NEW GIANT LINERS

Evening Star, Issue 19919, 16 July 1928, Page 14

NEW GIANT LINERS

THOUSAND FEET IN LENGTH

There is good reason to believe, says the naval correspondent of the London ‘ Daily Telegraph,’ that the coming summer will witness the laying down of two gigantic liners for the Southamp-ton-New York service, one by iho White Star Line, the other by the Canard Company. Both vessels will surpass in tonnage the largest vessels > ow alloat, and one at least—the Cunardcr —is expected to establish a new record for speed. Plans for those ships were prepared some lime ago, the design in each case reflecting the policy of the owners concerned, but, in view of the heavy cost of modern ship construction, especially in the caso of liners de luxe, it is possible that the actual placing of the orders would have been postponed for another year. As it is, however, the hand's of British shipowners have been forced to some extent by the pressure of foreign competition. According to information from a 10Hable source, Messrs Holland and Wolff, of Belfast, will shortly begin the construction of a new White Star liner of at least 60,000 tons and possibly of much greater tonnage. She will In any case bo considerably larger than tho Majestic, the world's largest •ship which has a gross tonnage ol 56,551. The length of tho new vessel will ho about I,oooft—44ft more Gian the Majestic.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES It is understood also that she will bo driven by internal combustion engines, a system of propulsion in which Lord Kylsant, the chairman of the White Star Line, is known to have great faith. When it is remembered, the correspondent remarks, that the largest' motor ship hitherto built—the Italian liner Augustus—is a vessel or 32 500 tons the boldness ot_ adapting the Diesel system to a ship almost twice that size will bo appreciated, incidentally it will give a well-deserved advertisement to British marine engineering, which has, in fact, toiccd well ahead of all foreign competitors in the development of the oil _ motor loi largo ocean-going ships of high speed. The Cunard Company, it is understood, is also on the point of ordenng a liner at least as large as tho new White Star vessel and with a much higher designed speed. _ Although he fact is not officially admitted, it is undoubtedly intended to recapture for Great Britain tho blue riband or the Atlantic, which having been held by the Mauretania ior twenty-one years, will_ shortly be lost only temporarily, it is to be hoped—to tile Germans. T . , , The new North German Lloyd twin liners Bremen and Europe, of 46,000 tons each, are designed for a speed of 264 knots, or one knot more than the original contract speed of the Mauro tania. In actual service, after the engines have been “ run in,” they are expected to do 27 or 28 knots, in the near future, therefore, a new ,- ecord for tho swiftest Atlantic passage will bo created by these German vessels. Their triumph, however, will he snortlived.

SPEED OF AT LEAST 28 KNOTS. The Canard Company is on the point of ordering a ship which, while as large as or larger than, the projected 60,000ton White Star vessel, will be designed for a sea speed of at least 38 knots. Her length will bo approximately I,oooft, and she will bo driven by highpressure, superheat turbines of a pattern which has already been tested, with excellent results, in a small experimental vessel. The contract for this super-grey-hound of the Atlantic is expected to go to the Tyne, but a famous Clyde shipyard is also known to be in Hie running. The veteran Mauretania, which, after twenty-one years of continuous service, still holds the world’s record for speed in the ocean liner class, was built by Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson at Wallscnd-on-Tyne.