SUBMARINE DOCK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18547, 3 November 1923, Page 13

SUBMARINE DOCK.

WONDER OF THE WAR. STRUCTURE TO BE BROKEN UP. The huge steel floating dock for. testing submarines, one of the engineering wonders of the war, which was constructed for tho German Navy, and came into the possession of tho British Admiralty on the cessation of hostilities, has been bought from the Admiralty b< Messrs. Cox and Danks, iron and steel merchants, of London, for breaking up at their depot at Queenborough. ' Some idea of the . great . size of the dock may be gained when it is stated that the whole structure weighs 5000 tons. It has a length of 412 ft., and a breadth of 131 ft. It* outstanding feature is a great cylinder for the reception of the submarine for testing purposes. When a test was made the dock was submerged, and the submarine was introduced into the cylinder, which is 40ft. in diameter, and runs the whole length of the dock. There is space in the dock for berthing two other submarines, one on each side of the cylinder. All the mechanical operations connected with the structure are controlled from one room or cabin, this control room containing, like the conning tower of a submarine, all the devices by means of which the raising and submerging of the dock are controlled. It in believed that the dock is the only one ol! its type in existence. It was designed' by a Hamburg engineer, named Von Klitzing. The plans were rejected by the Russian Government, to whom they were first submitted, and m law. the dock was ordered for the German Navy. Its ' construction, however, was delayed, and it was not until the summer of 1918 that it was completed.