PIONEER CONCRETE SHIP.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 162, 6 July 1918, Page 3

PIONEER CONCRETE SHIP.

The first British concrete ship has b-'.-n completed. She took live months to build, but later vessels will be built probably in three, because the pioneer craft has been constructed according to use ordinary ship lines, which has meant greatly added labour and cost in making wooden casing for the concrete in oirlur to get, both" longitudinally and transversely, the correct curves. For the next ship the same mould will serve, a.-.d later co-sines will be V-shaped in sec.i <n. In this both time and money will Lasaved, if line is sacrificed. It was ch.i.ne<l for this reinforced concrete ship that J she w;is estimated to be of supeiio:j strength to her steel sisters, and that, i if hit by a torpedo, she would be u-.-s.-. damaged than they, having no plaws to start. ,As to . her sea-going qualities, these, of course—though .Norway 18 months ago experimented with a small sea-going craft of this kind —arc all to prove. Being an experiment, and the designer having really no data to go upon, she was made ot great strength —strength rather than lightness or economy was the aim of her designer. M-.-.e is 150 ft long, 2H-ft broad, and -oitt deep, and has a draught of just muter lift- her displacement is 900 tons, and her 'deadweight carrying capacity tons. She is divided by tour watertight bulkheads into five compartments. hhe has been built according to Lloyd s regulations, and has been classified Al. 4bout 200 yards cube of concrete and | 65 tons of steel bars were used in her I construction. A mesh ot steel runs ! through the. "slab," with a. ,. steel rod frames at intervals. I rohabls she cost much about the Mine as a ?L el ship to build, but only a quarter to a ' third of the steel which would ordinarm ■ be used was required for her construe J tion.