Computers May Control Ships Of Future

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30528, 25 August 1964, Page 15

Computers May Control Ships Of Future

(Special Correspondent N Z.P.A.) LONDON, August 24. Unmanned liners crossing the Atlantic at the speed of express trains, hovercraft running non-stop between London and Paris, and cargo submarines carrying goods beneath the northern icecap are “possibilities of the future” suggested in an article by the Powell, Dufiryn group, which has large shipping interests.

The article says the answer to the question, which will come to fruition and which are idle dreams, is: nobody knows.

“Aeroplanes; appearing around the turn Of the century, developed at a rate which no ptophet could have foreseen. The nuclear ship, fully automatic, may do the same, but that at present looks unlikely. “Peering into what remains of this century, one sees changes on ocean routes and particularly in short-sea, river and esturial traffic. However, one does not see, at least on the former, changes so great as to be unrecognisably different from what we know today.” Discussing the possibilities of automation, the article says: “At sea this comes slowly. A row of dials in a sound-proof chamber Is replacing the engineer who used to go round looking, listening, testing, smelling. On deck ‘George,’ the auto-pllot, takes over from the helmsman for long spells. “Automation of bridge control of the engines is becoming common. A single control room for deck and engineering departments, eventually a single watch-keeping officer, is envisaged.” In liners a computer could take over stock control of food, linen and spares, operate the ventilators and keep the log. Shell Tankers, Ltd., was already using automation, but in a different way. “Using data fed automatically from ship to store, engineers in London learn even before the crew of the minutest changes in tapker performance. This, instead of a run over a measured mile, decides when a ship must come o'ut of service for a refit. Computers could control an unmanned ship, check her position, correct her course and even take action to avoid another vessel. The risk of mechanical breakdown, and the many variables arising from bad weather, were drawbacks. Smaller crews, but not

crewless ships, may be expected. “Nuclear ships, bunkering once a year, their fuel practically weightless, are being used by America and Russia, and built by Germany and Japan. Only the Russian Lenin, an Arctic ice-breaker working far from normal fuel sources, is economic. “As for the other three countries: capital costs are double those of other ships. Heavier machinery and the increasing efficiency of conventional systems, render nuclear propulsion justifiable only on experimental or prestige grounds. “Diesel and steam, meanwhile, are neck and neck. Steam is favoured for tankers because they need it also for their pumps and heating coils. The new 30,000-h.p. diesels, big enough for any ship, make it at present anyone’s race, with nuclear power scarcely a starter.”

Hydrofoils and hovercraft were fascinating developments in esturial transport, the article says. The former rising at speed till only its foils touched the water, attained 40 knots with ease. Although the hydrofoil had given water transport a new look, the truly amphibious hovercraft was even more exciting. Some saw it ferrying far north in competition with cargoes overland from the the cargo submarine.

“Others envisage increasing ferry services across river mouths and on short sea routes. The Westland Aircraft Company is working on a design for a 77-knot hovercraft carrying 116 passengers and up to 40 cars,” the article says. “Nobody has so far seriously considered exploiting in ports the hovercraft’s amphibious capacity. By building light superstructures along London’s main road, one could provide for a new vehicle proceeding by both land and water, even—with the aid of ramps—discharging passengers on top of buildings.”