ATLANTIC SHIPS

Evening Star, Issue 19614, 21 July 1927, Page 5

ATLANTIC SHIPS

INTERNATIONAL RIVALRY. COMPETITION KEEN AGAIN. Once more the North Atlantic is to be the scene of fierce conflicts between the nations of Europe for supremacy in rapid marine transport, Tho old rivalry in this sphere, which came to a sudden end with the outbreak of the war in 1914 is likely to take a new lease of life within the nest year or two. Those who followed shipping events in the years immediately preceding the war will remember the sensation that was caused when the'Deutschland, then by far tho largest ship in the world, sailed into Southampton Harbor with the words “ Made in Germany ” flying in immense illuminated letters from her mast. That was the beginning of a new era in transatlantic passenger services. Great Britain itself challenged by the appearance of the Deutschland, and the answer took the form of tho Lusitania and Mauretania. Then came the Olympic and Titanic, both British-built vessels of 46,000 tons odd, to which the Germans replied by the Lnperator (now Herengaria), of 62,000. and the Vaterland (now Leviathan), of over 50,000 tons. The Bismarck, of about tho same size, never crossed the Atlantic under the German flag, but was taken over at the armistice as an entirely new vessel, and rcchristened “Majestic.” These huge German vessels, however, though far beyond any British vessel in tonnage, were not superior to the. Mauretania. and Lusitania in speed, so that in this respect it may be said that little progress has taken place since the launching of the Mauretania. The new rivalry for the blue ribbon of the Atlantic will probably be even more exciting than the rivalry of prewar days, chiefly because the number of competitors will be considerably enlarged. Before it was almost entirely a question of Great Britain or Germany. Now both France and Italy—especially the latter—will have to be reckoned with as serious' factors.

This time it is indeed Italy who, with Germany, is setting the pace. Mussolini's somewhat vague utterances regarding tho future Italian transatlantic passenger services have by no means revealed any of the secrets ol tho Genoa or Monfaloone shipbuilding yards, hut they have at least shown that the chief object of' the two great vessels. Dux and Rex, now under construction, will be sliced. In France, as in Italy, the shipbuilding industry has made considerable progress siqco tho war, owing to low rates of exchanges. It was thus that France was able to produce one of tho largest vessels completed since the war—tho Paris (36,500 tons)—and lias now tho larger .Ile-de-France, under construction. This latter vessel will have a tonnage of over 40,000, and is expected to bo put into commission next May.

Now, as ever, however,_ it is Germany that the British shipping companies must watch most carefully il they wish to retain the blue ribbon of thcAtlantic. The recent order by the Norddcutschcr Lloyd of two vessels each of 46,500 tons, to bo named Bremen and Europa, is quite the most important shipbuilding event since the wan, and the vessels, when' completed, will put anything undertaken since the Bismarck in the shade. They are to have a speed of 26.1) knots, as _compared with the Mauretania's original twenty-five knots, and the voyage from Bremen to New York will occupy six days, that from Cherbourg to New York tak iiig five days. It is possible that the Hapap (as the Hamburg-Amorica Line is generally called here) is hanging back in order to concentrate its efforts on the vessel of 70,000 tons and with a .speed of twenty-eight knots, of which there has been some talk in Germany lately, but the general feeling is that this attractive proposal is not likely to emerge from the realm of Teutonic theorisings for some time to come.