BRASSEY'S ANNUAL

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 49, 28 February 1927, Page 8

BRASSEY'S ANNUAL

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. REVIEW OF SHIPPING

USE OF PULVERISED COAL

(From Our Own Correspondent.) * LONDON, 15th December. Brassey's Naval and Shipping Annual has made its 38th appearance. As usual, its reference side is remarkably complete. It has all the essential statistics and documents, coupled with a valuable series of profiles and plans of ships. The illustrations are a great feature, and include many fresh pictures of new warships and merchantmen and their machinery. The Annual opens with the customary chapter on British Naval Progress, by Commander C. N. Eobiiison, B.N. In writing of the two new battleships. Commander Eobinson quotes Bear-Ad-miral Sir Alfred Chatfield, Third Sea Lord, who reminds us that one way in which the Nelson and Eodney have made their mark in trie history of naval construction is that while all previous battleships, except perhaps the Hood, were built by men who had to imagine what a naval battle would be like, the Rodney has been designed by Sir Eustace d'Eyncourt to meet the require' ments of their war experience. "After the war," said Sir Alfred, "they made up their minds to grapple with the failings that revealed themselves between 1914 and 1918, and they believed these had been successfully overcome by the innovations made in construction, equipment, armament, and machinery." There follow nine, other chapters on Naval matters by eminent^ authorities, Commander H. L. Hitchins writes on Foreign Navies, and notes activity in construction in almost allof them, but more in regard to torpedo and aircraft than in heavier ships. Discussing fleet distribution, the editors affirm that the Washington Treaty "has placed a special restriction upon the operating powers of the British Fleet." As regards Japan, Commander Ichiro Sato, with tiie aid of many figures, seeks to prove that defence is the keynote oi her armaments; "the Japanese naval authorities are far too preoccupied witli the question of protecting their own trade to contemplate plans for interfering with the trade of others." Sii George Thurston outlines the'design oi a future destroyer leader, while Commander A. C. Bell reviews cruiser design in .the light of operations in the war. One of the by-products of wai controversies is the Ministery of De fence idea, against which Captain Alfred Dewar, E.N., here marshals a num ber of telling facts. He is followed by Captain Edward. Altham, C.8., E.N. who shows that there is hardly a trade in the country which does not participate in the work caused by naval .expenditure. MERCANTILE. MARINE. Sir AVestcott Abell, who again opens the mercantile section with a reviews of the year's trade, says that apart from a very general desire for artificial stimulants in the form of subsidies, the doctrine of "laissez faire' seems to be almost universal, excepi for the somewhat hysterical acclamation of the motor-ship as the panacea of all our difficulties. "This is a condition which cannot continue indefinitely; the longer a re turn to efficiency in sea transport is delayed, the harder will it become, and no revival in world trade can result in any real return to prosperity in ship, ping ■ and shipbuilding unless the world's mercantile marine returns to a state of efficiency at least comparable with that which existed prior to the war. . ■ . . , .-"The one .cheerful :cleuieu't;C<luring the past year has been the growth of co-operation within the shipping and shipbuilding industries. Our only hope of extrication from the present difficulties lies in the extension 'of that movement, actuated as it is by joint sacrifice and goodwill. That alone is paving the way to such an understanding of our problems as will enable out merchant .marine to become the competent hand-maiden of international commerce." The varying freight developments of 1926 are discussed by' Mr. Cuthbert Maughan, and the present standing of the world's merchant tonnage by the editors. On the technical side, the principal chapters are by Sir John Biles, on high steam-pressure turbines, and Mr. James Eiehardson, who, as in past years, surveys the progress of marine machinery. Another important chapter is by Mr. Walter Eunciman, M.P., "Some Aspects of British Ship-ping-—1926." One point he makes is that an industry so vital to national well-being should be respected, and not be lightly iused for polemical acrobatices. Mr. John P. Taylor writes on the passenger ship as ■ cargo-carrier, and Mr. W. H. Clapham deals with some notable merchant ships of the year. PULVERISED COAL. Mr. Eiehardson, in his chapter on marine machinery, refers to the comparatively recent system for the generation of steam. He says:— "The utilisation of pulverised coal in special combustion chambers lined by tubes conveying the feed water to the boiler is a system offering very great attractions, and finding a very wide application on land, particularly in the United States of America. The large combustion chamber, in which the radiant is absorbed largely by the fed water, gives an extremely high overall boiler efficiency, and the combustion of the fuel can be regulated with exactly the same facility as is the case with oil fuel. "Just as with automatic stokers burning coal on board ship, there is still the question of the handling of coal from the bunkers to the stoker hoppers, which has not yet been solved in any satisfactory way. With pulverised fuel burning there is further the great disadvantage that the combustion chamber is so large and deeg that the normal height from the bottom of the ash-pit to the top of the steam drum is much increased. Coal, after all, is our natural fuel, and a satisfactory means of adapting pulverised coal to ship propulsion is not beyond the realms of future possibility. The system for use on board ship must comprise separate pulverising plants, to pulverise the fuel as .it is required, since the danger of storing any quantity on board is regarded as inadmissible. '' 85, Fleet street.