GIANT LINER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21912, 22 September 1934, Page 8

GIANT LINER

VIEWING THE LAUNCHING 600,000 PEOPLE EXPECTED DESIGNERS' GREAT MOMENT EARLY TESTS WITH MODELS No. m. When the Queen launches the new Cunard liner No. 534 on Wednesday over 600,000 people will witness the great event. Thousands of applications for permission to view the launching from the yard poured into the builders' offices, some from all parts of the world. As space is limited, only the men constructing the vessel, together with their families, have been granted permits. To meet the needs of the visitors, a Glasgow business concern is erecting galleries in a field opposite the berth occupied by the "534." Charges of from 2s 6d to £1 Is are to be made, and the field is to be transformed into a show ground for the day. Marquees, where food arid refreshments can bo obtained, are to be erected, and music provided. Special trains are to bo run from all over Britain. While the view from the south side of the Clyde will be magnificent, the privileged workers will assemble in specially roped-in enclosures in the yard, where they will see the Queen perform the launching ceremony. Clydebank,Burgh Band will provide music. A selection of special tunes has been prepared by the conductor. Broadcast of Queen's Voice

It is anticipated that the day will be declared a public holiday on tho Clydebank, and special preparations are being made for the reception of the King and Queen. A gangway 70ft. high is being erected. Access will be by a specially-constructed electric hoist. The Iloyal party will cross the gangway, which will be 700 yds. long and lead over the roofs of the works buildings to the launching platform. When the King and Queen reach the platform there will be 200 carpenters below the ship. At a signal they will drive out the forest of timber supporting/ the mammoth vessel. Special machinery will hold the ship in position and prevent it from rushing the river. The Queen will press an electric button. A bottle of champagne will be released from an automatic holder and break against the bow. The Queen will speak, and her voice will be transmitted by wireless to the four corners of the earth. A bell will ring as the Queen presses another button. The machinery holding the ship back will come into operation. The ressel will glide down the launching ways and her cradles will smash into thousands of fragments sis she enters the Clyde, which, with the River Cart, has been specially dredged for tiie occasion. No Precedent In Planning Noi; the least anxious and thrilled of the onlookers as the great vessel takes the water will the designers, who had no precedent to guide them in planning the ship. For four years before the contract was let they gave continuous thought and work to evolviing design and experir lentipg with models, for a sum approximating £5,000,000 cannot bo squandered in haphazard fashion. Costing many thousands of pounds ■; and involving patient labour and study, the tests with models were carried out in an experimental tanl: 400 ft. long and 20ft. wide. Accurate scale models of the "534" were launched in this tank and towed at various speeds by an overhead carriage, on which were intricate and delicate electrical instruments recording the reactions of the models to the force of the water. Before the final tests were made 16 models had been constructed and over 4000 trial runs made. When a liner is steaming into a head wind a series of air currents and --eddies is- created round and above it and, as these currents have a downward trend, smoke from the JHinnels sometimes blows down upon the decks. Such conditions are intensified in the case of a liner of great size and speed. Deciding Type of runnel

During the preliminary planning of the "534" many experiments were conducted to test the probable behaviour of the fumes. Numerous siws and shapes of funnels were tested by placing a scale model in a specially constructed wind tunnel and forcing smoke through the funnels, while fans drew air down through the ventilating system. A type of funnel was eventually evolved which, kept the decks free from smoke, even in a strong head wind.

For the final tests a model of the ship was built 17ft. long and weighing 8001b. It was true to scale and complete with all superstructure, boats, funnels and ventilators. This model was actually self-propelled, gearing being installed to drive the four propellers. During the first tests the vessel tiavelled at full speed in smooth water, and a feature of the demonstration was the remarkable absence of wave disturbance at the bow and stern. This experiment resembled the trial run of the ship under ideal weather conditions, but the Atlantic is seldom a placid millpond and, by ingenious machinery, it was possible to provide any type of weather which the ship would meet. Creation of "Waves" By this machinery it was possible to create, to scale, a series of waves of any length and height. It was noticed that even when travelling through the equivalent of a 60-knot gale the pitching and rolling of the ship were almost negligible, while the water was thrown well clear of the decks. /While it is confidently expected that the "534" will recapture for Britain the blue riband of the Atlantic, at present held by the German liner Bremen, which travelled from Cherbourg to New York and back in 10 days 7 hours 18 minutes, this goal is apparently not . the reason for the building of the vessel. yhe chairman of the company, Sir Percy Bates, has stated that the blue riband is only indirectly concerned. The true reason for building the two propos&d liners, said Sir Percy, was that for the first time in the history of naval architecture it had become a practical proposition to run a weekly service from Southampton, via Cherbourg, to New York, with two steamers which would pay. The two projected vessels were, in fact, in the opinion of the technical advisers to the company, the smallest and slowest which could fulfil the essential economic conditions. Great Graving Dock the contract for the first vessel, the "534," was signed, the Southern Railway authorities undertook to construct., by October, 1933, a new graving dock at Southampton of sufficient dimensions to accommodate a liner of the size of the new ships. The dock, which was to be 1200 ft. long, 135 ft. wide and 45ft. deep, was actually opened on July 26 this year, some time before the contract date. When the time comes for the "534" to enter this dock, she will be a vessel in the full splendour of her glory, a vastly different spectacle from that which she will present at the launching ceremony. Whatever elements of splendour may be lacking at the launching, however, in view of the ship's present unfinished/ will be compensated for by the thrill as her giant shape glides down the slipway, marking the greatest moment in shipbuilding his-