STANDARDISED AND FABRICATED SHIPS.

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 38, 15 February 1919, Page 11

STANDARDISED AND FABRICATED SHIPS.

Some doubt appears to exist aa to the difference between standardised and fabricated ships- In normal times the British J shipbuilders constructed cargo vessels of innumerable types and dimensions, but in „ the early part of 1917 it was.decided to t limit the number of types to about a dozen which it was considered would cover' all requirements, and these twelve j types aro known as "Standard Ships." Since this policy was decided 'upon, all t the vessels laid down have, with' few ex- . ceptions, been, of one or other of. these standard types. The advantages of stand- ( ard ships are that repeat vessels can be , constructed with greater ease, and all the machinery and auxiliary fittings for each type of ship are, interchangeable. In , practice the shipbuilders are allowed a certain amount of latitude in tho construe : ; tional details, but the main dimensions are^ the same. Before standard ships'could be ' built, the old types of private cargo yes- : sels, then in course of construction, had to b© cleared off the stocks. Twelve months ago the number of standard ship* imder construction on the stocks was 26 per cent, of the-fotal, and at the end of last year this proportion had increased to 74 per cent. The fabricated ship carries the principle of "standardisation" considerably, further. This type of vessel is one which has been evolved to meet present necessities, and can be erected with a minimum of skilled shipyard labour. A fabricated ship is one which is built out of parts made in bridge-building and constructional engineering works, which are sent to the shipbuilding yard to be put together. This type of. ship was originally designed for the National Yards, but private .shipbuilders asked to be allowed to build them, and already 11 fabricated ships have been completed. \ ADVENT OF THE. MOTOR SHIP. A number of Norwegian owners have recently decided definitely, in favour of i motor ships and have placed orders accordingly (reports an exchange). The , Christiania firm of Olsen, which has hotherto maintained line traffic between i North European ports with vessels of mcd- , ium size, has now on order a whole fleet ■ of motor ships for the establishment of oversea lines. One vessel of 9500 tons and i ono of 5500 ;tons are already in service; another of 9500 tons is ready for. trial, and j one of 6500 tons is near completion. In i addition, this owner has ordered one 9500E ton motor ship in Copenhagen, and two of i 6500 tons in Denmark and Holland re- > spectively, so that it will have seven large r motor ships available within twp or three . years. The firm of Wilhelm Wilhelmsen, 5 Tonsberg, has ordered six 9500-ton motor ships for oversea lino service from i. Burmeister and Wain, and the 3 Nordenfjeldske Co. has ordered I two 8000-ton motor ships,' as well . as two others from Holland. The Berg- » enske Dampskibasselskab has two 8000-ton . motor ships on order Otto • Thbresen I (Christiania) has placed a preliminary order for one 9000-ton motor ship, and I Camilio Eitzen and Co. (Christiania) have . two 6500-ton motor ships ordered for de--9 livery next year. There is thus a total of j 19 motor ships (exceeding 750,000 tons) on £ order or under construction for the Norj, wegian merchant fleet.' , *' '-I