NEW LUXURY SHIPS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18267, 7 December 1922, Page 11

NEW LUXURY SHIPS.

o ADVENT OF MOTOR LINERS. "DARING ADVANCE" MADE. UNION COMPANY'S ENTERPRISE. [FROM OUH OWN CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON, Oct. 24. Glowing comment is made, by tho Daily Telegraph on the action of tho Union Steam Ship Company in becoming the pioneers in the development of powerful vessels 'fitted with internal combustioki engines. " For some time past," says the Daily Telegraph, " vessels of tho new order , have been seen at sea, but in the main they are cargo boats and not passenger ships. But now the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand has placed an order with tho Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company for a passenger liner which will put to a supreme test all that the advocates of tho new motive power have claimed. For this new liner will be 600 feet long over all, with a ; beam of 72 feet, and sho will have a j displacement of about 22,000 tons. j " The order for this vessel may bo re- I garded as the most daring advance at a single step which has been undertaken j since men first, began to talk of the coining of the motor ship. This vessel is not only to have the relatively high speed of IS knots, but sho is to be employed on the long sea passage between New Zealand and Vancouver. Ten ' I years ago the idea of installing any kind nf motor generator in so large a vessel intended for so long a route, and with a designed speed of 18 knots, would have been regarded as madness. It may bo safelv said no shipowner would have en- j terta'ined tbo proposal. It speaks well j for tho enterprise of all concerned that an agreement should have been made for laying down this great ship, with triple screws, in the confident expectation that she will develop from 12,000 to 13,000 b.h.p." A New Ounaider. A new Cunarder, tho Franconia, was successfully launched at Clydebank this week. The vessel is the; ninth of the 14 ships belonging to the Cunard's post- , war building programme, and with a : length of 624 ft, and a beam of 74ft,. will be of 20.000 tons gross. Her oripinal design has been extensively modified in order to adapt her for ocean touring and the long voyages entailed in world cruises. To this end an area of some 6000 square feet, extending the full width of tho ship through two of her lower decks, is being devoted to a great swim- J ming pool, bigger than that of the Aqui- j tania and slightly longer than tho Pcm- | peia-n pool of the Bcrengaria. both cf which vessels, it will be remembered, are more than double her tonnage. On one side of the pool is to be a squash rackets court, with an up:ier gallery for specta- j tors, and "on the other sido a gymnasium, ; fitted with all kinds of appliances. ■ mechanical and electrical, for physical | recreation and development. Tho de- j signed sea-speed is 16 knots, and tho pro- I pelling machinery is to consist of two ' sets of Brown-Curtis turbines driving ; two screws through double-reduction gear- ' ing. The boilers will be fired with oil. Acme of Comfort. Tho Volendam, the latest addition to the fleet of the Holland-America Line, has completed her trials and will start on her maiden voyar/o from Rotterdam to New York on November 4, calling at Boulogno and Plymouth en route. The company now have over 40 liners and cargo steamers in commission, the largest being the Rotterdam, of 24,170 tons gross register. The Veedam, a sister ship to the Volendam, will bo launched on November 18, and should bo ready for use next spring. There is also now "being built tho Statendam, of 33,000 tons gross j register. The Volendam, which was built by Messrs. Harland and Wolff, Belfast, has a tonnage of 15,200 tons gross, and | can accommodate 296 first-class, 396 second-class and 1292 third-class passengers. Electric control—from tho radiators and fans in the stato rooms to tho refrigerating and cooking machines in tho kitchen —is ono of tho features of this luxury ship. j Built primarily for comfort; rather than j for speed, tho Volendam is specially i suited for the Anglo-American service. [ Practically all the known devices for tho safety and ease of the passengers have been adopted, and in many cases, improved upon. The decorations throughout aro extremely artistic. The firstclass smoking room, for instance, Js a reproduction of an old baronial hall in. the early Tudor style, with open fireplace and oak walls and ceiling, panelled and carved. Tho first-class library, social hall and dining saloon aro also luxuriously and artistically designed and furnished. Individual control of the heating and ventilating arrangements is another feature which will appeal to all passengers, as; well as the constant supply of running water, both hot and cold, to the double sets of marblo wash-basins in the firstclass staterooms and cabins.