stages on which each is being used. The engines also have proved themselves in numerous long-distance flights, and may be expected to uphold the reputation already established. Captain Macmillan is one of our best pilots, and has had experience of a number of different types of machines.
Altogether, the scheme looks promising, and we wish the gallant aviators every success in their very sporting attempt.—Aerial Age Weekly, 5 June, 1922.
Airships as Airplane Carriers.—In the early days of aeronautical development it was repeatedly suggested to combine the features of airships and airplanes in a composite type which would, in theory at any rate, partake of the advantages of both types and have none of their respective shortcomings. The airship can carry heavy loads over great distances at moderate speeds; the airplane, on the other hand, can carry relatively small loads over rather short distances at the highest speed any vehicle is capable of attaining. Hence it was but natural that attempts should have been made in the past to combine the two types.
The difficulty in doing this has been that in combining the advantages the drawbacks, too, were combined, with no real improvement on either of the fundamental types, because their characteristics were so widely divergent.
By constructing an airship to carry airplanes as separate units, there would seem to be a much better chance of success. In this case each type would retain its technical individuality, and can thus be efficiently designed for its own sphere of work. The idea of the carrier airship is fundamental sound, but it involves the solution of some important problems before it can become a reality.
The mechanical details of releasing airplanes from aboard airships, although presenting some novel engineering problems, need not offer serious difficulties. The one really important problem is that of ballast. Many persons apparently assume that weight can be unloaded and loaded on an airship as easily as on a steamship. But a steamship automatically displaces its own weight of water because it floats on the surface, whereas an airship is entirely immersed in the fluid in which it floats. In the latter case there are only three possible methods of maintaining vertical equilibrium, namely: changing the load (as by ballast); changing the temperature, pressure or quantity of gas; and using aerodynamic reactions.
The last method alone is usually ample for taking care of ordinary changes in weight or buoyancy except that due to fuel consumption on a long trip It is mainly for this latter purpose that various ballast recovery systems are being developed. But all present methods seem to break down when analyzed with respect to counterbalancing the release of a whole squadron of airplanes at once. The release can, of course, be handled by letting out gas, but this precludes the possibility of taking the machines on again, because there is no feasible method known of storing or generating gas on board.
But why take the planes on and off at all except for refueling, repairs and other special purposes? The carrier airship would then be not so much a carrier of airplanes as of fuel, tools, spare parts, ammunition and relief pilots. Such an airship could carry supplies for about five times as many airplanes as it could actually accommodate on board.
For naval purposes a further development suggests itself. If the combination of airplanes and airships is good, that of airplanes, airships and steamships should' still be better. The steamship is unquestionably the most efficient and economical unit for the mere transporting of loads. But the airship furnishes a more mobile and satisfactory base for many tactical operations.
The airplanes must, of course, do most of the actual fighting, reporting back at frequent intervals to the airship, which in turn will have no trouble in replenishing itself occasionally from the steamship. In fact there may be several airships, each with its airplanes, operating from the one steamship.
The term "aircraft carrier" then broadens in scope to ships of the air as well as ships of the sea. While much of the work along such lines is hidden behind the veil of official reticence, a general discussion of its feasibility should only stimulate activity in both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air development.—Aviation, 15 May, 1922.
ENGINEERING
Navy Engineering Saves Large Sums.—The following paper, issued by the bureau of engineering, navy department, ought to furnish food for thought for those persons who accuse the navy of wasting money at times:
Engineering in the navy is so important a function in fitting the navy to perform its mission—its part so closely linked to all other successful naval endeavor—that it appears desirable at this particular time to advise all officers eligible to perform engineering duty of their responsibilities and opportunities.
The hard work of the officers and men afloat that is achieving self-maintenance for the navy does not pass unnoticed, nor does it merely save money. This labor has made possible certain definite improvements in the fleet machinery, and will make possible further improvements so that we have reason to hope for a fleet that is fit and ready for any service.
In October, 1921, notice was received by this bureau that the rate of expenditure of funds during the current fiscal year was in excess of the limit fixed by available naval appropriations. On May 1 an indicated deficit that six months ago was $700,000 had been wiped out and there had become available nearly one million dollars for the purchase of improved engineering materials for the fleet. This million dollars' worth of material is being purchased without creating a deficit.
The expenditures of the fleet for cleaning gear have doubled; at the same time expenditures for lubricating oil, fire brick and packing have decreased so much that the total expenditures for supplies afloat are now about $150,000 a month less than they were a year ago. The indirect saving from cleanliness is obvious.
Where Money Is Saved
For every dollar's worth of material that is worked into a ship by the ship's force, or by the fleet repair force, the charge against the "engineering" appropriation is exactly the cost of the material; when a similar amount of material is worked into the vessel at a navy yard the average cost exceeds $3.50. Thus every time that the fleet has accomplished self-maintenance the cost of this maintenance has been reduced to less than 30 per cent of what it would have been had it been necessary for the work to be accomplished by a navy yard. As a direct result of the success of the fleet in accomplishing self-maintenance and in leaving unnecessary work undone, this bureau has been enabled to institute the following definite improvements to the machinery of the fleet that would otherwise have been left undone for lack of funds:
(a) To purchase new distilling plant of low pressure type which will result in increased capacity and decreased cost of operation. (Fourteen ships.)
(b) To purchase oil purifiers for clearing fuel oil used under the boilers; this will result in more satisfactory oil burning due to less frequent plugging of atomizers, in more reliable operation due to keeping water out of the oil, and in a reduction of the amount of cleaning necessary in the fuel tanks. (Ten ships.)
(c) To purchase electric driven feed pumps for port use, which will increase the economy and reliability of port operation. (Sixteen ships.)
(d) To purchase electric driven fuel oil service pumps for port use, which will increase the economy and reliability of port operation. (Ten ships.)
(e) To modify on all ships all auxiliary turbine exhaust valves to prevent excessive pressures on turbine casings.
(f) To provide additional safe-guards against fuel oil fires by supplying additional distant-controlled valves on all oil-burning ships.
(g) To provide for installing new blower supports for all Terry turbine-driven blowers on destroyers equipped with this type of blower.
(h) To provide fleet tugs with turbine-driven blowers.
(i) To provide retarter for all ships equipped with oil-burning Scotch boilers.
(j) To provide experimental dampers to eliminate vibration in »the engines of S-s to S-Q.
(k) To provide improved mufflers for S-3 to S-9.
(l) To provide all submarines with fuel oil meters.
(m) To provide 100-watt "AC" tube set, navy model T.M. These sets are for submarines and increase the range of communication from three to five times. (Sixty ships.)
Radio Stations Improved
In additional to the foregoing considerable improvements to the fleet that the fleet itself has earned and paid for, this bureau has been able to institute improvements to shore radio stations required for communication with the fleet amounting to $143,420.
Among these items are:
(a) To provide special high voltage generator for Anacostia. This is for development work to keep navy to the forefront.
(b) To provide two K. W. 2,000-cycle oscillator for sound research work.
(c) To install radio telephone at Arlington, Va.
The intense competition in fuel economy has had a direct result upon the condition of the machinery of the fleet due to exact operation and careful supervision. This means not only lower costs of upkeep, but greater readiness for service and is another direct dividend to the fleet from its own work.
The future holds much opportunity for further improvements. This improvement can only be made if past performance as regards cost are bettered. At present the fleet is doing better than it has done, but the goal of a machinery plant's entire readiness for any service is very distant. There are now in sight improvements to the machinery of vessels of the fleet that it would cost $16,000,000 to accomplish at navy yards. Until all these improvements (repairs, alterations and additions) have been accomplished our fleet's machinery is not entirely fit and ready for service. If they are accomplished we may expect the port fuel consumption of battleships to average below eight tons, of destroyers below 500 gallons and the fleet radius of action to be increased 50 per cent.
Appropriations Pared Down
The appropriations for the coming year are based upon exact necessities without allowance for improvements, but they are based also upon past performances. Improvements, therefore, in costs of supplies, repairs and operation, all of which depend upon economy and self-maintenance afloat, will make possible in the future, as they have in the past, continued progress in the development of the machinery of the fleet.
Increase in the radius of action of the fleet can be expected only from improvement in the skill, training and zeal of the personnel afloat. Success in this endeavor must be achieved before improved machinery can be paid for. The time will come as a result of the present laudable spirit of service when we will have our fleet's machinery economical, reliable and ready. Every gallon of fuel saved, i.e., not wasted, will contribute towards the fleet's spending more hours underway and hence being more thoroughly trained in maneuvers and gunnery exercises. The value of our navy, in which nearly all operation is secured through machinery, depends, therefore, upon engineering skill, steadily and zealously applied.
The true engineer will always avoid waste and will prevent this waste, so far as practicable, with available means. It makes no difference what the form of the waste. Waste today in any form is not merely an offense against the taxpayer—it limits the possibilities of naval improvement.
Test for the Navy
The present stringency of funds is a test from which the navy must emerge a stronger, hardier and worthier service. Today the honor of the service is more completely in the hands of the naval engineers than in those of any other equal body of men. The lessons learned and the strength acquired through necessity will never be lost.
The officer of the navy is a servant of the Government. He delights in this service and proudly wears its livery, the naval uniform. A distinguished naval officer of high rank, now on the retired list, recently wrote: "I have known among naval officers, we all have, many high peaks of loyalty and forgetfulness of self in the giving of energy and ability to the service. It is an inspiration to live with fine characters of that sort. They simply go ahead doing their duty without thought of reward or of possible effects of overwork. The idea of devotion to duty as the measure of worth, of worth as the measure of happiness, and of service as the proper aim of each of us, I believe to be true, absolutely. Particularly do I believe that lasting happiness is found only through the medium of unselfish service. The thought of self in service, no matter how big the service, runs counter to nature's laws of compensation. Self-glorification and contentment of spirit are not found on the same trail.
J. K. Robinson,
Engineer-in-Chief, U. S. Navy,
Chief of Bureau.
Endorsement
Approved.
The secretary of the navy takes this occasion to congratulate the service on the close co-operation and application to technical efficiency which, as set forth in the attached paper, has directly resulted in making available nearly one million dollars for the purchase of improved engineering material.
It is extremely gratifying to note that the indomitable "will to win" is paramount in the heart of the American naval officer and man, and that obstacles offer but an added incentive for harder work and greater gain.
It is to be hoped that this proof of the dependence of naval readiness for service upon efficient and economical engineering practices in the fleet will inspire the personnel of the navy to maintain the present high standards and to improve them wherever possible.
Edwin Denby.—Army and Navy Journal, 3 June, 1922.
Worthington Condenser-Tube Washer.—To meet the need for cleaning out the tubes of surface condensers as often as desired without interfering with their operation, the Worthington Pump and Machinery Corporation, 115 Broadway, New York City, has developed a tube washer consisting of a long water nozzle, or lance, which, after the necessary attachments have been made, may be inserted into the condenser through the different manhole plates and swung around each time so as to force a rapid stream of water through every tube in the condenser.
A section of the condenser with the apparatus in place is shown in the illustration, at the top, and at the bottom is shown one of the attachments that is placed upon each of the manhole plates. This attachment consists of a socket that swivels upon a ball-and-socket joint and through which the lance is inserted with a fairly close sliding fit. The shape of the end of the nozzle is shown at the lower right.
To use the device the operator pushes the long water nozzle into one of the attachments until he can hitch the four chains into the eye-bolts, as shown in the illustration. A spring between the attachment and the connection of the hose to the lance keeps the chains taut and the nozzle in its correct position, with its end very close to the ends of the condenser tubes.
The outer end of the lance is then swung around this way and that so as to force a stream of water (about 60 gallons per minute, 250 pounds pressure) through the different tubes, one after another. The nozzle end does not move in arcs, but is made to move more nearly in a plane surface by the action of the four chains; when the outer end of the pipe is pulled over to one side the chain attached to the eye-bolt on the opposite side pulls it through the socket a little way and so tends to keep the nozzle end fairly close to the tubes.
When the tubes in front of one manhole plate have been cleaned, the lance is withdrawn, and the water in the condenser is prevented from escaping by a check valve shown in the closed position at the bottom of the illustration. A cap on the end of a short chain is then screwed on to make sure that the joint will be tight.
The operation is repeated for each manhole, and the manufacturers claim that about five minutes' work in each position is enough to clean the tubes in front of each plate. Best results, it is said, are obtained when the tubes are washed out daily and when the direction of flow of the washing jet is the same as the flow of circulating water. The apparatus is designed so that it can be attached to the manhole plates or flatheads of condensers already installed.—Power, 9 May, 1922.
Vacuum Type of Evaporator Being Extensively Used on German Ships.—In the operation of steam boiler and engine plants on board of ships there is an unavoidable loss of steam and water during the process of their circulation from the boiler to the engine, through the condenser and the feed water pump back to the boiler. Several years ago these losses were balanced by adding new fresh water from the feed water tanks in the double bottoms, although) feed water generators were installed on all steamships. These, however, were only used in cases of emergency when the water from the tanks had been consumed or had become mixed with sea water through leakages. Therefore the economical operation of evaporators was of minor importance.
With the development of the modern steam plant, the introduction of geared turbines and water tube boilers it became necessary for feed water to be absolutely pure, with the result that the use of evaporated water solely became a necessity and new and economic evaporators had to be devised. The desired end was accomplished by means of the three stage system of evaporation, but the apparatus proved to be troublesome in operation, and the cleaning of the tubes had to be frequent, a process requiring a great deal of labor. To overcome these disadvantages German inventors have perfected the vacuum type of evaporators, and these are now being used extensively on German ships.
The vacuum evaporator is heated either by fuel gases in the smokestack or by the cooling gases of the condenser, thereby avoiding all heat losses in connection with the process. The tank in which the sea water is contained is connected to the vacuum of the condenser by a one-inch or an inch and a half pipe with the result that the vacuum above the sea water is about 90 per cent. Under these conditions the water is evaporated at about 113 degrees Fahrenheit, the heating being accomplished by means of coils around which the smokestack gases are led or through which the condenser cooling water runs according to the type in use. The type utilizing the condenser cooling water has proved to be the most successful on account of its lighter weight.
Steam generated in this manner cannot be used for pre-heating, the boiler feed water being too cold for this purpose; neither can it be used for driving the low pressure part of geared turbines. Both of these processes, however, can be carried out by the steam evaporated in the super-pressure evaporators. It is the general practice to drive the auxiliary engines independently, and their waste steam is more than sufficient for pre-heating the boiler feed water, thus rendering heat from the evaporator unnecessary for this purpose. On the other hand the power which can be drawn from the steam of super-pressure evaporators in low pressure turbines is very small, and is more than counterbalanced by the loss of heat involved in the use of steam for the evaporator.
One of the main advantages of the vacuum steam generator is the fact that it works automatically and requires very little watching. Engineers on freighters do not generally favor steam generating from evaporators because of the work involved and because they prefer to rely upon the feed water in the double bottoms. They contend that they must have enough feed water to enable the ship to reach the next harbor, for an evaporator might break down. Therefore they are inclined to regard the evaporator merely as an apparatus to be used only in case of need. Vacuum evaporators, however, have proved their efficiency on freighters. They are operated in harbor by being made to consume the heat of the condenser into which the waste steam from the winches is led. In most cases sufficient water can be procured in this manner to take the ship to the next port; if not, the process can easily be continued for a short time at sea.
The quantity of feed water necessary to make up the losses in the boiler and the engine is not very large: in the case of freighters equipped with reciprocating engines the quantity is about 2 tons per 1,000 horsepower per day, for combination freight and passenger vessels about 2.5 tons and for passenger liners about 2.8 tons. The amount required for turbine plants, which use less steam, is correspondingly smaller.
In the case of the larger passenger liners with high engine power it is uneconomical to carry feed water for the entire trip in the double bottoms, as this would involve a considerable loss of deadweight capacity. It would be much cheaper for such vessels to carry vacuum steam generators of ample size, and reserve generators of the same or another type for use in the event of a breakdown of the main generator. The use of these evaporators has shown that feed water can be procured more cheaply than in harbors, and moreover, the water has the advantage of being free from impurities and gases, a factor of the highest importance to the efficiency of the boiler, especially on oil-burning ships.—Nautical Gazette, 13 May, 1922.
Maneuvering of Ships.—This paper deals with the research on this subject which is being carried out by the authors at the National Physical Laboratory. The research is intended ultimately to cover various types of ship and rudder. The work so far completed has been confined to the tests of "unbalanced" or "ordinary" rudders, either in open water behind a flat plate, or behind an ordinary ship model having a single screw propeller, at load draught, the ship being of the type capable of working at about 10 to 12 knots on 400 feet length.
Three rudders, B, C and D, of the same immersed area but of different outline (see Fig. 1) have been tested both in open water behind a thin fore-and-aft flat plate and in the ordinary position behind the rudder-post of a model fitted with a single screw. A fourth rudder, A. was also tested, this differing from D in being 21.2 per cent longer. A fifth one, marked E, was also tested behind the fin plate to obtain exaggerated surface effect. This had the same area as B, C and D.
The experiments have shown:
(1) Under similar conditions the torques on the stock of an ordinary unbalanced rudder vary as the square of the speed, and the dissimilar conditions represented by varying speed of any ship can only be met by means of a coefficient determined by experiment. The results obtained on a model at any speed can be applied to a ship at the corresponding speed by assuming that the torque varies as the product AV3l, where A is the area of the rudder, V is the speed, and l the mean length of the rudder measured from the centre-line of the stock.
(2) Change in shape of rudder keeping the area constant had very little effect on its "ship turning-moment," but as the least moment on the rudder-stock was obtained with a rudder of normal type this appears to be the best shape for vessels of the type tested. Increasing area of rudder increases the ship turning-moment, but to a smaller extent than the increase in area. The torque on the stock increases directly as the product of area and length of rudder, so that a deep rudder is better than a long one.
(3) The forward movement of the water at the stern in a vessel of .78 prismatic coefficient reduced the torques and pressures on the rudder in open water by 50 per cent; but with the propeller working in front of it, at a normal true slip of about 40 per cent (7 per cent taken on the ship's speed), the torques and pressures are increased by a little more than this amount, so that actually the torques exceed those in open water without screw by a slight amount. There is a little movement of the centre of pressure with the propeller working, accounting for about 10 per cent variation in torque.
(4) The effect of the propeller race on the ship turning-moment is considerable. This moment with propeller was 1.85 times that without it. The rate at which the model turned off its course under helm with propeller working was roughly 1.3 times as great as without it working.
(5) The effect on the rudder torques and pressures of the propeller aperture in the deadwood was small in this case, varying from 10 to 4 per cent.
(6) Experiments with the model free, yawing under helm, supported the general conclusions formed from the other experimental work.
(7) For estimating pressures on rudders of normal unbalanced type behind the ship with screw working a formula is proposed in the usual form P=kAV , where A is area of rudder in sq. ft., V is speed of ship in ft. per second, and P is pressure in lb.
As regards application to other forms, the value of the speed index would not necessarily be 2 in all cases, but for this particular class of ship it may be assumed that, although the index may be a little wrong in any special case, provided it is associated with the k values given, the calculated pressure will not be much in error.
As regards center of pressure the experiments show that for all rudders tested the ratio x/l with screw working behind the ship is .34 at an angle of 10 degrees, increasing gradually to .46 at an angle of 35 degrees, l being the mean length of rudder and x being the distance to the center of pressure, both measured from the center line of the stock.
As regards effect of immersion, the ordinary rudders gave better results at all usual angles than type E, owing to their better aspect ratio. Even when E is at the surface and its equivalent aspect ratio doubled, although much better than when submerged, it is still worse than the others. This rudder shows best at large angles when fully submerged, and worst at the surface at high speeds, when the speed for maximum wave-making has been passed.
(8) A few experiments made with the screw backing, the model moving ahead, showed that the torque on the stock was much smaller than for normal conditions; but with the model moving stern first, with or without the screw backing, the torques on the stock were higher than for normal ahead conditions at the same speed, the increase varying from over 100 per cent at small angles to a few per cent at 40 degrees of helm; but allowing for the difference between practical ahead and astern speeds, the greatest torque on the stock is developed going ahead with large helm.—The Shipbuilder, Annual Number, 1922.
Alcohol for Internal Combustion Engines.—It was decided by the Empire Motor Fuels committee that a comprehensive land complete scientific investigation should be made of the behavior of alcohol in internal combustion engines, and that a complete range of experiments should be carried out with 95 volumes per cent alcohol, as this was the strongest alcohol produced in commerce by the patent still. Through the kindness of the Anglo-Asiatic Petroleum company the committee was allowed to make use of the Ricardo variable compression engine which had been designed and built for that company. The Government authorities gave permission for the experiments to be carried out with pure alcohol, so that there should be no difficulties introduced in this fundamental work by the presence of denaturants. In these and all other tests the committee has readily obtained the willing co-operation of the Government departments concerned.
The experiments which it was decided to carry out with 95 volumes per cent alcohol were divided into four series:
Series 1.—Tests for power output and consumption over the complete available range of mixture strength with open throttle at four different piston speeds from 800 ft. to 2000 ft. per minute, and at compression ratios of 3.8 to 1 and 7 to 1 with constant heat to the carburetor.
Series 2.—Tests of power and efficiency over complete range of mixture strength at 0.8, 0.6 and 0.4 of full load with piston speeds of 1200 ft. and 2000 ft. per minute and a compression ratio of 5 to 1, with constant heat to the carburetor.
Series 3.—Tests over complete range of mixture strength at piston speed 2,000 ft. per minute, compression ratio 5 to 1, constant heat to carburetor, but with the circulating water at the outlet varied from 30 degrees to 90 degrees Cent.
Series 4.—Tests over the complete range of mixture strength at 2000 ft. per minute piston speed, at a compression of 5 to 1, varying the heat input to the carburetor from nil to 2,000 watts.
This work has entailed many thousands of readings, but the results are of the greatest value.
It was found that at all speeds both with high and low compression the thermal efficiency obtained with alcohol was higher than that obtainable with petrol or benzol at any compression which could be employed with them. Even at the low compression of 3.8 to 1. the thermal efficiency with alcohol is substantially greater than that obtained with petrol under similar conditions. In both cases the efficiency is almost independent of speed. The heat delivered to the circulating water is less in proportion with alcohol than with petrol. It was further found that compared with petrol or benzol the thermal efficiency obtained with alcohol was equally high at high or low compression. The tendency to pre-ignition began to be evident at 7 to 1 compression ratio.
Owing to the lower heat value of alcohol, the fuel consumption is much higher than is the case with petrol, in spite of the higher thermal efficiency, if they are used at the same compression, but the fuel consumption can be reduced much further in the case of alcohol than in the case of petrol by increase of compression ratio. The throttle tests (Series 2) have shown that the behavior of alcohol and petrol under variations of throttle conditions was identical.
The influence of jacket water temperature was investigated (Series 3), and showed that the power output from the engine was slightly diminished with increasing jacket temperature. The efficiency also fell slightly, as is the case with all other volatile fuels investigated. The reputed increased power obtainable with alcohol engines with hot water jacket is probably much more due to the diminished piston friction in the warm cylinder than to any other cause.
The experiments in Series 4 have shown that the maximum output from the engine is obtained when no heat is supplied to the ingoing air, but the thermal efficiency is slightly increased with increase of heat to the carburetor.
It has been proved that under all conditions of compression speed or throttle alcohol-driven engines run more sweetly and more smoothly than when running on petrol. Detonation never occurred under any compression employed, but at 7 to 1 compression, corresponding to a pressure of 185 pounds per square inch, there was a tendency to pre-ignition; 6 ½ to 1 is probably the maximum compression to be aimed for.
There has been no evidence whatever of any corrosion of valves.
It must be remembered that these experiments have been carried out on a single-cylinder engine, and that in practice troubles and difficulties introduced by induction manifolds may render it desirable to sacrifice efficiency in some directions to gain flexibility and acceleration. Nevertheless, the series of experiments which have been carried out have led to the accumulation of the most valuable fundamental facts and figures which must be of the greatest value to the industry in the near future. It was decided by the committee that further experiments should be carried out on similar lines to those above referred to, but with alcohol at 99 and 90 volumes per cent strength. The results obtained with these fuels substantiated the earlier work and proved that the mean effective pressure increases as the water content is increased, so long as the whole of the fuel and water is completely evaporated before the end of the compression stroke. The power output was increased slightly even with the 90 volumes per cent alcohol. The behavior of the varying amounts of water was studied over compression ranging from 3.8 to 1 to 7 to 1, and it was proved that the presence of water in all cases increases the maximum power output and reduces the heat flow through the cylinder walls. In high compression engines there is a substantial advantage in using alcohol containing a reasonable amount of water.
It has definitely been proved:
(1) that alcohol can be used from the low compression employed on paraffin engines up to a far higher compression that can be used on an petrol engine;
(2) that the thermal efficiency obtainable with alcohol is higher than with petrol or benzol;
(3) that under all conditions of throttle or mixture alcohol requires the spark more advanced than is the case with petrol or benzol, and much more advanced with weak mixtures;
(4) that there was no evidence at any piston speed attained in the engine that the rate of combustion of alcohol under the conditions obtaining was too slow to obtain the maximum effect;
(5) that detonation does not occur at compressions up to 8 to 1, and pre-ignition does not occur at 6 to 1, even when running for long periods at the highest possible power output of the engine;
(6) that there was no evidence whatever of corrosion in the engine;
(7) that the power output and efficiency are increased by low temperature of the circulating water;
(8) that supplying heat to the carburetor reduced the power output but slightly increases the thermal efficiency;
(9) that increase in the water content up to 10 volumes per cent is an advantage, particularly in very high compression engines.
A new series of experiments is now in hand with a view to investigating the influence of ether on alcohol, and the influence of alcohol on petrol, benzol, paraffin, and the like. It is believed that this work will prove of considerable value to the motor industry, as it is probable that the first introduction of alcohol on any scale as a motor fuel will be in the form of an admixture of it with other ingredients.—The Engineer, 12 May, 1922.
Non-Corrodible Iron and Steel.—A paper of great importance to marine engineering, "Corrosion of Ferrous Metals," was read a short time ago before the Institution of Civil Engineers by Sir Robert Hadfield. In 1916 the institution formed a committee to study the corrosive action of sea water on structures in general, and Sir Robert Hadfield was consulted as to the best methods of investigating the results in connection with the ferrous metals. Acting upon his advice, 14 types of ferrous material, both iron and steel, were examined, the former consisting of wrought iron, Swedish charcoal iron, "Armco" iron, cold-blast cast iron, and hot-blast cast iron. The steel specimens selected were mild steel with low manganese and high sulphur and phosphorus content, mild steel with 0.7 per cent manganese, medium carbon steel with low sulphur and phosphorus, carbon steel with 0.4 per cent carbon, mild steel with 0.5 per cent copper, mild steel with 2 per cent copper, nickel steel with 3.5 per cent nickel, nickel steel with 36 per cent nickel, and rustless chromium steel (13 ½ per cent chromium). The committee fixed a standard size, 24 inches long, 3 inches wide, and ½ inch thick, for the samples, and in the course of the investigations, 1,330 separate specimens have been prepared, mostly in the "as rolled" condition, but in many cases also heat treated. An elaborate series of investigations as to the properties of 182 of the test pieces have been carried out in Sir Robert Hadfield's laboratory, including complete chemical analysis, Brinell hardness number, photomicrographs of longitudinal and transverse sections, tensile tests, and shock tests. Sets of the test bars are then to be immersed in the sea for a long period, at the end of which they will be examined in the same exhaustive manner to ascertain the extent of the corrosion and the difference caused in the various properties.
A remarkable feature of research work on alloys is the effect that even traces of one metal will have in altering the properties of the final alloy. Thus, for example, in connection with the corrosion of ferrous metals by sea water, the addition to steel of small amounts of copper causes a pronounced difference by increasing the resistance to corrosion, a fact for which there does not seem to be any adequate explanation.
Sufficient work has, however, been done of the subject of alloys in the last few years to warrant the expectation that we shall in the near future be able to produce non-corrosive iron, steel and other metals at a price capable of being used in bulk. It is difficult to realize what the corrosion of metals is costing the world, not only in damage and loss in the actual metal, but also in the continual costly painting that is necessary, and the shipping industry suffers more in this respect than any other.
Sir Robert Hadfield gives some arresting figures in his paper. It is estimated that the total steel production of the world from 1860 to 1920 has been 1,860,000,000 tons, of which about 660,000,000 tons have been destroyed by rusting whilst actually in use. In the year 1920, for example, the loss throughout the world was about 29,000,000 tons, and, taking the value of steel as, say, £20 per ton, the total loss to the world, including all the money spent on paint-work or other protective devices, was about 1700,000,000 If ships can be made of non-corrodible metal throughout, it will be a revolution in marine engineering, the beneficial effect of which it is difficult to realize.—The Marine Engineer and Naval Architect, May, 1922.
NAVIGATION AND RADIO
Maps and Navigation Methods. By A. Duval.—Before undertaking any voyage, however short, the aerial navigator provides himself with the necessary maps. This is an easy matter in our country, where there is a wide choice among the various maps published by the geographic section of the army, the department of the interior and the Aero Club.
When it is a question of a trip into a foreign country, the case is no longer the same. In some countries the only existing maps are incorrect or poorly edited, while in others they are comparable with ours, but French navigators, not being accustomed to their scales, nor to their colors, nor to their special manner of presentation, do not find them convenient. Reciprocally, foreigners experience the same inconvenience in using our maps. The most commonly used map is drawn on the scale of 1:200,000. This gives the most details of interest to the aviator, without taking too much paper. The 1:1,000,000 scale is useful for long voyages. It is always best to carry the corresponding maps on the 1:200,000 scale, for the aerial navigator sometimes has occasion to identify details not shown on the 1:1,000,000 map.
These two maps are not specially made for aviators. It seems therefore that the solution of the problem has progressed hardly any since Mr. Lallemand, member of the Institute, asked for the creation of aviation maps. This delay is explained by the fact that during the war the existing maps (1:200,000 of the geographic section of the army, and 1:126,720 of the ordnance survey) were satisfactory to the aviators of the Allies, who flew in restricted sectors and seldom made long voyages.
Now the requirements of civil aeronautics, the chief object of which is to make voyages, are different and depend on aviation maps. This fact did not escape the attention of the experts who drew up the international agreement of October 13, 1919, containing regulations for aerial navigation. Annex F, of this agreement or convention, made provision for various international aviation maps, which the contracting countries will publish within a few years. Already three of the most enterprising nations have agreed on the details of execution, as we shall see further along.
Anyway, it is not out of place to call attention to the scope of the task undertaken, as well as to the value of the preliminary work accomplished since 1919. If the aviators, who are wanting aviation maps worthy of the name, had any idea of the work accomplished, their very natural impatience would be less prompt to manifest itself.
Under the respective designations of normal maps and general maps, the convention established two types of international aviation maps. In (principle, they must be made according to the rules adopted for the 1:1,000,000 map of the world, with the metric system of measurements. Each country, however, has the privilege to add its own units of measurement to the maps it publishes.
After discussion during the English-French-Belgian conferences of 1920 and 1921, the details of the conventional symbols were fixed. Since their exposition lies outside the scope of this article, we will confine ourselves to a general description of the two kinds of maps provided for.
General Maps.—The general map is made according to Mercator's projection, one degree of longitude being represented by a length of three centimeters, which gives, in our latitude, an average scale of about 1:2,000,000. Each folio contains a complete number of sections of the map of the world on the 1:1,000,000 scale, which is generally nine for latitudes below 60°, six and even three for higher latitudes. Each side of each sheet covers 1° in latitude by 2° in longitude. There is a common portion on adjacent sheets, which facilitates the passage from one sheet to the next.
The relief is indicated by hypsometric tints supplemented by altimetric figures and, where there is occasion for it, by a slight shading. This method of representing the relief is in conformity with the 1:1,000,000 map of the world. It enables the aviator to choose instantly, without risk, the altitude of safety, in case of poor visibility. Any representation of relief, accomplished simply by means of shading and altitude figures, does not offer this advantage, since the navigator must read all the altitudes of a region in order to determine the altitude of safety. He runs the risk of overlooking that of the summit, against which he is in danger of crashing. The necessity of judging the altitude of the whole region led to the use of hypsometric colors for the general map. It is omitted on the normal maps, where each section bears on its margin the altitude of the highest point and of the lowest point in the region represented. The relief of the normal map is also shown by shading.
Lastly, general maps are only provided for continents. Aviation maps are not necessary, in fact, for the oceans, for which the aeronaut will use marine maps based on Mercator's projection.
Normal Maps.—These are published on the scale of 1:200,000. The kind of projection is not stipulated. This is because, on the one hand, the various projections differ but little on this scale and because, on the other hand, of the great advantage of being able to make use of much existing cartographic material.
Each section of the normal map embraces 1° in longitude and 1° in latitude. They will doubtless overlap one another by several kilometers. The relief is indicated by shading, supplemented by altimetric figures.
Miscellaneous Maps.—The object of the convention was to create a set of identical aeronautic maps for the whole globe. Aside from these standard maps, the aerial navigator may use any others. Let us note, in passing, the 1:200,000 map of Capt. Hebrard and Lieut. Robbe, on which the roads stand out light against a dark background. The advantages of this method will be manifest, when night flights become common.
Maps are indispensable for the aviator. Their conception, however, depends on the methods employed in aerial navigation, which we will now endeavor to set forth.
"To navigate is to go from one point to another by the shortest and easiest route." This applies to both water and aircraft.
Aerial navigation, although freely accomplished in three dimensions (with certain restrictions in the vertical direction) is in all points comparable with maritime navigation. On the contrary, it is not comparable with the means of land transportation.
In fact, there are two methods of navigating an aircraft:
1. To fly with continuous reference to landmarks;
2. To take a direct route by the compass, with only occasional reference to the ground for determining the position of the aircraft.
The former method, which is chronologically older, is still commonly employed. Although comprehensible in the beginnings of aviation, when only the pilot was on board and the voyages were of short duration, it is now an anachronism. To be compelled to follow a railway or a river is a loss of time. This method is, moreover, not very safe, for as soon as the pilot loses this "thread of Ariadne," he is lost. Errors have been frequent at cross-roads and junctions. Lastly, it is well to note the danger resulting from this practice. On a given aerial route, all the pilots would follow, in cloudy weather, exactly the same landmarks, thus creating great risk of collisions.
The second method, successfully employed on aeroplanes and airships by several crews, has stood the test for centuries in all navies. It is therefore no novelty, but merely an adaptation. By means of the compass, the pilot steers the aircraft in a constant direction with reference to the meridian. The path thus described is a loxodromic or rhumb line.
Hence, to steer by the compass is to describe a loxodromic curve. The pilot only needs to choose the one which connects his starting point with his destination, and then to make sure from time to time that he has not departed from it and, lastly, to verify his speed.
The use of the compass renders it possible to follow the most direct route between two points and especially to lose sight of land without inconvenience, for a certain length of time. At any instant, the navigator can determine his position by "dead reckoning," with the aid of his absolute speed and the time elapsed.
The accuracy of this method depends on the pilot's skill in using' his compass and on the exactness of his knowledge of the data employed, namely, the angle of the route followed and the absolute speed. The route angle is the angle formed with the meridian by the loxodromic trajectory described on the earth by the aircraft which is steered with the aid of the compass.
As often as possible, this dead reckoning will be verified by observations of terrestrial or celestial reference points, or other method (radiogoniometry, etc.).
Usually the wind causes the aeroplane to drift (uniformly, if the wind is regular). The angle between the axis of the aircraft called the course, and the route actually followed is the angle of drift. The pilot must therefore endeavor to determine the course to be adopted so that the drift will cause him to follow the loxodromic line traced on the map. Practically, for holding the aircraft on this course, the pilot must determine opposite what graduation of the compass rose he must hold the reference mark which indicates the position of the axis of the aeroplane. The compass course is obtained by correcting the given course by the angle of "variation." This variation is the algebraic sum of the magnetic declination (angle formed, at any given place, between the geographic and magnetic meridians) and the deflection caused by the iron of the aircraft, which affects the magnetized compass needle. The declination is always exactly known. As to the deflection, an endeavor should be made to eliminate this once for all by "compensation," the explanation of which lies outside the scope of the present article. It is a very simple and practical operation. When properly executed, the residual deflection is very small (1° to 2°) and the directive force of the compass remains constant for different courses.
The only difficulty encountered in following a loxodromic or rhumb line is therefore the determination of the angle of drift. By means of aerological soundings, this is easily determined before starting. The data for calculating the course then remain exact so long as the wind does not vary. If the wind is found to change, it becomes necessary to change the course steered or be driven off the true course. During the voyage, the navigator must employ one of the two following methods for determining the drift:
1. Determination, on the map, of two successive positions of the aircraft and of the exact route followed between these positions.
2. Instantaneous measurement of the drift by the observation of some point on the earth.
The first method utilizes what some call "navigation by observation," in which the navigator steers by calculation, which he rectifies by every observation made. He thus describes a series of loxodromic lines each one starting from the last point observed.
The second method of measuring the drift necessitates a brief view of the earth, without its being necessary, however, to identify any given reference point. It consists in measuring the angle formed by the apparent motion of the reference point and the course of the aircraft. This measurement can be made, even when the reference point does not pass directly under the aircraft. The S. T. Ae. (Technical Section of Aeronautics) driftmeter and the Le Prieur "navigraph" are based on this principle. Moreover, the results are faithfully preserved, which constitutes a great advantage, since two successive drift measurements with different courses give the magnitude and direction of the wind.
The absolute speed is measured; either by noting the time taken to traverse the distance between two observed points, which are shown on the map; or instantaneously by making measurements with reference to a single point, which does not need to be identified.
For utilizing the latter method, we may employ the navigraph, the S.T.Ae. drift-meter, or the Le Prieur "cinemograph."
In the S.T.Ae. drift-meter, there are two sighting wires, adjustable in altitude, which intercept a base of 500 km. on the ground. The navigator sights a reference point and measures with a chronograph the time of passage from one wire to the other. An abacus gives the absolute speed in km/hr.
In the Le Prieur cinemograph, the sighting is done, with the aid of a slide carrying a stylus which traces a line on a paper moving vertically with a uniform speed. These combined uniform motions give a straight line, the inclination of which is a function of the altitude and of the speed. The errors due to changes in the trim of the aircraft are eliminated by the fact of the graphic inscription.
In the navigraph, the absolute speed is obtained by the automatic production of the triangle of velocities, of which the sides "air speed" and "wind" are known, as also the angle of drift.
Observation Point.—This can be obtained by watching the ground. The navigator either identifies some reference point under him or determines his position with the aid of distant reference points.
When the ground is not visible, the observation point is found by observing the stars, according to methods similar to those employed at sea. Unfortunately, the mariner's sextant is not utilizable on aircraft and no other instrument has thus far afforded any practical solution of the problem. For want of an astronomical point, the aerial navigator can utilize radioeoniometry.
The preceding exposition shows that loxodromy is the basis of aerial navigation. The ideal map for aerial navigation is therefore the one on which all the loxodromes are represented by straight lines and their angles with the meridians. Only Alercator's projection will answer these requirements. Its use for general aeronautic maps is therefore fully justified.
As regards utilizable routes in aerial navigation, we have purposely omitted orthodromv (sailing on the arc of a great circle). The arc of a great circle is in fact the shortest way between any two points on the earth's surface and would therefore seem preferable to loxodromy. This advantage is, however, only theoretical, since for all points less than 1,000 km. (622 miles) the difference between the orthodrome and loxodrome is negligible (about 1/300). Now the stops, the obligatory points for crossing frontiers, and natural obstacles impose an itinerary, whose sections rarely attain 1,000 km. These sections are therefore loxodromes.
There remains the employment of orthodromy on very long trips. Here again flight on the arc of a great circle does not make good its promises. If the points of departure and arrival are on the same parallel of latitude, the vertex or culminating point of the curse is near the pole and hence climatic considerations prevent the utilization of the most important part of the ideal curve. If the points of departure and arrival are almost on the same meridian or near the equator, the orthodrome and loxodrome differ but little. It should be noted, moreover, that the only method for describing a great circle consists in resolving it into a series of successive loxodromes of about 1,000 km. which are followed by means of a compass.
The arc of a great circle therefore serves to determine an itinerary. There is no need of special maps for this purpose, since Mr. Fave, a member of the institute, has invented a rapid and simple method of tracing the arc of a great circle on a Mercator map. The employment of the Fave abacus enables the aerial navigator to determine instantly and accurately the points through which an arc of a great circle passes by simply moving over the map a transparent sheet on which is traced a whole series of curves representing the projection of various great circles whose vertices are on any given meridian.
In conclusion, we may say that, on the one hand, the question of aeronautic maps is progressive and is following its normal course; while, on the other hand, the empirical methods of aerial navigation thus far employed are retrogressive, slow and dangerous and should be replaced by scientific methods of navigation, based on loxodromy and the use of the compass.
(Translated by the national advisory committee for aeronautics.)—Aerial Age Weekly, 8 May, 1922.
Weight Instrument for Measuring Ocean Depths Is Very Reliable. —Rapid development has been made in the methods of utilizing sound under water for ascertaining the depth of the ocean. One of the latest and most practical applications of the principle is embodied in an instrument known as the weight.
The action of this device is based on the theory that a solid body travels through water at a regular speed. It is an established fact that if a metal ball is dropped into the water from a height of approximately six yards above the surface of the water, it reaches the water at a speed of about ten yards per second. When the balls enters the water the speed is reduced, and when less than half a yard below the surface it assumes a steady speed which is maintained until the bottom of the ocean is reached.
The weight consists of a metal ball to which a small bomb is attached. The apparatus is thrown into the ocean and when the bottom is reached the bomb explodes. The sound of the explosion is received on board the vessel by the usual underwater sound receivers now installed on a large number of ships. The time from the instant the ball touches the surface of the water to the moment when the sound of the explosion is heard is measured by a stop-watch and the depth of the ocean calculated. For example, assume that the metal ball travels through the water at a rate of two yards per second, and the depth of water is twenty yards, ten seconds would elapse between the time the ball struck the water and the explosion is heard. It can readily be seen that the number of seconds thus recorded by the stop-watch multiplied by two will give the depth of the ocean in yards.
The great advantage of this apparatus is that it can be operated by the officer on the bridge without the aid of any member of the crew. Furthermore, it is not necessary to reduce the speed of the ship to take soundings unless the water is very deep.
In the use of the various instruments which are based on the principle of utilizing sound under water as a means of ascertaining the depth of the ocean it should be remembered that water as a sound conveyor does not always act in the same manner. It often happens that in sound expansion and sound limit, considerable fluctuations are to be recorded.
These fluctuations are due to the difference in temperature between the water near the surface and the water at the bottom, and also to the varying percentage of salt in the ocean at different depths.—Nautical Gazette, 13 May, 1922.
Secrecy of Radio Messages Promised by John H. Hammond, Jr.—John Hays Hammond, Jr.,, apparently has revolutionized radio communication by a new invention. He has perfected a comparatively simple apparatus to prevent any station from taking messages except those for which it is intended.
The same wave can be made to carry several messages at the same time, and, further, it is stated, both voice and code may be transmitted.
The new apparatus will allow a far greater number of stations to communicate over a limited number of wavelengths. Accidental interference from other stations is greatly reduced. Efficiency is increased. Atmospheric electricity, or static, is diminished in its effect upon the new system to such extent that the system may be operated under conditions when the standard radio apparatus cannot successfully receive.
Mr. Hammond's statement declares that he has been at work upon these problems for the past fourteen years. A demonstration was given today before officials and experts of one of the leading American radio companies, and Mr. Hammond says the United States navy and war departments have given his latest discoveries exhaustive tests with success.
The system, it is declared, embodies a direct and simple means of insuring privacy, and it will be practically impossible under ordinary conditions for any other than the proper receiving station to hear anything but a jumble.
The treasury department was authorized in 1916 to set aside an appropriation of $750,000 to acquire the patent rights of John Hays Hammond, Jr., in order to have the exclusive use of his researches and inventions in the line of the radio dynamic control of torpedoes. Military authorities spent a large amount of time in furthering the idea until last summer, when the chief of the coast artillery, owing to the developments of bombing from aeroplanes, decided to recommend its abandonment.
It is stated that, because of the new device, the navy has asked the Senate sub-committee considering the army appropriation bill to strike out the requirement that the $750,000 appropriation made in 1916 to acquire the special rights of John Hays Hammond, Jr., be returned to the Treasury.—Aerial Age Weekly, 29 May, 1922.
Radio to Join Five Countries.—On returning from the International Radio Conference yesterday Edward J. Nally disclosed the fact that a new radio service that will link five nations together was one result of the gatherings in Cannes, Paris, and later in London.
The conferences were carried on under the auspices of the Commercial Radio International Committee, and this agreement has been made between representatives of companies of England, France, Germany, United States and South America.
The new circuit will be operated in New York, Paris, London, Berlin and Buenos Aires. Mr. Nally, who is the president of the Radio Corporation of America, came back on the steamship Homeric after several weeks abroad attending the conferences. He told The Evening World that many important questions affecting the development and operation of wireless were considered and satisfactorily settled; in particular, the questions dealing with the extension and development of world-wide telegraph and telephonic communication.
The first of these new international services will be in Argentina, where a super-powered station is now in course of construction and which will be completed soon. It will be located near Buenos Aires and will be capable of transmitting and receiving simultaneously with the stations to be erected in New York, Paris, London, and Berlin.
Another conference will be held by technical experts of committee in Berlin late in June to conclude the world-wide connection of other countries by wireless.
Mr. Nally said that the people in Europe are intensely interested in the development of the radiophone and broadcasting service in the United States. Owing to existing laws their many difficulties will have to be overcome by several of the governments before broadcasting is done on the same broad plane as in the United States.—Aerial Age Weekly, 22 May, 1922.
High-Power Vacuum Tubes.—In connection with Great Britain's imperial chain—a world-wide radio system that has been under way for a long time—the technical committee recommended the use of high-powered tube installations. A considerable amount of very valuable work has been carried out in the past year by the British admiralty, working in conjunction with the Mullard tube builders. Much progress has been made in the construction of silica tubes, which have now been made in ten-kilowatt sizes. The result of this work will undoubtedly be seen in the forthcoming year. We may expect a large number of land stations operating on valves of large power.—Aerial Age Weekly, 1 May, 1922.
ORDNANCE
Projectile Dimension Tolerances.—For some time experiments have been under way under the auspices of the army ordnance department in connection with the effect of tolerances on projectile dimensions, with a view of securing increased accuracy and at the same time to keep the dimensions within limits that may reasonably be prescribed in manufacturing operations. If two projectiles are to range the same, they in general should have the same size, shape, and distribution of weight. To insure a reasonable degree of uniformity in this respect, tolerances are placed on the more important dimensions shown on projectile drawings. For example, in the case of a 155-mm. shell, the normal over-all length of the unfused projectile is 22.7 inches, and the tolerances on the drawing indicate that any shells that do not differ in this respect by more than 0.18 inch will be acceptable. Aside from dimensions affecting threads, there are shown on the drawing of this projectile tolerances on nine dimensions ranging in magnitude from plus or minus five-thousandths of an inch to eighteen hundredths of an inch. The larger the tolerances the cheaper it is to manufacture the shell, but, on the other hand, one would expect that the smaller they are the more accurate would be the ranging of the projectiles.
The problem of deciding exactly what these tolerances should be is one of the most important and difficult of the projectile designer. Until recently there have been almost no data available on which to base such a decision, and consequently up to this time the magnitude of the tolerances has been governed almost entirely by precedent and tradition. At present, however, as a result of a 1,500-round range-firing program for the 155-mm. G.P.F. gun, which just has been completed, the ordnance department is in possession of a certain amount of information concerning the effect of changes in various dimensions on range, and for the first time it is able to base its decision in this regard on rational grounds.
The program is regarded, however, as merely a beginning, for the results obtained from it are applicable only to a projectile of a given size and shape when fired with a given muzzle velocity at a given elevation. To extend this program by range firings to cover the multitude of combinations of shapes, sizes, and muzzle velocities would involve an enormous expenditure of ammunition. Nevertheless, as a result of an extensive program of air-resistance, firings now commencing, it is believed that useful data on the subject will be accumulated at much less expense.
There undoubtedly are some projectile shapes that are much more sensitive to slight changes in dimension than others. In its future design work the ordnance department proposes to make a study of the problem from this point of view, with the object of selecting those shapes that will permit the greatest tolerances on dimensions for a given effect on range.—Army and Navy Register, 20 May, 1922.
MISCELLANEOUS
Revolutionary Change Impending from Steam-Powered to Oil-Driven Ships.—A revolution of a technical nature, whose political and economic effect on the future cannot be overestimated, is at present taking place in the world's shipping. During the last few years, extraordinary progress has been made in the substitution of oil fuel and oil-driven motors for steam power generated by coal. The revolution seems likely to be more far-reaching in its effects than the last great revolution in shipping, when sailing vessels were replaced by steamships.
War Hastened Change
When the war broke out oil-driven shipping was only in its infancy. Coal fuel was comparatively cheap and the fuel supply in all the seaports of the world was excellently regulated and secured. There seemed, therefore, no reason for abandoning coal fuel in favor of a fuel which had only been tried in minor and coastal vessels. The great and long enduring coal shortage of the war and post-war days, however, brought about a "flight from coal" to an extent and with a rapidity which ten years ago would have been deemed impossible.
Just as the war gave a new impetus to sailing ships and their construction so, too, to an incomparably greater extent oil-driven shipping was encouraged by the coal shortage and the high price of coal. As matters stand today, the steamship, as compared with large vessels driven by oil fuel or oil motors, appears, all things being equal, old-fashioned and is likely to be regarded in the near future as out of date. Comparative statistics obtained in 1921 show to a surprising extent that oil fuel is marching forward victoriously, rapidly and unceasingly, and that coal fuel is losing in importance with unexpected rapidity, especially as, from an economic standpoint, coal fuel is far inferior to oil.
The extent to which coal is being replaced by oil can be gauged from the fact that there were 2,336 oil fuel burning, seagoing vessels of 12,800.000 gross tons in 1920 as against 364 such ships of 1,300,000 tons in 1915.
The use of oil for driving Diesel motors, which is a far more economical method of using oil fuel, has not as yet attained great dimensions, and as far as ocean-going vessels are concerned, is in its early stages. But in a few years' time it may well have surpassed in importance the employment of oil for firing. To show the significance of the Diesel motor for existing and future marine shipping, the following figures may be given.
The first practicable Diesel motor was produced in Augsburg, in 1897, and the first motor for driving a ship in Winterthur in 1903. It was only one year before the death of its inventor in 1913 that the Diesel motor was first used for an ocean-going vessel, for in 1912 the Hamburg-American line launched the Monte Penedo, a vessel of 6,500 gross tons, with a 1,000 h.p. motor on board. About the same time, at the end of 1911, 40 oil-driven ships were under construction in English yards. What first definitely turned the scale, however, was the experience gained by the Danish twin-screw motor vessel Selandia, built for the Danish-East Asiatic Co., which made its trial trip in 1912. This was a vessel of 3,200 net tons, with a cargo capacity of 7,400 tons and fitted with a 1,250-h.p. motor. With a full cargo of oil, which she carried in a double bottom, she attained a speed of 11 knots, and with a cargo of 900 tons a speed of 13.35 knots. As compared with a steamship of equal size, whose heavy machinery and coal bunkers she lacked, she showed a clear gain of no less than 1,000 tons of cargo space.
One-Quarter Oil-Driven
In 1921 the world's motor fleet consisted of 1,475 vessels of 1,244,418 gross tons. To these motor ships should be added the 12,800,000 tons of cargo space in vessels which today use oil fuel. Accordingly oil shipping today comprises over 14,000,000 tons or nearly one-quarter of the world's total tonnage which on June 30 last amounted to 61,974,653 gross tons.
The price of motor fuel is, it is true, considerably higher than that of coal but that is a secondary matter in view of the great advantage over coal fuel offered by oil fuel and oil motors. The removal of the heavy machinery and the coal makes possible a saving on an average of about 55 per cent of the available cargo space. The more complete using up of the thermal unit in the case of an oil motor compensates to a great extent for the increased cost of the fuel unit. Recent observations show that in the case of a 10,000-ton Swedish vessel, which formerly used coal but now uses oil, 70 tons of oil were equal in efficiency to 220 tons of coal, and, moreover, it was found possible on a ten days' trip to increase the cargo formerly carried by 1,400 tons.
A further notable experience is that made recently by the 13,000-ton oil steamer Java, of the Danish-East Asiatic company, which on the Copenhagen-Suez-Capetown-Copenhagen trip, only had to refill her oil tanks once, while her Diesel motors showed a saving of the weight of 80 per cent as compared with a ship employing steam pistons and of 25 per cent as compared with a vessel using steam turbines. According to the latest observations the total working cost of the three methods of ship propulsion shows the following proportion:
Coal fuel 4
Oil fuel 2.5
Motors 1
This gives a very clear picture of the superiority of oil over coal as fuel, and the still greater superiority of Diesel motors.
There is, in addition, a considerable saving in personnel, which is a result of the simplified and much cleaner working, and which is doubly important at the moment when wages are so high.
The following figures show how large is the reduction of the number of stokers in the case of an oil-driven ship, and how much lower is the cost of re-fueling:
? | Steam-ship | Oil-driven vessel | Reduction to |
Number of stokers | 246 | 60 | 21.8% |
Working hours occupied in re-fueling and paid for | 9,600 | 80 | 0.83% |
Moreover, it should also be recorded that among the millions of tons of shipping laid up in 1921, in all shipping countries apart from Germany, owing to the supply being far greater than the demand, there was not one single motor vessel. This latter type of vessel could alone be run at a profit when steamships had ceased to be remunerative. There can be little doubt that oil-driven shipping will predominate in the future.—Nautical Gazette, 3 June, 1922.
Description of New 11,000-Ton Vessel Which Consumes Only Ten Tons of Fuel Oil Per Day.—Burmeister and Wain of Copenhagen have just completed the motorship Teneriffa, which is the largest Diesel engine vessel yet turned out in these yards. The ship is 425 feet long, 55 feet broad, and 38 feet, 6 inches deep, with a dead-weight capacity of 10,875 tons.
The machinery consists of two main engines of the Burmeister and Wain 6-cylinder 4-cycle short stroke type. This installation will develop a normal average speed at sea of 11 ¼ knots, the stipulated normal consumption of fuel oil per day being 10 tons. On her recent trial trips the engines developed an average indicated horsepower of 3,383 at 138 revolutions per minute, the average speed being 12.29 knots.
The machinery is placed midship and the loading and unloading take place by means of five large cargo hatches, served by 12 winches. The 5-ton after winch has warping ends arranged on an elongated shaft to serve also as a warping winch.
The main engines are short stroke, forced lubricated, cross head engines on the front end fitted with three stage air compressors supplying the necessary injection air for atomizing the fuel oil.
All auxiliary machinery in the engine room as well as the deck machinery is electrically driven, the necessary current being supplied by three 60 k.w. Diesel dynamos. The voltage of the current is 220 volts and for the lighting purpose it is transformed down to no volts by means of a motor generator.
Each of the generators is sufficient for supplying the necessary current under normal working conditions at sea, whereas two or three generators have to be started, when the consumption of current is large, as is the case when the ship is maneuvering with the maneuvering compressor running, or when loading or unloading, the winches using much current.
The heating is effected by means of steam produced in a small cross tube boiler of 100 square feet heating surface, this boiler also being able to deliver steam for fire extinguishing in holds.—Nautical Gazette, 21 May, 1922.
How the Austrian Fleet Attacked Italy: A Well-Planned Operation and Its Consequences.—A further interesting chapter of the Austro-Hungarian navy's war history appears in the May number of the Marine Rundschau, jointly contributed by two officers of the old "K und K Marine." MM., Mazetti and Igalssy von Igaly. They give the first detailed account of the naval attack against the Italian coast on May 24, 1915, immediately following Italy's declaration of war. According to the authors, it was known on May 20 that war was inevitable, and the Austrian fleet was at once made ready for action, but the order to raise steam was not issued till the twenty-second. "The tension was acute, and officers and crews joyfully anticipated the signal. Finally, at 2:30 p.m. on the twenty-third, came the flagship's order, 'Raise steam in two boilers,' which at 5 p.m. was altered to 'All ships raise steam in all boilers.' The crews were then mustered aft to hear the reading of the declaration of war. Like a storm of hate, passion, joy, and lust of battle broke forth the resounding cheers. Men' embraced one another, threw their caps in the air, and looked gleefully at their officers. Thus we began." The final preparations for sailing were hastily completed. All details of the projected attack on Italy had been worked out days beforehand, and at 6 :30 p. m. the first group, led by the Saida, weighed and left harbor amidst scenes of great enthusiasm. They were followed by the destroyers and torpedo-boats, and then came the Hapsburg—to which old battleship Admiral Haus had temporarily transferred his flag—and the rest of the battle fleet.
A course was shaped for Ancona, 20 torpedo-boats sweeping ahead for mines. As none were found, the boats took up their screening positions when the fleet was five miles out, and four were detailed to accompany the battleships Zrinyi and Radctsky, which had a special mission to perform. At 12:30 a.m. in bright moonlight, an Italian airship was sighted and driven off by the flagship's A. A. guns. Two Italian torpedo-boats were also seen and fired at. Between 1 130 and 2 130 the Radetsky and Zrinyi. with their screening torpedo-'boats, left the main body and proceeded to their assigned positions. The scouting group, consisting of Saida, Ssigetvar, Balaton, and Triglav, had previously left to form a patrol line between Pedaso and Porto Tajer, while the Csikos and Velcbit had been sent on ahead to reconnoiter the breakwater at Ancona, and, if possible, to sink shipping in the harbor. "Gradually the outline of the Italian hills became visible. At 2:30 the two squadrons separated, the second proceeding towards Ancona at higher speed, and the first continuing astern at low speed. At 4 a. m. the ships of the second squadron opened with all heavy and medium guns on military objectives ashore, the fire being returned slowly and feebly by the land batteries. Our ships steamed past Ancona at a range of only 4,155 yards. Shortly after the bombardment began two of our aeroplanes appeared over Ancona and used their machine-guns against Fort Alfredo Savio, driving the gunners from their pieces. Thirty bombs were also dropped." Austrian torpedo-boats boldly entered the harbor and. torpedoed a steamer. The first squadron had been ordered to open fire at 13,120 yards, but. in obedience to a signal from the flagship, it closed the range to 6,500. The Tegetthoff opened at 4130 a. m., and soon after all ships were firing heavy salvos, the Ershersog Frans Ferdinand being the last to join in.
Columns of smoke and flame marked where the shells exploded, and a dense cloud of smoke and dust hung over the town. The fort and a steamer that lay on the stocks nearby were totally destroyed. The bombardment continued for nine minutes, after which, as all targets had been heavily damaged, the fleet drew off, and at 5 a. m. retraced its course. "There was a slight but undeniable nervousness of submarine attack, but the Italian report that the appearance of the submarine Foca had interrupted the bombardment and forced the fleet to retreat was not true." On the other hand, it is admitted that "a certain lack of squadron discipline" manifested itself during the return cruise, but this is attributed to the fact that no major evolutions had taken place for the previous nine months. Surprise is expressed that the Italian submarines at Venice made no attempt to intercept the fleet off Fola, which they might have attacked with success while it was altering formation to enter the swept channel.
Meanwhile, the other units of the fleet had performed the various tasks allotted to them. The "Novara group," comprising Novara, Scharfschiltze, and T. B.'s-78, 79, 80, and 81, led by Captain Horthy, had orders to attack Porto Corsini and the enemy destroyers and submarines which were believed to be lying there. The destroyer Scharfschiltze did, in fact, penetrate well into the narrow channel leading to the port, and opened fire on the infantry barracks, apparently causing many casualties. But the Italian batteries were on the alert, and a hot fire was directed against the Novara and T.B.-80, the latter being severely hit, while the Novara herself was repeatedly struck and had fairly heavy casualties. The Scharfschiltze, however, escaped from the channel without damage. The armored cruiser Sankt Gcorg, with T.B.'s-1 and 2, had been ordered to attack Rimini and shell the railway bridge, station, barracks, sulphur works, and water reservoir at a range of about 4,400 yards, but in this case the bombardment was not very effective, and little damage appears to have been done. The battleship Zrinyi. with two torpedo-boats, had the task of shelling the important railway bridge over the Misa river at Senigaglia, which was done at range of 3,.300 yards, the bridge, together with a troop train, being destroyed. The Radefsky bombarded the ferro-concrete railway bridge, 410 feet in length that spans the river Potenza, but, although a heavy fire was opened at only 2,200 yards, the damage inflicted was not serious.
While all these operations were in progress, the Saida, Szigetvar, Balaton, and Triglav patrolled the line between Pedaso and Porto Tajer, thus guarding the fleet against a surprise attack by enemy forces coming from the southward. The screen was further completed by cruisers and destroyers from Sebenico (Helgoland. Admiral Spaun. Czepel, Lvka, Orfen, Tatra, WUdfang, Streitcr, Ulan, Uskokr), which throughout the night patrolled between the Dalmatian and Italian coasts. At dawn on May 24 certain of these vessels attacked the Italian seaboard at Barletta. Manfredonia, and Termoli. Soon after the Helgoland had opened fire on Barletta, the Italian destroyers Aquilone and Turbine were sighted coming out. The former, zigzagging at high speed escaped in the direction of Bari. but the Turbine was headed off by four Austrian destroyers and finally brought to a standstill with a shell in her boilers, but not before she had damaged the Czepel. She was abandoned after the crew had been removed, and eventually foundered. While engaged in this rescue work the Austrians sighted two enemy vessels approaching, which were at first taken for battleships, but soon identified as the Liba and an auxiliary cruiser, their obvious purpose being to cut the Helgoland and her destroyers off from Sebenico. A running fight now ensued at high speed, the range varying from 8,750 to 9.800 yards, during which, it is claimed, the Liba received two hits. The Italian fire was "very good," the first salvo falling close alongside and the second straddling both Helgoland and Csepel, though neither was hit.
In summing up these initial operations against Italy the authors claim that complete success had been achieved. "While the enemy suffered heavy losses in men and material, we lost not a single vessel, and our casualties were light. The purpose of the attack, that of crippling enemy traffic on the east coast, and thus delaying the advance of the Italian army, had been completely fulfilled. The moral results were also considerable. Austria-Hungary's preparedness for war at sea had a very depressing effect on the inhabitants of the Italian east coast, and this effect lasted all through the war, paralyzing the coastal shipping. Troops refused to proceed north by the coast railway; large concentration camps with strong garrisons were established along the seaboard; and the Italian war industry was called upon to provide a great deal of material for the defense of this vulnerable frontier. It is an established fact," the authors declare, "that the consequences of this naval operation strongly influenced the opening stages of the campaign on the Isonzo front; indeed, it may be affirmed that but for this operation Italian troops could have pressed far beyond the Isonzo almost without fighting, by sheer weight of numbers, and perhaps even have reached our originally planned line of defence at Adelsberg. In any case, Italy was never so near to capturing, without appreciable loss, Trieste, and thus cutting off Istria and our fleet from the hinterland." It would be instructive to hear the Italian opinion on these claims.—Naval and Military Record, 24 May, 1922.
The Immunity of Public Ships.—The immunity of public ships is to be one of the chief items on the agenda of the conference to be held in London, on October, of the Comite Maritime International. It is understood that this has been arranged at the instance of the chamber of shipping of the United Kingdom, but the matter seems to have originated with a formal note addressed by Mr. Justice Hill to the Comite Maritime International in which he invited them to consider the question of the immunities of sovereign states in respect of proceedings against maritime property (ships and cargoes) owned or used by them. In his note, Mr. Justice Hill points out that a British sovereign cannot, against his will, be made subject to the jurisdiction of his own courts, nor can his property be proceeded against; and this immunity, in compliance with international comity, is extended by the British courts to foreign sovereign states. The result is that where ships belonging to sovereign states are involved in collision, or where such ships and state-owned cargoes have salvage services rendered to them, they cannot be arrested or be made the subject of legal proceedings in the ordinary way unless the sovereign state consents. Even as regards ships privately owned, but in the possession or service of a sovereign state, the courts will not allow them to be arrested, because in this way the sovereign state would be deprived of their use. Several examples are given in the note. The Broadmayne was a British ship in the service of the British sovereign during the war. The action was for salvage, but all proceedings with a view to the arrest or detention of the ship were stayed so long as the ship should remain under requisition in the service of the crown. The Messicano was an Italian ship in the service of the Italian Government. It was involved in a collision, and a similar order was made.
The cases instanced by Mr. Justice Hill arose during the war, and the service in which the privately owned ships were engaged was in the nature of war service; but, as he points out, there seems to be nothing in principle to prevent privately owned ships in the service of a sovereign state being immune from arrest in respect of matters arising out of ordinary trade service, although this cannot be treated as settled law. The grave objections to the immunity of such ships from legal proceedings and arrest, at least when they are engaged in times of peace and in trade, are referred to in the note. In one case it was said: "It is a great hardship upon the persons who have claims against such privately owned vessels that they should lose their most substantial remedy (arrest); and, in the interest of safe navigation, it is most unfortunate that there should be a number of vessels navigating the seas whose owners know that however negligently they may be navigated, no maritime lien can be enforced on the vessel while it is in state employment."
Mr. Justice Hill concludes by expressing the opinion that a remedy for the unsatisfactory position at present existing is to be sought on such lines as these: if sovereign states engage in trade and own trading ships of their own or use trading ships of private persons, they should submit to the ordinary jurisdiction of their own and foreign courts, and should permit those courts to exercise that jurisdiction by the ordinary methods of writ and arrest; and it is a matter for consideration whether this should not apply also to state-owned ships not engaged in trade, at least, to the extent of providing some means whereby an undertaking to pay should take the place of arrest and bail. It is satisfactory that these important questions are to be considered by the Comite Maritime International, especially as a committee was recently appointed by the lord chancellor to consider the whole question of civil proceedings by, and against, the British Crown. At present, as has been repeatedly pointed out, in all legal proceedings against the Crown, the dice are seriously loaded against the subject.—Engineer, 12 May, 1922.
The Spanish Navy.—Alone among maritime powers of the second rank, Spain is devoting marked attention to the development of her navy. The program of new construction now in hand makes quite an impressive showing, though it does not include any vessel above the grade of light cruiser. The Reina Victoria Eugenia, of this type, which was laid down at Ferrol dockyard in March, 1915, and launched two years ago, began her trials at the end of last November, when she is said to have easily exceeded her contract speed of 25.5 knots. The inordinate length of time occupied in building this ship was due entirely to the war, it being impossible to obtain delivery of certain materials and fittings until after the armistice. However much Spanish dockyards may have deserved their former notoriety for leisurely construction—some cruisers took twelve years to complete—they have since become remarkably efficient, and, given the necessary material, can now turn out war vessels as expeditiously as any other yards on the continent. The design of the Reina Victoria Eugenia, which closely resembles that of our light cruisers of the Birmingham class, was prepared as long ago as 1914, and is therefore obsolescent according to the post-war standard. The ship is 462 feet long over all, 49 ¾ feet in breadth, and draws 16 ¾ feet at full load. Her displacement is 5,600 metric tons. She is fitted with Parsons straight-drive turbines and 12 Yarrow boilers (coal and oil), the machinery developing 22,500 s.h.p. The main armament of nine 6-inch, 50-cal. guns, manufactured by Vickers, is arranged exactly as in H. M. S. Birmingham, but the two 21-inch torpedo tubes are above water instead of submerged. A 3-inch belt of nickel steel, carried up to the upper deck amidships and tapering to 1 ½ inches at the extremities, is reinforced by a protective deck with a maximum thickness of 3 inches.
Two cruisers of much improved type have been authorized, one of which is reported to have been begun at Ferrol. Particulars as given in the Spanish papers are as follows: Length, 537 ½ feet; beam, 52 ½ feet; displacement, 7,850 tons; machinery, geared turbines and oil-fired boilers, developing 80,000 s.h.p. for a speed of 36 knots. It is probable, however, that the designed speed does not exceed 33 knots. The armament consists of eight 6-inch, so-cal. guns, all disposed on the centerline, six of them being twin-mounted; four 3-inch or 4-inch anti-aircraft guns, and twelve above-water torpedo tubes on triple carriages. These two ships are unofficially reported to be named Augusta Victoria and Almirante Cervera.
Other vessels authorized or building for the Spanish navy are: (a) Three flotilla leaders, displacement variously given as 1,350 and 1,600 tons, 34 knots, four 4-inch guns and four tubes; (b) several torpedo boats, of 189 tons and 28 knots; (c) six submarines, 710 tons submerged displacement, surface speed 16 knots, endurance 4,200 sea miles, armed with one 3-inch gun and four tubes: and (d) three gunboats, 1,350 tons, 15 to 18 knots, mounting four 4-inch guns. All the above work is divided between the Ferrol and Cartagena yards. In addition an aircraft-carrier and several auxiliaries are in hand.—Naval and Military Record.
Speed Limit in Great Canals.—The following table shows the length of five of the world's leading canals and the maximum speed at which vessels are allowed to traverse these waterways:
Canal | Length in miles | Miles per hour |
Amsterdam | 15.5 | 5.6 |
Kiel | 61 | 6.2 |
Manchester | 35 | 6 |
Panama | 40 | 5.8 |
Suez | 104 | 6.1 |
—Nautical Gazette, 5 June, 1922.