OIL CONQUERS BRITISH NAVY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17223, 13 August 1921, Page 15

OIL CONQUERS BRITISH NAVY.

FUEL THAT WON T&E WAR.

If Lord Fisher had been silting in tl:o Peers' Gallery of the House of Commons last v.-eek (says an English paper), how good-humoure'ily he would have chuckled at the announcement by Mr Eyres-Monsell, Civil Lord of the Admiralty, that in future tlio fleet would depend exclusively on oil as fuel. He would' have recalled the time when he was described as a madman for insisting on some destroyers being designed to burn liquid fuel, -'When, later, ho decided to carry the revolution into cruisers, battle-crifisers, and battleships, some of his critics .were ' convinced, that his reasoning powers and common-sen6e had suffered owing to advancing years. "Hero we live in a country which is fr.xnous for its steam-raising coal, of which wo have sufficient to la-it for centurios," they declared in impassioned tones, "yet we are preparing to abandon coal in favour of oil, which has to be brought to us from overseas. Coal has been the foundation of our sea power-for the be'it partjSf p? century; it hc.3 always been in.'lam'-le- supply and cheap, and it is idiocwM&let the British fleet, of all fleets, Become de- ' pendent on oil. There was practically everything to be said for this line of criticism, just as in a former day the balance of argument was in favour of sails rather than the steam engine; similarly, when the water-tube boiler made its appearance, . it seemed ridiculous to put tno water where the .fire had been 1% fore. Many persons will still doubt- the wisdom of the Admiralty's action in abandoning, once and for all, coal in favour of oil; but they may be gonsoled, by the knowledge that if, under the impulsive pressure of Lord Fisher, we had not had oil-burning destroyers and light cruisers, as well as a good many capital ships similarly equipped, we might quite probably not haVe been, able to-win the war. . Oil is now cheaper than coal; it also ' effects an economy of human energy and ensures more time at sea. The oil tanks are filled much a bath is- filled —by turning a tap. In the meantime, the*crow of a vessel, instead of becoming exhausted in the hard work of coaling ship, can I>e resting, and be all the more fit for the.strain of fighting, if It comes; The miner would be surprised if he knew all the advantages which oil has over coal for marine purposes, as well es for power production ashore. He thinks ho has been defending his own cause ftU these months: but in fact he haa been proving .how easily, by a littlo readjustment, the world/ can get on without him. We now hare motor mer- -. chant ships, and their number is increasing fast; oil-driven men-of-war are to be the rule, and not the exception; and, of motor cars and iorries are competing with the steam-driven and oil-fed locomotive. The revolution hns.only just begun; it will undoubtedly go a good deal further. The movement gives rise to reflections which are not all of a cheerful character. We are not oil producers to-> any great extent; as coal producers we were supreme before the war. The change over from. coal to oil may well raise fears, but the die has been cast. .. Whatever may he the course • of events/in the present strike, there will never again be the same demand for = British coal, either in this cojmtry or abroad, as there was ten years or so ago- 2 -?the good old times" when coal was stHl "king. The big passenper steamers are also turning now-to oil.