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United States
“Treaty Navy” Delay beyond 1936 Likely.............................................................. 251
Old Destroyers to Be Bombed ............................................................................. 251
Great Britain
Smaller Submarines .......................................................................................... 252
Naval Mission to China........................................................................................ 252
Foreign Naval Commissions.................................................................................. 253
The Vickers’ Pedersen Self-Loading Rifle.............................................................. 253
France
Naval Experts Again Favoring Dreadnought Type.................................................. 255
New Cruiser........................................................................................................................................... 256
Germany
Naval Building Program..................................................................................................................... 256
Holland
Destroyer Program Completed............................................................................... 257
J ugoslavia -
The New Flotilla Leader ....................................................................................... 257
Merchant Marine
Recommendations to Aid U. S. Shipping.................................................................. 258
A New Era?............................................................................................................................................ 259
Engineering
The Development of Echo Sounding......................................................................... 260
Aviation
International Plane License Agreements................................................................. 262
Planned Army Air Corps Exercises ........................................................................ 262
The Blackburn “Sydney” Flying Boat....................................................................... 263
The Irvin Parachute Harness................................................................................. 263
British Aircraft Carrier Assignments...................................................................... 264
New Plane Equipment for R.A.F............................................................................. 264
Aircraft as Supply Vehicles ............................................................................................................... 264
New Direction Finder for Aircraft........................................................................... 265
The Curtiss Command Helldiver.................................................................................................. 266
Aeronautical Courses at Junior Colleges................................................................. 267
Miscellaneous
Torpedo Warfare................................................................................................................................... 268
A Nicaraguan Canal............................................................................................................................ 270
UNITED STATES
"Treaty Nary” Delay beyond 1936 Likely
New York Times, December 10.—Admiral William V. Pratt, chief of naval operations, voiced the opinion before the House Naval Committee today that the Navy would not be built up to the maximum strength authorized by the London Naval Treaty by 1936.
The Navy Department, he said, hoped, however, that Congress would “authorize” the construction of all ships needed to bring the fleet up to the treaty tonnage limits before the treaty expires in 1936. This would mean authorizations totaling about $1,000,000,000.
Because of the costs of construction and a desire to test the new experimental types of ships, the Navy planned to spread its building program over a number of years beyond the expiration date of the treaty, Admiral Pratt said, and hence would spread its requests for appropriations over the longer period.
Admiral Pratt advocated the immediate authorization of the cruisers, submarines, and aircraft carrier provided for in the $85,000,000 Britten bill introduced Monday.
The most important feature of the naval construction bill, he asserted, was the aircraft carrier of 13,800 tons to cost $27,650,000, and the second most important the construction of the 10,000-ton, 6-inch gun cruiser, equipped with an experimental Hying deck, to cost $20,780,000. Upon the success or failure of the new-type cruiser, he said, might rest the future design of the capital ship.
. Admiral Pratt said he believed the projected flying-deck cruiser would compensate, at least in part, for the ‘“sacrifice” of American 8-inch gun cruiser tonnage at London. His expressed opinion was that a vessel of this type, carrying from thirty to forty P™es and equal in speed to the 8-inch gun 10,000-ton cruiser, would prove a match for the bigger gunned vessel, as it could launch its planes for a bomb attack before the 8-inch gun vessel came within range.
He said that the Navy proposed to utilize the total aircraft carrier tonnage allowed by the London treaty by 1936 and probably would ask for another carrier next year, the smaller carriers were favored over the •Saratoga and Lexington, each of 33,000 tons displacement, because of greater maneuverability as well as for reasons of cost.
In answer to Chairman Britten, Admiral Pratt said the Navy would have built additional cruisers of the 7,500-ton 6-inch gun class even if the 10,000-ton 8-inch gun type had not been limited by the London treaty.
Although he would want only a limited number of 6-inch gun cruisers, the admiral said, they were more easily handled with the fleet than the larger type and were “invaluable” as scouting craft and for cooperation with destroyers.
Mr. Britten asked Admiral Pratt if the general board, which formerly wanted more 8-inch gun cruisers had changed its mind since the London conference.
“I think they are melting,” the Admiral replied.
But with enough of the lighter vessels for close-in fleet work under protection of battleship guns, “I’d take all the 8-inch gun cruisers allowed and assign all excess tonnage to flying-deck cruisers,” Admiral Pratt said.
An ultimate change in the design of the battleship rather than its abandonment by the maj'or powers, was forecast by the admiral. This vessel, he thought, would combine great offensive gun power with ability to launch destructive bombs from the air at targets hundreds of miles distant. It would not be many years he thought, before the Navy would be asking Congress for an appropriation to build an experimental ship of the type he visualized.
Old Destroyers to Be Bombed
Army Ordnance, December.—Bombing practice with the hulks of two decommissioned destroyers, the Sloat and the Marcus will be the first research to determine the comparative effectiveness of 30- and 116- pound bombs since the Navy employed the battleship Washington as a target for aircraft attacks in 1921.
The Sloat and the Marcus are to be attacked off the Pacific coast this winter, while a third decommissioned destroyer, the Stod- dert is to be equipped with remote-control apparatus and converted to a “perennial target.” Experiments with the Stoddcrt probably will not be inaugurated until early 1931.
The success of the tests with the Stoddert, which will be subj'ected to machine-gun attacks by airplane and will be a target for dummy shells and bombs, will determine a course of action for the future, since tentative plans already have been drawn up to convert five other decommissioned destroyers for similar bombing and firing practice.
Routine bombing and gunnery practice is performed by the aircraft squadrons each year, but only towed and stationary wooden targets and towed sleeve targets are used. An armored target has not been employed during the past ten years, and the routine practice determines only the percentage of hits.
Use of the two destroyer hulks as stationary targets will result in a financial saving for the department of the Navy. The ordinary wooden targets used cost $18,000 each, while the value of the two cruisers to be tested is estimated at $5,000 each, the amount which the Navy might expect to receive if these vessels were sold for scrapping.
The radio-controlled Stoddert will be a target for dummy bombs and “dud” shells from the secondary 5-inch battleship batteries, and will be towed back to port for patching after each test. Such an arrangement is expected to extend the life of the target vessel indefinitely and if the plans work out satisfactorily five other destroyers not yet selected will be used for this purpose.
Radio-controlled targets provide more realistic conditions for tests, although the vessels are not protected by antiaircraft guns or defensive airplanes. The greater speed at which such vessels can be maneuvered, however, is important in testing the accuracy of hits since the towed targets do not exceed a speed of eight knots.
GREAT BRITAIN Smaller Submarines
The Naval and Military Record, November 12.—Orders have now been placed at Chatham for beginning work on two submarines of the 1929 program, which originally provided for six boats but has been reduced by one-half. These craft are to have a displacement of just over 600 tons, and are therefore smaller than any underwater boats laid down since some years before the great war. This is interesting, since it shows a reversion to the principle of the “efficient minimum” for flotilla work. The O- and P- classes of submarines, built since the war, average about 1,700 tons in displacement and are of the ocean-going type. Presumably these vessels are designed for independent service—as submarine cruisers, in fact. For fleet flotilla work the smaller the submarine—within reasonable limitations, of course—the better. The small craft is quicker in her evolutionary movements and less likely to be detected by the swell of her displacement wave. The Admiralty do not appear to have much enthusiasm for the submarine for fleet action work, and, of course, her very low speed when submerged is a serious handicap. There is a disposition to question whether the ever-increasing range of the torpedo is not having a neutralizing effect upon its value. The latest pattern has a run of 12,000 yards and takes nearly twenty minutes to cover this distance. A heavy high-velocity shell would take about twenty-five seconds in traversing the same distance.
As the torpedo is supposed to be an invisible weapon—in practice it seldom is—■ the invisible boat ought to be the ideal craft for torpedo warfare. But the submarine was not conspicuously successful against surface warships during the war. When she caught her prey “sitting,” as in the case of the three Hogues, her work was easy enough. But in the few big actions of the war she was never where she was wanted. The Germans undoubtedly forced us into a competition of size. They built progressively bigger submarines to carry on their campaign against commerce, and we responded by turning out still bigger submarines with the idea of countering them. This rather unreasoning process appears to have been continued since the war—in spite of the confessed conclusion that the K-class and the XI are white elephants. The fact appears to be that there is no definite idea as to how the submarine will be employed. Apparently, however, it has been decided that she may still play a useful part in a fleet action, and that she will play this part the more successfully for being of small size.
Naval Mission to China
London Times, December 3.—In accordance with the Chinese-British naval agreement signed in June, 1929, in Nanking, the Admiralty announces that a British naval mission will proceed to China to advise and assist the Ministry of the Navy of the Nationalist Government in the projected reorganization and modernization of the Chinese Navy.
Captain H. T. Baillie-Grohman, who was promoted in the June list this year, has been selected as the first head of the naval mission. He will assume the rank of commodore in the Chinese Navy, and will proceed to China early in 1931 to arrange preliminaries for the establishment of the mission with Vice-Admiral Chen, the Vice-Minister of the Navy in Nanking.
The remaining officers and ratings of the mission, the composition of which has not yet been definitely decided, will proceed to China when the necessary arrangements are complete.
Foreign Naval Commissions
The Naval and Military Record, December 3.—The Greek government has decided to continue the British naval mission to that country, and has so notified the Admiralty, requesting that further officers, to be selected by the Admiralty, be appointed to replace the members of the present mission when they become time-expired.
The Vickers’ Pedersen Self-Loading Rifle
Engineering, November 21.—It is well known that the military rifle has not been developed to the same point of effectiveness as the machine gun, although the magazine rifle has been in use since 1890. The design of a weapon which has to be handled sometimes by partly trained men, has to be carried by the individual soldier, and has to stand rough usage, presents many difficult problems, some of which have hitherto only been solved at the expense of others, the success of the general solution not being complete enough to warrant the discarding of weapons which have, for want of it, to be retained in spite of their limitations. The Pedersen self-loading rifle, which is illustrated by Figs. 1 to 4, is claimed by Messrs. Vickers-Armstrongs, Limited, Broadway, London, S.W.l, to fill the requirements for effective small arms for both infantry and cavalry in a more thorough manner than hitherto.
The term “self-loading” is used for the rifle in the sense that once the magazine, which holds ten rounds, is placed in the breech, all the ammunition can be expended without any further effort than a pressure on the trigger for each shot, that is, there is no bolt to manipulate, and loading and ejection are automatic. At the same time it must be understood that to avoid waste of ammunition fully automatic working with a continuous trigger pressure has been deliberately avoided. From the general views given in Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the new rifle is particularly free from any projections which might make it difficult to handle. It has a barrel 24 in. long, and a total length of 45 in. The weight is 8.8 lb. which compares favorably with the 9 lb. of the British service rifle. On the other hand the caliber is 0.276 in. (7 mm.) as against 0.303 in. of the service rifle, but, as the possible rate of fire is 90 rounds per minute, as an expert can fire 50 aimed shots per minute, and a reservist, say, 25, this decrease in caliber is balanced by the greater amount of ammunition dealt with. The number of rounds carried can be increased by about 25 per cent without addition to the load previously borne. The weight of 10 rounds complete with a clip, which is expendable, is 0.486 lb., and the weight of one cartridge is 302.6 grains. This may be compared with the 7.92 mm. Mauser cartridge which weighs 370.3 grains. The barrel has six rifling grooves, with a uniform twist of one turn in 9 in. The muzzle velocity is 2,700 ft. per second.
The rear part of the barrel is air-cooled by means of helical fins, and is kept from contact with the hand by a light perforated cover. This is more clearly visible in Fig.
3, in which the operation of loading is shown. Below the cover the stock is formed with a gripping groove, making the rifle very comfortable to hold. The cartridge clip is loaded by a simple downward pressure of the thumb, and is automatically ejected when the ten rounds have been fired leaving the breach open in the position shown in Fig.
4, thus drawing attention to the fact that reloading is necessary. Incidentally, the breech flies open into this position at the firing of every shot, thus apparently obscuring the back sight. Paradoxical as it may appear, however, this action, which is followed by immediate and automatic closing, does not interfere with aiming in any way, due to its rapidity and the natural phenomenon of persistence of vision. The mechanism depends upon the contact of rolling surfaces, and is therefore not easily chocked with sand or mud, a factor conducing to reliability under almost any conditions. The back sight, seen immediately behind the breech block in Fig. 4, is of the aperture type, the bar perforated with the aperture being capable of being moved transversely either way, for wind allowance, by an indexed thumbscrew on the right hand. Alteration for elevation is effected by a large vertical thumbscrew, with an index and formed with a helical milled ridge to ensure a proper grip. It is graduated to 1,000 meters. This sight can be adjusted both for wind and elevation with the right hand without removing the rifle from the shoulder. The foresight is equally novel. It is of the bead type, but is carried on a bridge so that there is a view below the bead, as well as above it, a property which should be particularly valuable when using the gun against a moving object, such as aircraft. This sight does not interfere with the fitting of a bayonet of any desired type.
FIG. 4. EJECTION OF EMPTY CARTRIDGE CLIP
As regards the performance of the rifle, we recently had the opportunity of witnessing a test on the National Rifle Association ranges at Bisley, in which three men took part. Each fired about 180 rounds, beginning at a range of 500 yards, and then running forward 100 yards and again firing, repeating this until a range of 100 yards was reached. The best score was 85 bulls, 53 inners, and 37 outers, and the worst was 50 bulls, 60 inners, and 43 outers. In rapid firing for one minute at 100 yards one of the men made 62 bulls, 4 inners, 1 outer, and 1 miss, a total of 68 shots. The recoil of the rifle was low, and it would appear that apart from the reduction in fatigue effected by this there is less tendency for the firer to
lose his target between shots; while the elimination of frequent loading and bolt manipulation, reduces the number of times the target has to be picked up, and so conduces to a saving in ammunition by a smaller number of wasted rounds. Examination of the trajectory curve shows that this is flatter than that of the 7.92 mm. Mauser rifle, while the remaining velocity at a range of
1.0 meters is 1,120 ft. per second as against the Mauser rate of 925 ft. per second for the same range.
FRANCE
Naval Experts Again Favoring Dreadnought
Type
The Baltimore Sun, By Hector C. Bywater.—After prolonged cogitation the French naval staff, according to a well-informed Paris correspondent, has definitely decided that France must make use of the
70.0 tons of capital ship replacement tonnage which was allotted to her under the Washington and London naval pacts. In reaching this important decision the authorities, as they readily admit, were influenced mainly by the German “pocket battleships,” the first of which, Ersatz Preussen, may be ready for service by the end of next year. These ships, it will be remembered, combine the armament of a battleship (six 11- inch guns), with a cruiser speed of 26 knots and an immense radius of ^ction, all these qualities being embodied in a vessel of
10.0 tons.
It has long been evident that the 10,000- ton treaty type cruiser, with an 8-inch battery, is no match for ah Ersatz Preusen. French naval experts, with their painful memories of the Gocben in the Mediterranean and their inability to trap that elusive ship, think they have special reason to fear the advent of the new pocket battleships.
Since the war strength of the national army could not be attained without the prompt arrival of the divisions stationed in northern Africa, and since these troops could not be shipped to France unless the sea routes were safe, the building of ships sufficiently powerful and speedy enough to neutralize enemy craft of the Ersatz Preussen type is regarded as a military necessity of the last importance.
To make assurance doubly sure the French experts have designed a “reply” type, which in fighting power will be immeasurably superior to the German ship. It is a battle cruiser of 23,333 tons and a speed of 28 knots. She will be steam driven, but to increase her radius of action a Diesel engine, for use at cruising speed, is to be installed. The armament, still under consideration, will consist of 13.4-inch guns, probably eight in number. Protection is to be as complete as possible and much more robust than that of the Ersatz Preussen. If the Chamber can be persuaded to advance the money three of these battle cruisers are to be built before 1936.
That they will be constructed is highly probable, since the most thrifty Frenchman is ready to part with his money when there is any question of countering the German “menace.”
For several reasons the French decision to resume the building of capital ships is of interest. Paris has long been the stronghold of antibattleship policy and its capitulation is a blow to the Jeune Ecole, whose principles of naval defense by light craft and submarines alone have thus been officially repudiated. The doctrinaires have been defeated by inexorable facts. Probably the “war game” board has played its part in bringing about this drastic change of policy, just as it was a weighty factor in confirming the admiralties of Britain, America, and Japan in their resolve to retain their dreadnought squadrons.
Cruisers, fast destroyers, submarines and aircraft are formidable weapons, but their efficacy against highly mobile capital ships, even in narrow seas, has yet to be demonstrated. On the high seas mastodon must be met by mastodon and not by mosquito craft alone. A nation apprehensive for its safety cannot afford to found its defensive system on theories, however plausible they may be.
The news from Paris follows on the heels of an announcement that Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond has been “shelved” by the British Admiralty on account of his heretical views as to naval building policy. Sir Herbert, who is both a distinguished sailor and intellectual in the best sense of the word, is chief exponent of the modernist school— equivalent to the French Jeune Ecole—in British naval circles. He has long urged a return to small dimensions, and has recently gone on record as fixing the limit at 10,000 tons.
So far as I know, he is one of the very few British naval officers of high rank who takes that view. The majority, while acknowledging the enormous cost cjf a modern dreadnought, point out the technical impossibility of incorporating in a 10,000-ton hull combatant qualities in any degree comparable to those, say, of a Nelson, a Maryland or a Nagato.
The design of the Ersatz Preussen is hardly relevant to the question. This vessel is in many respects a “freak” ship, which may or may not prove a success. Our German friends are investing $20,000,000 in an experiment, and their enterprise is to be commended. But nations with a bigger stake on the seas cannot afford such experiments.
I have never believed that the dreadnought type would be scrapped except by mutual agreement. And if the three leading powers are all keeping their battleships from motives of prudence—on the principle that heavy metal must be counterbalanced by equal weight—what point would there be in one of them, when the time comes for replacement, laying down a 10,000-ton ship while the others were starting vessels of
35,0 tons and thrice as much fighting power? Such a policy would be fatuous and would never appeal to the cool heads that control naval administration in London, Washington, and Tokyo.
On the other hand, it is quite on the cards that the ponderous dreadnought may become extinct in consequence of international agreement. The question may be raised at the next conference in 1936, though it is by no means certain to be settled there and then. All three of the big powers, in reviewing their naval requirements, have to consider the problem from the angle of oceanic strategy, not merely from the aspect of coastal defense or the protection of- short and well-defined routes in confined waters.
That is why American naval experts have resisted every attempt to reduce the Washington treaty standards of tonnage. The small ship, they argue, may be useful enough to a navy which has numerous and well-situated bases abroad, but is of limited value to a navy which lacks this asset. There is cogency in the argument, though it is sometimes pushed to extreme lengths.
But if, in the course of time, the perfection of the internal-combustion engine, side by side with progress in the science of metallurgy and the art of shipbuilding, should render it feasible to endow relatively small ships with high speed, a wide radius and a potent battery, the principal objection to reduced displacement will disappear, and we may then come down to battleships, if not of 10,000 tons, at least very considerably smaller than the standard dreadnought of today.
It may be added that the French decision to build battle cruisers will do nothing to relax the present politico-naval friction in the Mediterranean, for it has just been announced at Rome that Italy will adopt a “keel-for-keel” policy if France should resume the construction of capital ships.
New Cruiser
London Times, December 1.—The keel is to be laid at Brest today of the cruiser Algerie, the seventh of the post-Washington 10,000-ton cruisers in the French Navy. She will differ in design from the earlier vessels in having a lower speed and better protection. A 6-in. armor belt is spoken of, and the maximum designed speed will be 32 instead of 33 knots. Of the earlier ships, the Duquesne, Tourville, Snffren, and Colbert are completed; the Foch is nearly ready ; and the Dupleix was launched on October 9 last. France also has in hand, due for completion next year, the training cruiser Jeanne d’Arc, of about 6,500 tons, with an armament of eight 6.1-in. guns.
GERMANY Naval Building Program
Naval and Military Record, November 19. —No doubt it was merely a matter of coincidence that, as the futile Preparatory Disarmament Commission was once again assembling at Geneva, the German Navy Estimates for 1930 should have been made public. These disclose that the so-called “pocket battleship,” Ersatz Preussen, will be completed at the Deutsche Werke Yard, Kiel, in 1932, by which time she will have been some four years under construction, and that three more vessels of the same type are to be built. They will be the Ersatz Lothengrin, to be laid down next year; the Ersatz Braunschweig, to be laid down in 1932, and the Ersatz Elsass, not to be laid down until 1936. The remaining items of the program are of comparatively minor interest. On the whole, the German government is showing moderation in its proposals, since under the Versailles Treaty, it might have had six replacement battleships built or under construction by 1936. Possibly, there is a desire to gain experience with the new and very experimental type before undertaking construction of the full permitted quota, for there is nothing to prevent Germany from laying down another two such ships before 1936 if she decides to do so. Incidentally, the cost of these vessels is officially disclosed at £3,750,000, or £375 per ton of standard displacement. They are thus by far the most expensive warships ever built.
In this country the German building program will be regarded with nothing more than casual interest. In naval circles there may be a disposition to wonder just how far the ships may present new tactical problems. It is estimated that their Diesel engines will give them a full speed of 26 knots, but this yet has to be proved. In practice it is doubtful whether they will prove any faster than our Queen Elizabeths, and in bad weather not so fast. Therefore, we may reasonably reckon upon possessing five battleships and three battle cruisers (after the Tiger has gone) capable of hunting them down. On the other hand, they will have a remarkable sea-keeping endurance, estimated up to
20,0 miles at economic speed, and far in excess of that of any of our capital ships at full speed. Their 11-inch guns are said to outrange any of the weapons employed at Jutland, but in the comparison with our capital ships we must remember that they would be using their guns against armored vessels, while their own very lightly protected hulls would have to withstand the smashing blows of 15-inch shells.
HOLLAND
Destroyer Program Completed
The Engineer, November 21.—The recent satisfactory trials of the destroyer Van Ness on the measured mile at Skelmorlie, which vessel was built for the Royal Netherlands Navy by Burgerhouts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, of Rotterdam, marks the completion of a very successful destroyer-building program. We may recall that in 1926 the Netherlands government decided to build eight destroyers to the designs of Yarrow and Company, Ltd., of Scotstoun. The program was carried through in two sections and of the first four ships, the De Reuter was built at the Royal de Schelde yards, Flushing, while Messrs. Burgerhouts constructed three ships, the Evertsen, the Piet Hien, and the Kortenaer. Each of the ships is propelled by a twin-screw arrangement of Parsons turbines, steam being supplied by three Yarrow boilers working at a pressure of 275 lb. per square inch and 610 degrees F. steam temperature. The second half of the program comprised the building of a further four ships, of which the Van Galen and the Witte de With were built by the Fijnoord Company, of Rotterdam, and the Banckert and Van Ness by Messrs. Burgerhouts. In these four ships high-pressure, high-temperature turbine machinery was installed, the working boiler pressure being 400 lb. per square inch, with 685 degrees F. total steam temperature. The trials have shown a decided increase in economy, compared with the first four ships, which bears out the good results obtained in recent liners such as the Viceroy of India and in the C.P.R. Duchess and Empress liners, in which high-pressure boilers have been installed. The eight destroyers above mentioned were all built to Yarrow’s design and under the firm’s technical advice.
JUGOSLAVIA The New Flotilla Leader
The Engineer, November 7.—The new flotilla leader for the Royal Jugoslavian government, which has been ordered from Yarrow and Company, Ltd., of Scotstoun, Glasgow, bears the distinction of being the largest and most powerful ocean-going vessel of this type yet built in this country, either for the British or any foreign navy. We are indebted to the builders for the following information concerning this interesting vessel. Her displacement will be about 2,400 tons, and she will have a length of 371 ft. 6 in., a beam of 35 ft., and a depth of 22 ft. 9 in. She will be propelled by a twin-screw arrangement of geared turbines, the whole of the power being transmitted through single-reduction gearing of the double helical type. Special care will be taken to balance dynamically the turbine rotors and gearing to avoid vibration and obtain smooth running. The designed output of the turbines will be about 42,000-shaft horsepower. > Steam will be supplied from three boilers of the latest Yarrow water-tube type, with the firm’s own design of superheaters and air heaters. The main armament of the new destroyer is to include four 5.5-in. guns and two triple torpedo tubes. All parts of the ship are to be fitted with the most modern equipment, and with a view to service in hot climates, very roomy and comfortable accommodation is to be provided. The order for the ship was placed at the end of last year, and the work on her hull and machinery is now well in hand.
MERCHANT MARINE Recommendations to Aid U. S. Shipping
The Nautical Gazette, December 6.— Readjustment of American shipping laws to meet conditions confronting the American merchant marine is strongly urged by the United States Shipping Board in its fourteenth annual report as submitted to Congress December 1. The board recommends that the rates of mail compensation authorized under the Jones-White Act be revised to provide higher pay for vessels in excess of 24-knot speed, and that the principles embodied in the so-called White Clarification Amendment, which provided for the award of mail contracts to purchasers of Shipping Board lines, be enacted into law.
In this report the board is able to point out specific progress which has been made in strengthening and improving American shipping, along the lines directed by the Jones- White Act. At the close of the fiscal year (June 30, 1930), the board had authorized loans to twenty-two steamship companies for the construction of forty-nine new vessels and for the conversion or improvement of thirteen vessels. These authorized loans totaled $114,564,715, of which $43,050,890 was advanced before June 30. Since that date the total amount of loans authorized has been increased to $131,793,003.25.
New developments during the fiscal year also included the consideration of three routes hitherto not served by American-flag steamship lines as routes essential to American foreign commerce, as provided by Section 7 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. These routes are as follows: Baltimore and
Hampton Roads to Bremen and Hamburg; Pacific Coast to European ports; and Pacific Coast to South Africa. The first of these has been certified by the board as an essential route, and, following negotiations with the Roosevelt Steamship Company of New York, the board has sold that company five large steel freighters to be converted into combination passenger and cargo vessels for the inauguration of this service next year. The line will be known as the Baltimore Mail Steamship Company, and will be operated under an ocean mail contract awarded the Roosevelt company.
The second of the above routes has been under the board’s consideration for several months. In September, 1929, the board sought bids from private companies for the purchase of vessels to be used in creation of a Pacific-European line. Offers were received for operation under Shipping Board ownership, but there was no bid looking to the establishment of the service with private capital. Since that time, however, the Interocean Steamship Corporation has established regular direct service over this route with sailings every twenty-six days.
The last-mentioned essential trade route is now being served by the Pacific South African Line operated by the South African Dispatch Line, of San Francisco, with vessels chartered from the Shipping Board. The movement of cargo over this route has advanced sharply since the service was established in September, 1929.
The legislative recommendations of the board are to some extent renewals of suggestions put forward in previous reports, but all are designed expressly to relieve private American steamship companies from existing handicaps in their competition with lines of other flags. In the case of one of these recommendations, that which would provide assurance of mail contracts to purchasers of Shipping Board lines, it is anticipated by the board that its enactment into law would greatly hasten the board’s progress in transferring government-owned lines to private American ownership. A bill covering such a program was passed in the House of Representatives during the last session of Congress but failed of enactment in the Senate.
In connection with mail pay rates for vessels of higher speeds, the board declares that mail pay for this class of ships (in excess
of 24-knot speed) should be commensurate with the increased differential in cost of operating vessels of the higher speeds.
The board also recommends that American lines, which operate foreign-flag ships in competition with American vessels, should not be entitled to receive mail contract benefits of the Jones-White law. A bill to this effect also was passed in the House last session, but failed in the Senate.
Further recommendations contained in the Board’s report are as follows:
Provision should be made for tax exemption on American vessels operating in foreign trade, including a provision whereby deductions shall be allowed from taxable incomes derived from operating profits to the extent that such profits are devoted to new ship construction in American yards.
Legislation should be enacted looking to the transfer to privately owned American shipping interests of the peace-time business now handled by Navy and Army transports and by the vessels owned and chartered by the Panama Railroad Steamship Line.
Funds should be appropriated to carry into effect the act of Congress approved February 23, 1925, providing for the creation of a naval reserve.
Some form of government aid should be provided for American cargo ships, not benefited by mail contracts, in order to lower the operating differential which now handicaps these vessels in competing with ships owned and operated by foreigners.
Proposals have frequently been made to establish “free ports” or foreign trade zones in ports of the United States, and several bills to that end have been introduced in Congress. In view of differences of opinion as to whether or not the establishment of these zones woul^ benefit American shipping, it might well be considered whether their establishment in this country, if sanctioned by Congress, should not first be undertaken on a limited scale under direct authority of the federal government.
The method of determining the rate of interest on construction loans should be fixed more definitely in order to secure uniformity in rate to borrowers of these long-term loans. The matter is n°w before Congress and it is hoped that favorable action may be taken at the next session.
F is recommended that the limitation of $150,000,000 on the amount of construction loans as prescribed in the second deficiency act, fiscal year 1928, page 7, be removed, and that the Shipping Board be authorized to enter into contracts to make loans up to the ultimate amount of the fund, namely, $250,000,000, the board, however, not to obligate itself to make actual disbursements of money in excess of the available cash balance standing at the time to the credit of said fund.
It is recommended that section 11 (a), Merchant Marine Act, 1920, be further amended to provide. _ that the contributions to the construction loan fffncT. by the United States Shipping Board be permitted^" to continue until such sums, plus appropriations by
Congress, reach the maximum of $250,000,000 provided by section 302 (b), Merchant Marine Act of 1928.
Changes should be made in the present laws relating to the division of damages in cases of collisions of vessels at sea, to conform to the proposals of the International Marine Convention of 1910. These changes should be brought about by legislation rather than by treaty.
_ Recommendation is made that legislation looking to the adoption of The Hague Rules, substantially as provided in H.R. 3830, Seventy-first Congress, should be enacted at an early date.
/ The International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea, signed in London on May 31, 1929, by delegates from eighteen governments, including, ,tll£ government of the United States, should be ratified and given full effect by Congress.
Undeterred by the general business depression, the board states, American shipowners are augmenting their fleets in order to be in a strategic competitive position when normal conditions again prevail.
A New Era?
The Nautical Gazette, November 22.— Lloyd Sabaudo seems destined not only to throw a bombshell into the lively transatlantic arena oi passenger-line competition, but to usher in a new era in passenger comfort. All must agree that the shipping event of greatest universal human interest in years was the announcement this week that Lloyd Sabaudo’s new superluxury liner Conti di Savoia would be virtually prevented from rolling at sea by three Sperry gyroscopic stabilizers costing $1,000,000.
Stabilizers have been used on yachts and even on a 10,000-ton airplane carrier; and the Germans have used Framm antirolling tanks to considerable extent and with varying success on passenger vessels; but never before have the owners of a commercial ship seen the economic advantage of installing rather costly stabilizers to limit the roll of a ship to five degrees—practically nothing.
In making the announcement, Colonal M. Serrati, the company’s director in the United States, pointed out that “there are still too many people right here in America who are eager to go to Europe, but who hold back because of fear of discomfort or illness from a rough crossing.” His company was the first “to go to the heart of the problem” by installing a “mechanical giant with the power to hold the decks level in the roughest weather.”
This Italian line has started something. The Bremen and the Europa captured the speed record. But the Conte di Savoia and the new Rex of the N.G.I. not only will have 27.5-knots speed, but promise to get the jump in luxury and comfort. Now it is a question what the other lines, such as United States, Cunard, White Star, and French will do with their new ships already projected in the race.
The main consideration of owners is, of course, an economic one—whether passenger revenue will increase enough to warrant the expense of installing stabilizers. Will the investment give a fair return? Evidently Lloyd Sabaudo believes the $1,000,000 expense is worth it in the case of its new ship. It evidently believes the elimination of rolling is the main thing, and that the pitching of an 820-ft. hull spanning and cutting through the average waves at high speed is negligible. Whether installations on shorter and slower ships will always give as great a degree of effectiveness in all kinds of confused seas—such as those producing a combined heavy roll and pitch-—may be another question; but one in which we are not concerned here.
If, however, all the luxury superliners should install stabilizers, the lines will have an extra investment running into the millions, and all will again be on a par as a to sea motion. So the final result may be considerable increase in traffic on all lines—the public paying for the extra comfort, with or without an increase in fares. At any rate the public owes a great debt of gratitude to the late Dr. Sperry, whose inventive genius has proven of invaluable benefit to mankind in more ways than one.
The three gyroscopic stabilizers on the Conte di Savoia will each weigh 100 tons and measure 13 feet in diameter (rotors only). These will be fitted in the lower hold about under the bridge, and each stabilizer will be actuated by a small 50-pound gyroscope set in the wing of the hull. The amount of gyroscopic force may be realized from the fact that 300 tons of steel in gyroscopic motion can effectively control the sea motion of a vessel of over 50,000 tons.
Each gyro wheel weighing 100 tons requires to operate it as a stabilizer an electrical energy equal to 560 hp. The total power required to operate all three stabilizers in bad weather is nominally 1,500 hp., although the maximum capacity of all the electric driving motors is 1,830 hp. In all likelihood the generators for auxiliary purposes in this ship will be Diesel driven, as on the Europa and Bremen, and therefore the fuel cost of the 1,500 hp. in operating all three gyros for a continuous period of twenty-four hours should not exceed $60 per day.
The principle of the gyro is that of the spinning top and is really not difficult to understand. Its stabilizing action is based upon what is called precession, which is that when any force is applied changing the plane of a spinning gyro wheel, a force is created at right angles to the applied force. The operation of a stabilizing set is as follows: The small control gyro precesses—due to the initial changes in the ship’s rolling motion—around a vertical axis (the shaft of the gyro wheel being horizontal fore and aft) ; and by electrical circuits and a magnetic brake, controls the main precession motor, which, through a mechanical gear, tilts fore and aft the vertical shaft of the main gyro whose rotor precesses around a horizontal axis. The main gyro casing rests in two large gudgeon bearings athwartship over the centerline of the vessel, and since the precession exerts force at right angles to the applied force, the result from the main gyro is a force acting directly down on one bearing and up on the other, thus counteracting the motion of the vessel. Both gyro rotors are, of course, driven by an electric motor. The precession of the small control gyro is arranged to give movement between a gap on either side of which is an electrical contact for the circuits controlling operation of the main precession motor.
ENGINEERING
The Development of Echo Sounding
The Shipbuilder, December 1.—During the past year, there has been a rapid development in the use of echo sounding apparatus. It is now about five years ago that the principle had its inception, and during the intervening period every phase has been experimented with. The name of Messrs. Henry Hughes and Son, Ltd., has been prominently associated with this development, and, as is now well known, their instruments have been adopted, to an exceptional extent in the British Navy as well as for numerous important vessels in the merchant service. Its value to cable ships and in connection with survey work is obvious.
' Up to the present, however, the application of the gear has been dependent upon observation either by ear or eye. Neither of these methods is automatic, and neither fully meets the maximum requirements of the navigator or surveyor. Messrs. Hughes, recognizing this limitation, have been investigating the possibility of producing an instrument which would effectively remove it, by making an autographic record of the contour of the sea bottom. Some arrangement of the kind has been made in the French echo-sounding equipment; but, owing to its complex and expensive character, it has not found wide application. Messrs. Hughes are to be congratulated on their solution of the problem, which is both simple and accurate, and which enables short or long series of soundings by echo to be made and a visible record of the bottom to be obtained. The soundings can be made at the rate of forty-five per minute, equivalent to sixty per inch of the autographic record, and a very fine and accurate contour line results.
A photograph of the receiving unit and recording apparatus is reproduced in Fig. 1. The latter consists of a drum, over which a paper, moistened by a suitable chemical solution, is passed. The drum is the positive pole of the microphone circuit, and the pen, which passes across the moist paper, is the negative pole. The variation of current created by the echo reaching the microphone causes a discoloration of the paper at the echo point. A zero line is marked on the record, and a scale enables the depth to be read off. A reproduction of a portion of a chart taken by the Hughes installation in the new Union-Castle liner Winchester Castle is given in Fig. 2, with the appropriate scale of fathoms.
The new apparatus will greatly extend the use of echo sounding, as the navigator or surveyor is able to make his own charts on any particular run the first time he takes his ship there. He is given a clear idea of the nature of the sea bed, and of those features upon which he can rely for future observations and location of position.
It may be said that the recording apparatus will be practically indispensable in survey work, as the rapidity with which obser-
vations may be taken will be enormously increased. Records may be taken for either long or short periods; and the moment the chart has passed through the drying chamber, the actual contour line can be studied and any part to be resurveyed immediately seen. The increased accuracy obtained by the large number of soundings taken and the precise time marking will also be of great advantage.
Head phones may be used in conjunction with the apparatus if desired, an accurate check on the recorded sounding being thereby obtained.
With reference to sounding at very great depths, the apparatus has given a high de-
gree of accuracy; but is it universally agreed that, for deep-water work, sounding by ear is the most accurate. This does not, of course, prevent the use of th,e recorder; and it is hoped that, in the near future, the apparatus will be utilized to read up to four hundred fathoms.
In conclusion, it may be mentioned that the new apparatus is known officially as the British Admiralty Type No. 752.
AVIATION
International Plane License Agreements
New York Herald Tribune, December 7. -—The present status of international aviation agreements is such that a plane which may be licensed as airworthy in one country might be denied official government approval to fly in another.
The United States government soon will undertake negotiations with other countries for reciprocal relations concerning aircraft licenses.
At present the United States has such agreements only with Canada and Columbia. The agreement with Canada provides that certificates of airworthiness on aircraft built in Canada and exported to the United States will be accepted by the United States if issued by the Department of National Defense of the Dominion in accordance with the latter’s requirements. Canada recognizes American licenses issued under the same conditions.
In dealing with all other countries, Columbia excepted, this country issues airworthy certificates on planes to be exported, but these are not definite assurances that such aircraft will be accepted as airworthy upon their arrival at their destination.
Certificates of airworthiness on craft for export are issued only when the craft is approved by the Bureau of Aeronautics. In the event that a manufacturer should desire to export an airplane to any foreign country, where no reciprocal agreement is in effect, a certificate of airworthiness will be issued by the bureau upon application by the manufacturer or recorded owner, presuming that the aircraft is of a type eligible for export and conforms with the airworthiness requirements of this country.
It is in the matter of manufacturing practices that the greatest confusion has developed in defining what constitutes an airworthy airplane. In many countries the use of welded-steel tubing for fuselage construction is not approved as a safe practice.
Despite the absence of many international aircraft agreements, representatives of this country have sought to keep the export and import relations “in the best order possible” in anticipation of making further agreements which will permit the issuance of export certificates “in blank.”
An example is the ruling by the Bureau of Aeronautics that where foreign owned aircraft of American manufacture are returned to the United States for repairs or remodeling from one approved type to another, a superseding certificate of airworthiness covering the aircraft as remodeled or repaired must be obtained from the government.
Planned Army Air Corps Exercises
New York Herald Tribune, December 21. —The Army Air Corps has completed tentative plans for the greatest concentration of military aircraft ever made, either in war or peace time, for the annual spring maneuvers of the corps to be held next May, and which will center around New York. The air war games, which have never before been held on the Atlantic seaboard, will bring here an air fleet nearly four times larger than any which has heretofore visited the city.
This air movement is to be on such a gigantic scale that it will be necessary to utilize commercial aviation bases in the metropolitan district to house and service the planes—more than five hundred of them— which are to be assembled here from military air posts throughout the country. The largest single previous concentration of airplanes over New York was the fleet of 138 planes which visited the city last June.
F. Trubee Davison, Assistant Secretary of War for Aeronautics, feels that the occasion of using commercial airports in these maneuvers gives the department a splendid opportunity to discover what reliance can be placed upon such civilian air depots in time of a national crisis. “Obviously,” Secretary Davison points out, “it will be impossible to base 500 planes and 1,100 pilots and enlisted men at one post, such as Mitchell Field. The commercial airports, therefore, will be called upon to perform functions they would have to perform in time of war if our coast should be attacked.”
In explaining the purposes of the 1931 exercises, Mr. Davison said:
Dramatic and comprehensive tests to determine the ability of the Army Air Corps to meet a major coast defense emergency will take place along the northern section of the Atlantic seaboard in May, 1931, when about 500 Army planes and approximately 1,100 Air Corps pilots and enlisted men will be concentrated at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wilmington, Washington and other points along the Atlantic seaboard to participate in the annual Army Air Corps Field Exercises.
This is the first time in the history of American military aviation in time of peace that so many planes will be concentrated for the testing of tactical problems over a territory that covers more than 100,000 square miles and almost a dozen states. It is also the first time that large scale Air Corps exercises are being held on the Atlantic coast. The territory over which tactical and other military air problems will be conducted runs, roughly speaking, north and south from Boston to Norfolk and as far west as Buffalo and Pittsburgh. In this manner the field exercises will afford a practical test of the military usefulness of scores of airports within the area mentioned.
The field exercises will have a three-fold purpose : First, training and operation of a large number of units; second, unit combat training; and third, supply ground and staff problems. All tactical squadrons in the United States from North, South, and West, will be summoned to serve in this major mimic air war, as will, perhaps, representatives from the various National Guard squadrons. It is also planned to call a large number of reserve officers to active duty for the “duration of the war,” including numerous distinguished pilots no longer in military service, who may be willing to take a refresher course.
The Blackburn "Sydney” Flying Boat
Aeroplane, November 22.—The Blackburn Sydney, the largest military monoplane flying boat in this country, is designed to undertake the same duties as the well-known Blackburn Iris type, namely reconnaissance and coastal patrol, either independently or in cooperation with sea craft, and it is arranged to carry a similar crew and military load.
The Sydney is a high-wing semicantilever monoplane, and is constructed entirely of metal, with the exception of fabric covering on the wing and tail-unit. The hull, like that of the Iris, has a deep forefront and is well flared to keep down spray. In the Sydney, however, the sides of the hull above the water line are nearly perpendicular, whereas those of the Iris slope towards the deck at a noticeable angle. As a result, in spite of less beam in the Sydney, the interior is much more roomy. From the second step the lines sweep upward to the stern, in which a tail-defence machine-gun station is provided behind the center rudder.
The center-section wing is supported above the hull by a steel tubular structure built up on the hull and faired to form a streamline nacelle, and two pairs of sloping struts brace the extremeties of the center section to the hull. The outer wing sections taper to the tips in both plan and elevation. The whole wing on each side of the hull has a noticeable dihedral angle. Wing floats are set comparatively close to the hull and are supported from the center plane by two pairs of struts which bisect the wing-bracing struts.
The tail plane is a braced monoplane and is fitted with trimming and controlling elevators. No fins are fitted, and the three rudders, which are unbraced externally, incorporate servo control, which can be engaged or disengaged as required.
Three 525 hp. Rolls-Royce F.XII M.S. engines are mounted in nacelles, which are faired into the top of the leading edge of the center section of the wings. Each unit includes a water tank, radiator and shutters, and oil tank and cooler. The main petrol tanks are carried in the faired structure between the hull and wing and fuel is supplied by engine pumps through a distributor control.
Accommodation is arranged for a normal crew of five comprising pilot, second pilot navigator, wireless operator, engineer, and gunner. Three machine-gun stations are provided, namely, a bow cockpit, an aft cockpit behind the wing and a tail-defense cockpit in the stern. The pilot’s cockpit has side-by-side dual control and is enclosed with sliding side windows and roof panels. In the interior the forward portion contains navigator’s and wireless operator’s stations and officers’ living and sleeping quarters. Further aft are the engineer’s station, men’s sleeping quarters, enclosed lavatory, galley, and storage for supplies, etc.
The Irvin Parachute Harness
Aeroplane, November 26.—Up to the present parachutes have not been used in the Fleet Air Arm of the R.A.F. because of the obvious difficulty of getting out of the present type of harness should an airplane or a seaplane overturn after alighting.
The personnel of the Fleet Air Arm were against wearing any sort of a parachute equipment from which they could not release themselves quickly. This difficulty has always been recognized by Mr. Leslie Irvin, but to retain the riding qualities of the Irvin-type harness he had to perfect a new design of harness that would rqtain all the riding qualities of the old type and still have one-point instant release.
The main principals of the new harness, which has now been adopted in the Fleet Air Arm, are as follows:
The same seat-straps, back-straps and leg- straps are used as in the standard type, but these have been so designed that they are all connected together at one point in front of the wearer. Should he wish to remove himself from the harness he has only to turn and release one fitting, and then he is free of any straps connected to the harness.
Another feature of this new harness is the fact that a back-pad which holds the harness in shape makes getting into the harness after getting into the airplane much easier. In other words, the parachute can be put in the cockpit and then the pilot can get into the harness in the airplane much more easily than he could put on his harness before entering the plane.
This new-type harness can be used with seat, back and quick-connector type parachutes, and there is no increase of weight.
This new harness has been found to be more comfortable to wear, and with the new type of webbing, which is much softer than the old type, there is no doubt that it will become standardized in the future for all types of aircraft.
Exhaustive tests have been made by the Air Ministry, and they have placed a substantial order with the Irving Air Chute of Great Britain Ltd., of Letchworth, Herts., to equip the Fleet Air Arm immediately. This new type of harness has been very favorably received in various European countries, and substantial orders have been given by foreign governments.
British Aircraft Carrier Assignments
Aeroplane, December 10.—H.M.S. Hermes arrived home from China on September 24, paid off, and recommissioned at Chatham and sailed for China on November 11, where she will resume normal routine flying duties in conjunction with other ships on the China station.
H.M.S. Eagle has been engaged on normal duties with the Mediterranean Fleet.
H.M.S. Argus is now in reserve.
H.M.S. Furious arrived at Devonport on September 29 and is now undergoing a long refit.
H.M.S. Courageous maintained normal routine flying duties with the Atlantic Fleet on the Autumn cruise and took part in the naval exercises on the occasion of the visit of the Dominion Premiers to the fleet at Portland.
H.M.S. Glorious completed extensive repairs at Malta on November 15 and will now resume normal routine flying with the Mediterranean Fleet.
New Plane Equipment for R.A.F.
Army, Navy, and Air Force Gazette, November 27.—During the next fifteen months some ten squadrons of the Royal Air Force will be equipped with aircraft of the latest types. About 250 machines of various types are to be ordered forthwith. Six squadrons will be equipped with the Hawker Fury (late Hornet) interceptor fighter. Four squadrons are to have Hawker Harts.
The fact which has been known for some time that two of the new productions of the Hawker Engineering Company, the single-seater fighter Hornet and the two- seater bomber Hart, have been adopted for service with the Fleet Air Arm in replacement of present standard types is now authoritatively admitted. There seemed hardly a doubt about it when these types were shown to the dominion prime minister at Croydon last month in what may be described as a naval setting, one machine having been brought from H.M.S. Hermes; but the official explanation was that the types were still under trial and test, in company with others. Production orders have now been placed. The fleet version of the Hornet, in accordance with the Air Ministry scheme of nomenclature, will be called the Norn, just as the land version is renamed the Fury. The new name of the naval version of the Hart bomber is not yet announced. The two machines have been strengthened to withstand the stress of deck landings and use from catapults, and while this has increased their weight, the speed is not materially reduced.
Aircraft as Supply Vehicles
Army Navy and Air Force Gazette, December 11.—An interesting experiment in the supply of food to a column of troops on the march, the first of its kind on so large a scale, was carried out on the northwest frontier of India in September with a high degree of success. The details, which have just been released by the Air Ministry, show that the column, approximately 1,000 strong, started from Dargai for Chitral on September 5, and as an experiment it was decided to ration them completely for two days from the air. The first halt was made between Dargai and Malakand, and the second at Chakdarra. Supplies amounting to a total weight of about three tons each day were required, and two air squadrons of No. 2 (Indian) Wing, at Risalpur, were ordered to transport them. Each squadron consisted of seven Westland IVapiti general purpose two-seater airplanes, and four parachute loads were carried in each machine.
Arrived at their halting place, the column marked out a large circle on the ground in which the aircraft were to drop the rations. On the first day forty-eight of the fifty-six loads were successfully parachuted down, most of them falling within the circle of the dropping area. On the second day—profiting no doubt by experience—fifty-four out of the fifty-six loads were successfully dropped at Chakdarra. The outcome was that the troops were fed for two days by the Royal Air Force, the first time in history that so large a military force had been completely rationed from the air. The parachute apparatus worked most successfully. It is designed so that it can take boxes, and any form of load can be used quite easily. The country was not easy for such a test, and the satisfactory outcome of the attempt indicates how, with efficient aircraft cooperation, the progress of armies may be accelerated.
New Direction Finder for Aircraft
New York Herald Tribune, December 28. —A radio direction-finding device which virtually converts all broadcasting stations, radiotelegraph stations and transmitters of a fixed location into beacon stations for aircraft has been developed by Geodfray G. Kruesi, west coast radio engineer. The instrument literally permits pilots to navigate a course by following the beam of a radio program broadcast over a station.
Designed primarily to supplement the usual range beacon apparatus installed aboard commercial planes flying charted airways, the instrument received a practical test recently aboard one of the Western Air Express Company’s planes. Kruesi is a research engineer for this company.
In the test, which was conducted between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the pilot, Harlab Hull, followed the radio beam of an Oakland radio station throughout the 400- mile flight by means of the instrument.
Employing a conventional broadcast wave-lengths receiver redesigned for aircraft work, the instrument may be used to fly to any destination where there is a station. Experts point out that the device has an ideal application in addition to its use aboard commercial planes, for guiding privately owned planes over uncharted airways in bad weather. The instrument, it is claimed, virtually converts the entire country into a mass of tangled airways, which may be singled out by knowing the location of broadcasting stations or the nature of their programs and following the radio beam concentrated by the instrument aboard the plane.
While broadcasting stations transmit signals in all directions, the device invented by Kruesi has the ability to determine the direction of the received signal, thereby leading the pilot to the source of the signal. Knowing the station’s call letters or program, it is possible for him to arrive over the broadcasting station by following the direction on the instrument.
Technically the instrument consists of a broadcasting station tuner, a direction-finding loop antenna, aerial, and an indicating meter which shows the direction of the broadcasting station. The instrument, it is pointed out, may also be used when tuned to the signals of a radio station other than broadcasting transmitters, although it is necessary to employ a receiving set capable of tuning the wave of the stations being received.
The loop antenna which has directional tuning characteristics, is mounted in a fixed position atop of the fuselage of the plane. Used in conjunction with a small antenna it has the quality of receiving a signal with maximum intensity when the nose of the ship is headed directly toward the broadcasting station. The pilot tunes the aural signal by means of head phones, but actually guides the planes by means of a sensitive meter, which is mounted in the instrument board. This instrument, which acts as a field-intensity meter, is far more sensitive than the human ear. It has markings “L” for left and “R” for right, and a dead center point. When the needle swings to either the left or the right, the pilot knows he is not flying in a direct line toward the broadcasting station, and, accordingly alters his course until the needle rests at dead center, indicating he is flying in the true direction of the station.
While in some respects the instrument is similar to the direction-finding equipment used aboard ocean-going vessels, it differs slightly in operation. The marine direction finder indicates direction of a transmitting station of fixed location by tuning for zero signal. The device developed by Kruesi tunes for maximum signal strength. This enables the pilot to identify the station readily. This quality is described as “heart-effect” tuning, and gives maximum signal strength in only one direction, facilitating flying toward the broadcasting station, rather than away from it.
The coils and accessory instruments, which are connected between the loop antenna and the broadcasting receiver, are the secret of the device, it is said. This equipment permits picking up the signal with maximum intensity, and at the same time retains the directional characteristics.
The Curtiss "Command Helldiver”
Curtiss-Wright Review, December.—
Something new in naval aircraft has just been developed at the Garden City plant of the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. A high speed airplane known as the Command Helldiver has been built for the use of officers and officials of the Navy in directing maneuvers or for fast cross-country transportation. This airplane is based on the military Helldiver, now in service as a two-place carrier fighter and diving bomber where it is officially known as the Curtiss F8C-5. Powered with a 575-horsepower Wright Cyclone engine to which the newly developed Curtiss radial-engine cowl has been fitted, the Command plane has been timed at 178 miles per hour in the official Navy test at Washington.
The Command Helldiver has the same wings, fuselage, landing gear, and tail surfaces as the fighting plane. On the Command airplane, the cockpits have been closed in by sliding metal frames with non-shatter- able glass windows. These enclosures have been carefully faired into the fuselage and add considerably to the speed, besides giving protection to the pilot and passenger. Every effort has been made to cut down air resistance. The wheels are enclosed in sheet aluminum fairings of fine workmanship; the landing gear struts are faired; the fuselage conforms to the best aerodynamic shape.
The Curtiss radial engine cowl used on this airplane was developed specially for Wright engines in the Curtiss seven-foot wind tunnel. A feature of this cowl is its simplicity of construction and the ease with which it can be installed or removed. Very gratifying results are being obtained with the cowl on the Cyclone engine. For example, the new Cyclone-powered Curtiss Army Pursuit known as the YP-20, which is equipped with the new cowl, has a speed of approximately 190 miles per hour.
In working out the details of the Command Helldiver, careful thought has been given to the comfort and convenience of the pilot and passenger. The windshield slides forward on a track, making it easy for the pilot to get in or out, and the rear cockpit is equally unobstructed when the glass and metal hood are pushed back. Small folding writing desks are provided for both the pilot and passenger. Cockpits are lined with black leather and the seats and all accessories are painted dull black. Controls are dual and are located for maximum ease of operation. Ventilation which can be regulated is provided for the cockpits. Baggage compartments fitted with locks are installed. For night flying, the airplane is equipped with new type landing lights, sunk into the bottom of the lower wing, having their beams directed forward by means of prisms.
Great structural strength is a feature of the Helldiver airplanes. They are built to withstand the terrific strain imposed upon them in service as diving bombers. With a heavy load of bombs, these airplanes are required to make full-power dives of ten thousand feet, followed by quick pull-outs.
With full tanks, the Command Helldiver has a cruising range of 885 miles. It is an airplane capable of covering long distances at very high speed with no sacrifice of comfort to the occupants, and is moreover capable of performing all the maneuvers of the latest type of combat plane.
Aeronautical Courses at Junior Colleges
U. S. Air Services, December.—“Seems as if all our good men go to the junior colleges.” Thus lamented the superintendent in charge of ground instruction at one of the largest flying schools in the country recently. He was referring to the way in which the junior colleges in his state had been drawing on his particular school for personnel to teach the courses in aeronautics they are now preparing to give. “They are getting all our good men.” Is the cry prophetic of a general tendency to transplant ground instruction from private, commercial institutions to public ones? The answer may well be yes; and if it should be so shall we be cafled upon to sorrow or rejoice because of
The junior colleges are, indeed; ideal ground for the inauguration of sound aeronautical courses. Their advantages for adequate instruction in such a department are so obvious it is cause for wonder that they have not exploited the opportunity to develop them before. The students who attend such colleges are at the most suitable age and in the most receptive frame of mind for intensive study and alert appreciation of the problems involved. They are thirsting for information along this line, and ripe for sound and serious instruction. They are not only at the adventurous age to which aeronautics makes its strenuous appeal, but they are also of sufficiently mature understanding to undertake the study seriously and with due appreciation of the mathematics and physics involved.
Obviously the success of any such program must hinge altogether on the quality of the instruction given. If the instruction is good the results will be assured, because the student material is likely to be of a sort to guarantee assimilation of what is taught. If the quality of instruction is mediocre the course will be either a failure or so diluted a form of success as to constitute it a waste of the student’s time and the college’s money. Hence the hope embedded in the cry quoted—that the junior colleges in one state at least seem to be draining the commercial flying schools of their best teaching personnel.
Whether this portends a general tendency or is a merely local incident it is not possible at this time to say, but that it is the former may very well be the case. And why? For the reason that, after all, the logical place for systematic teaching of the theoretical principles of flight and of airplane design and operation is in an essentially educational institution. This is not said in disparagement of the many excellent flying schools now in existence; it is rather a simple fact which no doubt most of the flying schools themselves would admit.
The immediate and ultimate object of the flying school is to teach its students to fly. The ground school instruction though absolutely essential is nevertheless incidental to this object. Few flying schools are as well equipped for this branch of instruction as they would like to be, and those that are realize too well the heavy overhead expense the ground school course entails. The student, moreover, not appreciating its importance, shies at the tuition demanded of him
for classroom attendance and booklore when what is uppermost in his thoughts is the flying rather than the theoretical steps leading to it. i
Furthermore, to get the most out of his flying instruction, the instruction in theory should precede it and precede it by a good margin. Given a sound course of junior college instruction in the subjects now taught more or less precariously and at considerable cost in the commercial flying schools, the average flying student will approach the actual air work at the flying school not a whit less intelligently and go on to the acquisition of his private, commercial, or transport license, confidently, quickly, and economically. The state will be assuming only what is its proper responsibility while doing much at the same time to make the coming generation “air minded” in the practical and better sense of the word. An opportunity awaits the junior colleges to take an important and far-reaching step in the campaign of legitimate flight promotion.
MISCELLANEOUS
Torpedo Warfare
The Naval and Military Record, November 19. By Sir Herbert Russell.—It is true to say of all the weapons of war—with one exception—that they tend steadily to lose in value in the course of their development. On the one hand, ingenuity gets to work to devise the antidote; on the other hand, progress tends to evolve the weapon beyond its original conception and purpose, so that it passes from the stage of definite function to a vague general role. The exception, of course, is the gun. For generations past now armor has been opposed to the artillery projectile. In the competition between increased resistance and greater penetrative power the gun has always kept well ahead. The consequence is that armor to be really effective, now has to be of a thickness, and consequently of a weight, which renders its adequate employment prohibitory in any but very big ships. Sea battles always have been, and I believe, always will be determined by gunfire. Torpedoes, mines, and bombs are all very deadly things, but they represent forms of attack which can be countered very largely by foresight and skill. Gunfire is too swift and too deadly to permit of any effective countering
between vessels well within mutual range.
When the torpedo had emerged from its experimental stage and demonstrated its practical qualities it brought into being the torpedo boat. The French, with their keen initiative and love of novelty, adopted the new weapon and the new vessel with such heartiness as to arouse deep misgivings at the Admiralty. The new French school, of the guerre de course doctrine, declared that the ironclad was as dead as the dodo, and it was definitely stated in the House of Commons that the ships of the old Admiral class might prove to be the last battleships which this country would build. By more moderate opinion in the British Navy the development of the torpedo was welcomed, as it seemed to promise effectually to destroy the exaggerated faith in the ram. The evolution of the torpedo boat stimulated the production of much faster cruisers than had heretofore been deemed necessary, thereby restoring to this unit her temporarily lost supremacy of mobility over the ship-of-the- line. In the closing years of the last century the development of the torpedo was very rapid and relatively outstripped the progress of the gun.
In 1893 the first destroyer made her appearance in the British Fleet. She was named the Havoc; had a displacement of 240 tons, engines of 3,500 hp., and the “revolutionary” speed of 26.77 knots was attained during her trials. From this point, what was then called the torpedo branch grew rapidly alike numerically and in presumptive tactical importance. As usual, the probable results of flotilla attacks in naval actions were placed extravagantly high. The Russo-Japanese war afforded demonstration of the effects of torpedo attack against ships unable to avoid it, as at Port Arthur, but in the open sea warfare of that campaign this weapon played a very trifling part. I recall that in the naval maneuvers of 1902 the cruiser squadrons appeared to be a good deal more interested in trying conclusions with torpedoes than in the much easier and more obvious course of fighting at their meetings with gunfire. Apparently it had not then occurred to the Navy as generally as, I believe, is since the case, that torpedo tactics were not the best, even the proper way i'n which to employ cruisers. The cruiser I was in was “torpedoed” three times in an action before being adjudged sunk, but the captain of her explained to me very emphatically and, I have no doubt, perfectly correctly, that he was positive he had previously knocked out with gunfire the two ships which, between them, claimed his vessel as destroyed.
The coming of the submarine, of course, gave a much greater measure of value to the torpedo. An invisible boat firing an invisible weapon seemed to herald the doom of the ironclad very much more effectually than the torpedo boat had done two or three decades earlier. Were it possible to raise the same speed in the submarine as in the modern destroyer there would be good reason to dread torpedo attack as infinitely more dangerous than when delivered by surface vessels. But, whether owing to mechanical difficulties or from considerations of worth while, we have not got beyond" 20 knots on the surface and 9 knots submerged, and in a running action at top speed, as all naval battles are likely to be fought, the submarine is hopelessly out of the race. I believe that destroyer tactics had much greater chance of success thirty years ago than they have today. An effective range of a mile is a very different proposition from an effective range of seven miles. The destroyer had to dash in pretty close to her target before loosing off her projectile. She had to take her chance of being knocked out during her onrush, and the odds were pretty heavily against her. The same spirit still lives in the destroyer service, but the same necessity is not there. When a vessel can release her torpedo at 14,000 yards why should she wait to approach to within less than 2,000 yards ?
The torpedo is primarily a weapon against the weak. The Germans got the fullest possible value out of it in their campaign against defenseless ships. They could have done their work more easily and more economically by gunfire, and much of it was done by gunfire, but they could only do that work at all by the use of vanishing boats. But against the strong—that is to say against warships—the torpedo accomplished amazingly little during the war. Apart from the few “sitters” which were sunk in the early stage of hostilities we did not lose a single big warship from torpedo attacks. The Marlborough was hit at Jutland and considerably damaged, but went on fighting until she was no longer able to keep within striking range. Yet the destroyers on both sides were pretty daring at Jutland. Their losses were terribly out of proportion to what they accomplished. Our flotillas were keeping up the tradition of dashing in as close as possible before discharging their torpedoes. They were splendid—magnificent, but in the day action they quite failed to justify Mr. Rudyard Kipling’s florid description of them as the “choosers of the slain.” How could it have been otherwise? To deliberately send a frail, totally unprotected craft charging against a big ship, which has plenty of time to get off several salvoes from the moment the charge begins until the blow can be delivered, would be called ludicrous—suicidal, were it not that the frail, totally-unprotected craft is a torpedo carrier. Whether this is more clearly realized today, or whether the greatly increased range of the torpedo has modified the close dash idea—for there can be no earthly value in greatly increased range if if it is not employed at greatly increased distances—is, perhaps, not very material. If the fleet exercises are any criterion of war tactics, it would seem that the idea of destroyer attack now is to utilize long range up to the hilt.
This seems sensible. A destroyer which does not approach her target to within less than four or five miles has a very good prospect of delivering her torpedoes and getting away again. But what of the chances of her torpedoes getting home? The modern torpedo is a weapon of wonderful precision. But it will take at least twelve minutes to cover five miles, for although it starts off at about 45 miles an hour, it soon begins to reach that stage known to the experts as “remaining velocity.” With her optical instruments a destroyer can set a torpedo dead to strike a ship in twelve minutes’ time, calculating that during that twelve minutes the ship will continue precisely the course and speed of the instant of ranging. In twelve minutes the target ship will have traveled between four and five miles. The least fluctuation of engine beat or of direction in that time and the torpedo is wasted. A ship hard pressed in battle and steered under gunfire is scarcely likely to maintain hair’s-breadth constancy for twelve minutes on end. In short, the evolution of the torpedo has inevitably minimized its value. A high velocity shell can be pitched across five miles of water in fifteen second, and is even more deadly accurate than the torpedo.
The destroyer is gradually being adapted to a wider utility than delivering torpedo attack. This rather suggests a relaxation of single-minded faith in the torpedo. But against this assumption we have to set a great extension of torpedo equipment in big warships, notably in the latest cruiser classes. These vessels carry four more torpedo tubes than the latest destroyers. They are more essentially designed for torpedo warfare than destroyers. What really is the tactical idea which lies at the back of this development ? What experience during the course of the great war justifies it? Maybe, if we argue that the torpedo is a weapon of diminished, or diminishing value, it is more logical to distribute it generally amongst various types of warships than to dedicate one particular type entirely to employing it. But to furnish a big cruiser with more torpedo tubes than main guns does seem rather an extravagant interpretation of this principle. From the structural point of view such an equipment may be quite a trifling detail, and probably the demand upon space is of much more moment than any question of weight. But from the functional point of view the practice is very much more definitely open to criticism. It implies a scope for cruiser fighting which introduces a complicated feature into the traditional conception of cruiser work, and the question is whether any such complication is justified by possible results. It involves a very substantial complement of torpedo officers and torpedo ratings who, admittedly, specialize generally in electrical matters and do their best to make themselves useful in a ship, occasionally coming in conflict with the engineering people in their well-intentioned zeal.
I am aware that other great naval powers are following the same idea and equipping their cruisers as glorified destroyers. But I am also aware that a very large and competent body of opinion in our own Navy deprecates entirely the fitting of any torpedo equipment in capital ships and cruisers. Possibly there is an ex parte element in this view—the gunnery school, let us say, versus the torpedo school. Far be it from me to claim the qualifications to “take sides.” I am writing, I trust, with a perfectly open mind. The moral effect of torpedo warfare is unquestionably very considerable, and without the torpedo the submarine would be worthless. But it comes to this: What did the torpedo accomplish during the great war as a purely naval weapon ? Did it prove itself worth while, taking results in relation to organization, personnel, and effort involved in its use? And I would put this question more particularly in reference to battleships and cruisers. One of the penalties of science is that new methods and new appliances are perpetually being evolved, and there is a tendency to feel that unless these methods and appliances are adopted or adapted an unfair handicap may be imposed upon our fighting seamen. I agree that the old axiom that “Men win battles” is incomplete: They win them by possession of, and the skillful use of, weapons. Su- •periority in weapons should spell victory. But there are decisive weapons and incidental weapons. Two main fleets could join battle without possessing a single torpedo between them, and such an action would run a normal course, probably without the absence of torpedoes being noticed at all. Take away their guns and give them more torpedoes instead, and what sort of action can we picture ? The battle would be a supreme test of maneuvering skill, but probably to inflict any damage at all ramming would have to be resorted to.
A Nicaraguan Canal
Merchant Marine Bulletin, December. By Major General Lytle Brown, Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army.—The advantages of Lake Nicaragua and its outlet, the San Juan River, as links for an interoceanic waterway have attracted explorers since their discovery in 1522 by Gil Gonzales de Avila. This discovery resulted in the founding of Granada and the navigation of the lake and river ships trading regularly between Granada, South America, and Spain until as late as 1637.
At subsequent intervals seven different routes for a canal across Nicaragua have been explored. All contemplated the use of the San Juan River and Lake Nicaragua, and four of these proposed also to include Lake Managua. The first authentic instrumental survey was made in 1850 by Colonel Orville W. Childs for a company controlled by Cornelius Vanderbilt, and though no canal was built, this company operated vessels on the river and lake during the “Gold Rush” to California.
Colonel Childs projected the route from Greytown up the San Juan Valley to the lake, across the latter to the mouth of the Rio Las Lajas, thence across the western divide and down the valley of the Rio Grande to Brito harbor. This route has been the basis for all subsequent surveys, excepting in part that made by A. G. Meno- cal, civil engineer, U. S. Navy, in 1884, who proposed a project varying materially on the section east of Lake Nicaragua, in that he proposed to subsitute a high dam at Ochoa, for the series of low ones previously projected across the San Juan River, and to excavate a canal from Ochoa on practically a direct route, to Greytown, through the San Francisco basins to the east divide, thence down the valley of the Rio Deseado, thereby effecting a saving of about 6.5 miles in distance.
The Childs or San Juan Valley route has since been recommended, with minor modifications, by Commander E. P. Lull, U. S. Navy, who resurveyed it in 1872. It was also recommended, after more elaborate surveys and explorations, by the Nicaragua Canal commission in 1899 and by the Isthmian Canal commission in 1901. These commissions adopted Menocal’s plan for a high dam, which converted the river above into an arm of the lake, but moved the site from Ochoa just below the mouth of the Rio San Carlos to Conchuda, several miles above, to avoid endangering the dam through the sudden and heavy floods from the San Carlos. The commission’s project, however, followed the San Juan Valley from Conchuda to Greytown, rather than the Deseado, as a canal on the latter route involved high earth embankments across the San Francisco swamps, which it was thought could not be safely constructed and maintained.
The Menocal or Deseado valley route was adopted by the Maritime Canal Company, incorporated under an act of Congress, approved February 20, 1889, for the purpose of building a canal in Nicaragua, and construction was begun, but the company failed to carry out the project. It was reported as being practicable in October, 1895, by the Nicaragua Canal board, appointed by the President of the United States, but the report referred to the probable difficulty of constructing and maintaining the Ochoa Dam and the San Francisco embankments, and suggested that alternate routes be examined before a final selection of a project.
The Isthmian Canal commission examined both the Panama and Nicaragua projects in 1901 and recommended the latter mainly because it was cheaper, due to the price asked by the new Panama Canal Company for its rights, privileges, and plant at Panama. Later the company reduced its demands, making the Panama project the cheapest, so the recommendation was changed and the latter was acquired by the United States.
A convention entered into in 1916 by the United States and the Republic of Nicaragua granted the former the exclusive right to construct and operate a canal across Nicaragua, the consideration being $3,000,000. Aside from acquiring this right, no further steps have been taken toward a canal project at Nicaragua since 1901, until the survey now in progress was authorized by Resolution No. 99, Seventieth Congress, which directed surveys and estimates for a canal in Nicaragua and for ascertaining the practical ability and approximate cost of increasing the capacity of the Panama Canal by adding locks and other facilities. The president appointed two retired Army engineers and three civil engineers as members of the Interoceanic Canal Board to assist the Secretary of War and the chief of engineers in these studies. The investigations relating to the Panama Canal have been assigned to the governor of the canal. The Nicaragua surveys were begun in October, 1929, by a battalion of U. S. engineers under the general supervision of the chief of engineers.
The explorations and surveys of thirty years ago were thoroughly executed, but the dimensions of the prism and structures and the required water supply for the canal then in view are entirely inadequate for the traffic demands and larger vessels that exist today or that may be anticipated in the near future. The alternate routes suggested warranted further investigation, as the Deseado project, though six and a half miles shorter, more direct and cheaper, was rejected because the construction and maintenance of high embankments on troublesome foundations seemed more formidable at that time than it does today in the light of the experience gained in the meantime.
For these reasons it has been necessary to check and extend the topography of former surveys, rectify the alignment by eliminating sharp curves, investigate alternate embankment locations, collect additional data for comparing alternate routes, explore new sites to accommodate larger locks, investigate promising dam. sites and collect additional hydrographic data to determine the sufficiency of the water supply for a canal that will draw 9,300,000 cubic feet of water from the lake for each ship transit, instead of 7,000,000 cubic feet formerly estimated, with proportionate increases for other purposes.
The engineer troops in Nicaragua are actively engaged in securing the data indicated above. The force is located along the entire route, in detachments or field parties occupying tent camps located at convenient points. The usual difficulties incidental to work in the tropics has been encountered, the most serious being transportation of men and supplies. The excessive rainfall on the eastern slope and the consequent high water in the San Juan and its tributaries makes navigation hazardous and makes the. extensive swamp areas along the line almost impassible. Under such conditions the engineer troops have remained remarkably healthy and made good progress; the survey is finished except for further subsurface explorations to determine the nature of the materials to be excavated and the suitability of the lock foundations. It is anticipated that all field work will be completed in April, 1931.
Plans of the canal will depend upon the results of the investigations now in progress. Present indications are that, in general, ships will be lifted from sea to lake level; about 110 feet, through a series of three locks, on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes, each lock being 1,200 feet by 125 feet in the clear. The length of the canal between oceans will be approximately 177 miles. Of this about 22 miles will be at sea level. The remaining 155 miles, at lake or summit level, will be made up of 35 miles of excavated channel, 70 miles of lake navigation and 50 miles on the San Juan River, between the lake and Conchuda Dam.
Arguments advanced for a canal at Nicaragua are that it is required for diplomatic, military, and economic interests. There seems no doubt that the canal would stimulate the development of Nicaragua and the adjacent republics and make for closer international harmony. The strategic value of a second canal across the isthmus is a subject regarding which opinions differ and is entirely too broad to discuss in this article.
The determination of the economic value of another canal involves studies of the past and probable future growth of the world’s commerce, and of the portion of it that passes over the trade routes that will be influenced by the canal. Such a study is under way, but since the answer cannot be obtained by any exact scientific method, it is certain to remain a subject of controversy between the advocates and opponents of a canal in Nicaragua.