REMOTE CONTROL OF WARSHIP

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27591, 23 February 1955, Page 13

REMOTE CONTROL OF WARSHIP

Ark Royal Protected Against A-Bomb

LONDON. February 21. The 36,800-ton Ark Royal, Britain’s most modern aircraft-carrier, will steer by remote control through areas contaminated by atomic or hydrogen bombs, Captain D. R. F. Cambell, the carrier’s commanding officer, told reporters during an inspection of the vessel at Birkenhead today.

The Ark Royal, built at a cost of between £20,000,000 and £25,000,000, is to be commissioned tomorrow. Revealing the remote control apparatus, Captain Cambell emphasised that no ship could withstand a direct hit from an atomic or hydrogen bomb. He said that the Ark Royal—believed to be the first n the Royal Navy to have this p . Lion —required large - uantities of edr to keep her engines ;oing. There was a serious risk, therefore, that if she were on the fringe of an A-bomb or H-bomb explosion, contaminated air would be sucked in through the intakes, leading possibly to contamination throughout the ship.

To enable the carrier to get clear of the area of contamination, the machinery space had been fitted with a remote control system which would enable her to “steam away from the trouble,” said Captain Cambell. When the remote-control system was in operation there would be no men in the machinery spaces, and the ship .would be controlled from compartments conditioned against contamination, he said. Reporters were not shown the remote control system today. The Ark Royal, built by Cammell Laird and Company, may be the last big carrier to be built for the Navy. Future construction is likely to be of the smaller fleet carrier.