LARGE MOTOR SHIPS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19761, 12 April 1926, Page 2

LARGE MOTOR SHIPS.

OPENING OP A NEW ERA

AORANGI A PIONEER LINER.

A new era in marine engineering may bo said to have opened in 1925. Probably, but for the Great War, the remarkable developments of last year and those now occuring would have taken place earlier. Shortly before 19b\ efforts were being made to try to discover a satisfactory alternative to the reciprocating steam engine for ships, and steam turbines were being built on a considerable scale. Turbine engines have, however, not proved economical in every case, and, after the war. British firms, freed from some of their pressing anxieties, began to build motor ships each developing about 3500 h.p., which was not sufficient lor large passenger vessels. In the meantime, Scandinavian owners, whose circumstances during the war period were so different from those of British owners, had built a number of experimental ships and were finding the results satisfactory. It was not, however, until last year that large motor passenger ships began to make their appearance. The first ship of this class was a British vessel—the Aorangi—of 17,500 tons, which was built by the Fairfield Company on the Clyde for the service of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. The brake horse-power, at 14,000, was the most powerful that had ever been provided in a ship, but it was given in the form of four engines each developing 3500 h.p.— a fact which itself indicnWl caution, since the capabilities of each comparatively small engine were known. Incidentally, it is noteworthy that the engines were built under the license of the patents of the Sulzer Company, of Winterthur, Switzerland. The favourable experience with this pioneer ship has promised much to encourage the construction of other large motor passenger liners It was known that many owners would watch carefully the accounts of her performances.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN VESSELS. The Gripsholm, a second motor passenger liner of similar gross tonnage, made her appearance at the end of the vein. She was built for the Transatlantic service of the Swedish-Amencun Line, between Gothenburg and New York, by Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., on the Tyne, and the engines were constructed bv ivxessrs Buruieiater and Wain, oi Copenhagen. The brake horse-power was 13,500, and it was provided by two engines only, as compared with the four of the Aorangi. The two engines of the Gripsholm were the largest double-acting motors that had ever been „ailt for a ship The experience of the vessel in service is reported to have been satisfactory, and it is understood that plans are now under discussion for the construction of another vessel of similar size for the same owners. The next great motor passenger liner put into service is the Asturias, of 22,500 tons, built by Harland and Wolff, at Belfast.' They are also building the Carnarvon Castle, of about the same size. She is to be ready for the opening of the passenger season to South Africa m the autumn. While these large vessels art being completed in British yards, foreign builders are constructing passenger motor liners of a large size. On December 29 the Saturn la, of 24.500 tons gross, was launched at Monfa leone, near Trieste, for the Cosuhch Line’s regular service to South America The two motor engines of the Saturnia and of the Urania, a sister ship, are to be of the Burmeistel and Wain type double-acting four-stroke engines. Ihe largest motor-ship yet designed is also being built in Italy—namely, the Augustus, of over 30.000 tons, which is being con--trucied 'o the order of the Navigazione General Italiana. GENERAL INCREASE -SHOWN. The growing construction of motor ships is, however, not to be measured by the building of large passenger vessels alone. In each of the summaries of the quarterly shipbuilding returns issued by Lloyd’s Register last year, attention was directed to the increasing amount of motor ships that was being built. At the end of March quarter the tonnage of motor ships then being built :n Great Britain and Ireland represented about 45 pei cent, of the steam tonnage. By the end of the year the centage had -isen to 51.6 per cent. These proportions were less than in the case of motor tonnage being built throughout the world. At the end of March the motor tonnage so being built represented rather over 75 per cent of the steam tonnage. In the December returns the figures for motor and steam topnage under construction throughout the world were practically equal. There were then being built 1,007,"381 tons of motor ships, as compared with 1,041,119 tons of steamships. Abroad, out of 1,185,000 tons under construction, 703,000 tons represented motor ships, showing that much more motor tonnage was being built there than -team tonnage.