ANTI-TORPEDO DEVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25428, 8 January 1944, Page 7

ANTI-TORPEDO DEVICE

LEADING INVENTION IN WAR MANY TANKERS SAVED Hundreds of British tankers are being fitted with a device for shipsaving which has already proved to be one of the most important and successful of the war. Tanker after tanker has been brought safely to port with torpedo damage which previously would have been fatal, and valuable oil cargoes have been saved. The device has been evolved by Mr William Lynn Nelson, for 20 years a sea-going engineer aboard tankers, and now the marine superintendent of the Eagle Oil and Shipping Company. Basis of System Compressed air is the basis of the system. An airline is fitted the full length of the vessel connected at either end to a compressor pump of the type generally used on roads to power pneumatic drills. At points along the air-pipe there are connections to take airlines. If the ship is torpedoed, the compressor at either end of the ship is brought into operation and air is forced into the damaged compartments at a desired pressure. The inrush of water into the ship is checked and then the water is forced out. . Pressure can be maintained until the ship reaches port. Another main use of the device is tc provide a means of pumping sea water for fire-fighting when steam power in the engine rooms has been put out of action. A pneumatic pump is used to which a hosepipe is attached and hung over the side of the ship into the water, and a 60-foot jet is immediately available. In August, 2942, when the tanker Ohio was severely damaged on her voyage to Malta, much of her cargo of petrol was discharged by the use of the compressor which had previously been fitted in the vessel by Mr Nelson on the authority of the Admiralty and the Ministry of War Transport. . , , The most novel use to which the system has been put, and one which neither Mr Nelson nor the Ministry of War Transport had visualised, occurred when a large tanker was torpedoed in mid-Atlantic. Tugs were called for to tow the ship into port. Only one arrived, and the problem arose how to steer the ship. The chief engineer solved it by coupling the compressed air system to the steam pipes of the steering machinery, and the ship was brought safely into port after a 12-day voyage. The crew were even able to enjoy hot meals, as the compressor was also used to pump oil fuel into the galley stove. Ships Brought Safely to Port Many ships have already been saved with the assistance of this device. Outstanding are the cases of two of the first tankers to be fitted. One of these was the ship on which the apparatus was first demonstrated to Ministry and shipping officials. This tanker was struck by three torpedoes when outward bound. Air pressure was put on all compartments in the neighbourhood of the damage, and the ship was brought safely into port. . The master sailed his battered ship 1200 miles to the United States, where he wrote: “There might have been a different story to. tell if this equipment had not been installed.” When the other tanker, loaded with 12 000 tons of benzine and kerosene, was torpedoed, the torpedo struck forward and the ship dipped steeply by the head. Petrol poured out of her shattered side on to the sea. The submarine surfaced and, according to the captain, could not open fire on the ship because of the petrol fumes which were saturating the atmosphere. . . Tanks on the damaged vessel were put under air pressure and, after the U-boat had submerged, the tanker made all speed to her destination, where she arrived safely. The port authorities would not allow her to enter the harbour as the leaking petrol, still pouring from her side, made her a danger to other shipping The pumproom had been put. out of action, but again the air compressor was brought into use and the petrol was removed from the damaged tanks. , She later steamed 900 miles to port and from there 11,000 miles to the United States for repairs. ,