A NEW CUNARDER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 24 January 1911, Page 2

A NEW CUNARDER.

WORLD'S GREATEST LINER.

I am officially informed- (says the Liverpool correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" on December 8) that the Cunard Steamship Company have t,o-day placed a -contract, with Messrs John Brown- and Co.. Ltd., for the construction of a new mammoth mail steamer for their New York service. This- ie- the Cunard Company's answer to the Ham-burg-America Company, who recently announced the .construction of a liner which was to eclipse any British steamer on the water, and the importance of the British company's .retort cannot be exaggerated, whether considered , Irani the point of view of the Atlantic passenger and -mail service or that of the Naval Reserve. lamin a position to add that the new Cunarder, which Messrs John Brown are to commence building forthwith, will not only be as lav.ge as her German rival, viz., 50,000 tons, but that she will considerably exceed' her in speed. The new steamer will have a larger displacement of 18,000 tons than the Mauretania, and she will exceed the length of that steamer by 123 feet. The 'plans passed ai-e for a vessel 850 ft. in length between perpendicular and 885 ft; oven all, and an .extreme breadth of 85 feet 6iq., as .compared .with.92ft.' in the White Star Company's Olympic. The length of-the Mauretania- in 702 ft., anil the breadth 88ft. In the matter of speed the new Cunarder will be constructed to maintain an average steaming of 23 knots on a departure draught of 34ft., so that, while she -will not in the matter of sipeed alone attempt to emulate the performances of the. Mauretania, she will pass the new Olympic or the new Hamburg-Amerika liner,, if -in the latter case 20. knots, as has been veported, is to be the new German vessel's speed. It should be added that the new Cunarder will be propelled' by turbines operating quadruple screws. Her coal capacity "will be 6500 tons. The 'design of the vessel will, it is understood, include a double bottom, so arranged that she may carry oil fuel, should the use of oil be adopted -as an alternative .or as a . superior method of , raising steam if deemed- advisable. The aiecomirii6da>iiion will provide for 650 fiijst-clasns .passengers, 740 second»:lass, and 2,400 third-class —a total of 3790, as -compared! with 2500 in the Olympic, and 2200 in the Mauretania and the Lusitania. Among the many features of this floating city will be a large swimming bath, a theatre, a daily newspaper, with several editions', (supplied through the medium of wireless telegraphy, and' many complete suites of rooms, "flats," with their own kitchens, for such passengers as desire the privilege of home combined with the luxury of a- first-class hotel. ' The. cost of the vessel will be close upon £2,000,060. Naval architects' there are who hold that the future of Transatlantic shipping lies not with the fastest, but with the largest vessels. The Cunard Company have apparently decided that speed as well as size must be combined if the prestige of Great Britaiin as the foremoat shipbuilding nation is to be. preserved. "- (Our leading article to-day deals with the"problems, of 'the 'increasing size o* ocean sfceainere.). - ,