ATLANTIC LINERS

Evening Star, Issue 20537, 16 July 1930, Page 12

ATLANTIC LINERS

SIZE OF THE ENGINES

REGAINING THE BLUE RIBBON

BRITAIN'S PROSPECTS The placing of the contract for the big Cunarder and the forthcoming completion of the White Star motor ship Britannic have again raised the question of the supremacy, ot the Atlantic, which' has been wrested from Great Britain by the German liners Europa and Bremen. That the new records made by those vessels represent finality, so far as they are concerned, is very unlikely, for once the machinery is thoroughly tuned in and summer conditions prevail it is almost a certainty that even faster speeds will be accomplished by these liners. . There is no possibility of their position being assailed 'until at least 1934, because some considerable time must elapse before the keel ot the new Cunarder ■is laid down, and the construction and completion of so great a vessel would obviously occupy anything up to three years. So far as the W hit©-Star Line is concerned/ if Don* Kylsant decides that his new super-hnor is to be built for: speed a probably greater tune would elapse before the vessel would be hope that appears to be entertained in some quarters that the Britannic may regain' the blue ribbon ot the Atlantic for British shipping is vain. The Britannic has not been designed for speed, and while she wilt be in many ways a most remarkable ship, it is altogether out of the question thai she can attain speeds approaching those of "the Mauretania or the new German vessels. Her motive power will bo supplied by two ten-cylinder Harland— Band W. double-acting motors, which will give a speed of some nineteen knots. , . The very fact that she is going on the Liverpool-New York service, as distinct from the Southampton-New York service is sufficient to show that speed is not , her primary object. For many years the White Star Company has maintained an efficient and steady service between the Mersey and New York with the Baltic, Celtic,. Cedric, and Adriatic, which have regularly done the journey in from seven to days. The Celtic has, of course, been removed through shipwreck, and it is intended that the Britannic shall take her place, while her sister ship, which is in’the very early stages or construction, will doubtless take the place of the Cedric, which has already given her owners thirty years' splendid service. As a matter of fact, at the present time Messrs Harland and Wolff, Ltd., are building at Belfast a quadruplescrew motor-liner for the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, which, although 10,000 tons smaller, will develop 2,000 h.p. more than the Britannic, with fourtrunk piston airless injection fourcycle units. Even this vessel,' which will be employed on the South American run, will not have a speed anywhere approaching that of the German liners, nor is it intended that she should.

Few people outside technical circles have any idea of the tremendous additional cost which even an extra knot means to one 'of these ocean greyhounds. Shipbuilders are prepared to turn out vessels with speeds up to thirty knots kn hour, but it is all a question of finance. If the shipowners can pay they can have the vessel, but at the present time comparatively few shipping concerns are in a position to embark on such huge capital expenditure.

There are only two companies which may be looked to to provide the vessel, that may restore .the blue ribbon to Britain—namely, the Cunard and the White Star Line. The latter company, however, has never aimed at turning out the fastest vessels on the North Atlantic route. Comfort and regularity have been its motto, and, although the _ Olympic and Britannic were huge ships, they were never intended to be “ flyers ” in the sense in which the term is popularly used today; and it will not be in the least surprising, if and when the new 60,000ton vessel comes along from Belfast, that it also will not pretend to be one of the world’s fastest ships. OUR LARGEST MOTOR SHIP.

It is always open to Lord Kylsant, however, to spring a surprise, and go in for h, vessel that will do the run from Southampton to New York in the shortest time. But it is doubtful if oven that point has been finally settled by the proprietors of the White Star Company. in deciding to build two motor liners of the Britannic type they have shown great faith in the Diesel engine, which Lord Kylsant has now introduced into practically all the companies which ho controls. The remarkable success of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company’s snips, Alcantara

and Asturias, and the Union Castle liner Carnarvon Castle, to be followed shortly by tho Winchester Castle and Warwick Castle from Belfast, have emboldened him to adopt motor engines for the Britannic, which is 7,000 tons greater than any of tho vessels named, he will, in short, be Britain’s largest motor ship, being 27,000 tons gross, with a length of 680 ft, a breadth of 82ft, and a depth of 43.9 ft. SOME FACTS AND FIGURES. Her poi fornmm-es as the largest Bri-tish-huilt motor vessel _ are being awaited with particular interest. It is no exaggeration to say that the question ‘ whether larger motor vessels are to he turned out will to some extent depend on the success or nonsuccess of the machinery- of the Britannic. She was launched as far back as August 6, and some idea of the enormous amount of work and material involved is furnished by the fact that there are about 3,000,000 rivets in the ship, weighing 650 tons in all; over thirteen'miles of piping and four miles of ventilating trunks, and twenty miles of electric wiring. The huge stern of the Britannic weighs thirtyone tons, and the rudder thirty-six tons., Ono of the most interesting features is the extensive use made of electricity, the connected load of current being equal to that of a town of 30,000 people This power is used for a wide variety of purposes, including baking, cooking, cleaning silver, peeling potatoes, making ice cream and clear ice, and printing. The machinery is, of course, the most interesting part of the ship. In one day the twin engines of the Britannic will consume eighty tons of fuel oil, and so turn each propeller 140,000 times, while each inlet, exhaust, and fuel valve will function 70.000 times, and each piston cover a distance of 280 miles.

Tho essential difference between these engines and the ordinary motor car engine lies in the fact that, whereas the latter is supplied with a magneto for firing the explosive gases of petrol, the engines in the Britannic, by- their own. compression, create the necessary temperature to ignite the vapourised crude oil. In the ordinary motor car engine the, motive power is developed from 'the top side of each piston, whereas the double-acting propelling motors in the Britannic utilise the under, side as well as the top side for their motive power. The size of each engine may be realised from the fact that twelve of the bigg-st cars built would be parked on the floor space occupied by each bod plate, and, further, that by simply removing an exhaurt or' iul-t valve, an engineer can climb bodily inside the cylinder for inspection purposes. Despite the size, each engine, with its 135-ton crankshaft and correspondingly largo connecting rods, cross-heads, and pistons, can be manoeuvred by- compressed air with the greatest of ease, and can bo reversed in nine s. ,jonds.

All the auxiliary machinery—with the exception of the air-compressor for feeding the cy-linders’ with fuel oil, which is driven by a four-cylinder motor engine—is electrically- driven, the power for this'and the ship’s use being provided by four six-cylinder motor generators.