SHIPS NEARLY 900 FEET LONG.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 312, 26 September 1908, Page 14

SHIPS NEARLY 900 FEET LONG.

DETAILS OF TWO 'NEW WHITE STAE LINERS, Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Belfast, will begin, beforo tho New Year the construction of two White Star, liners larger than tho Lusitania, but not so fast. The details have not been Settled, but are approximately : — Lusitania and New White Star Mauretania; Liners. ■ Length 790 ft....: 860 ft. ■ Breadth 88ft. 92ft. Tonnage.... 33,000......... 45,000-50,000. 5peed....... 25 knots...''..: 10-20 knots. Engines...;;. Turbine...;.. Turbine and piston combined. : The new slips- at Queen's Island, Belfast, will bo ready at tho end bf November. There are two. immense gantries 22oft. hi§h, running tho wholo length of the building slips, each fully a thousand feet long.. These gantries, supported on thirtythree huge columns, each over 180 ft. high, will bo provided with pneumatic riveters and lifting cranos. By the end of 1910 tho new liners should be nearly ready for launching. That they may bo followed by vessels 1000 ft. in length is within tho bounds of reasonable probability. Should the combination of tnrbino and reciprocating engines in tho 14,000-ton White Star liner Laurentic, for the Canadian service, proi'e a success, tho two boats will bo fitted with similar engines, of much greater power, however, and with six screws instead of thrso. Tho great drawback in tho past to tho building of vessels of tho size projected abovo is tho absence of adequate dry and wet dock accommodation. Harbour authorities ill tho United Kingdom—notably at Southampton and Belfast—and in Amorica have recently begun to tako tho matt or Up.