NEW GERMAN LINERS

Taranaki Daily News, 12 October 1928, Page 14

NEW GERMAN LINERS

EUROPE AND THE BREMEN THE TRANS ATLANTIC SERVICE. HUGE VESSELS OF HIGH SPEED. London, Aug. 24. Last week on successive days there were launched the North German Lloyd trans-Atlantic liner Europa and her sister ship Bremen. Each of these 46,000ton ships has accommodation for 2100 passengers, with a crew of about 1000. The Europa and Bremen are the largest units of the German mercantile fleet, as well as the fastest. They should be able to make the voyage from Bremen to New York in six days, and from Southampton to New York in five days, that is to say, in about five hours under the quickest time yet recorded. The boilers burn oil only, and the draught is increased by superpressure in the stokeholds. In the construction of these ships extraordinary attention has been paid to the factor of safety. Thanks to an elaborate system of double bottoms and watertight compartments, either vessel, it is claimed, would remain afloat even if any four compartments were flooded. The hull is peculiar in form, with a pronounced bulge at the bows. The liners will be equipped with the latest devices for ensuring safe navigation. There are enough lifeboats to accommodate all the 3200 passengers, as well as the crew which each ship will carry. Four of these boats are equipped with wireless, and all are so constructed as to be virtually unsinkable in the roughest weather. Ordered in December, 1026, the Europa was not laid down until 23rd July, 1927, the Bremen having been started a month earlier. As both ships are due to go into service during next spring, their construction has been exceptionally rapid. Both are fitted to carry first and second-class passengers, together with a large number of tourist, third cabin, and third-class passengers. Several of the leading artists in Germany have assisted in designing the decorations, which will, it is understood, be carried out on a most luxurious plan. A complete innovation is the provision of a restaurant where passengers may choose their own meals and pay for them at the time, having in the first instance purchased a passage ticket exclusive of meals.

POPULAR SPECTACLES. At Hamburg, where the Europa was launched on August 15, the visitors at the yard of Messrs. Blohm and Voss numbered some twenty thousand, but still more persons observed the grand spectacle from thousands of tugs and ■launches and from the northern side of the Elbe. The town and the harbour were gay with flags, showing that the occasion was looked upon as a great event in which the whole population participated. Tlie launch of the Bremen, the second of the two giant liners, at the Weser yard of Deutsche Schiffs-und Maschinenbau, A.G., caused still more interest, because the German State President von Hindenburg christened the vessel, and, as this grand old man is much venerated by all classes in this country, about fifty thousand people gathered at the yard, though it is some distance from Bremen. It was almost impossible to arrive in time for the spectacle as all roads were hopelessly congested. At the ceremony Herr von Hindenburg called attention to the faet that the first trans-Atlantic steamer of the North German Lloyd, which was launched about 70 years ago, bore the name of Bremen, the horn port of the company. He acknowledged that German shipping never lost hope in the most desolate days, and it had succeeded in building up again an efficient mercantile fleet since the W'ar. The two new ships would become new links connecting America and Europe; they were tokens of the undestroyable German working power and showed that the German people were willing to devote their best work in creating connections between countries divided by the sea. He concluded with the wish that the new vessel would always show the German will for peaceful co-operation in the world. PARTICULARS OF THE VESSELS. The two new vess.’.s are; apart from trifling differences ot form and apart from their artistic oufttings, practically identical. They were ordered on December 13, 1926, and the keels were laid in June and July, 1927. The ships have a length or about 760 ft and will measure about 46,000 tons gross, which is a little less that that of the Olympic and a little more than that of the Aquitania. The launching weight was about 30,000 tons, including the watertube boilers, which, with many auxiliaries, were already in tlie hull. Nearly 25,000 tons of shipbuilding materials have been necessary for each ship, and 1200 tons of rivets.

The ships are driven 'by four sets of geared turbines, independent of each other. The gears are in the singlereduction type. Steam is generated in high-pressure water-tube boilers, fired by oil; they are fitted with Howden’s forced draught or pressure stokeholds and fed only by evaporated water. The four large bronze propellers of each ship are each cast in one' piece and weigh 17 tons. The speed of the ships will allow them to do the crossing from the channel to New York within five days. The electric generators are driven by

Diesel engines. Watertight sub-divi-sions are so arranged that up to four compartments may be flooded at the end of the ships without endangering their safety. The engine and boiler rooms are so sub-divided that propulsive power can be continued under any circumstances. Special care has been taken to fit the ships with large lifeboats capable of carrying all the passengers and crew. All the other safety measures, including wireless installations, fire extinguishing apparatus, etc., are of the most modern design. Special care has been paid to the accommodation for passengers, which has been designed with the assistance of leading artists of the country. Sheltered and open promenade and sporting decks are provided, also a number of shops. Apart from the normal dining saloon each vessel will have a restaurant for such passengers as prefer to choose and pay for the meals separately and who contract for the voyage without meals. Sporting arrangements are provided for all three classes, including- gymnasium rooms and a very spacious swimming pool. The first-class accommodation includes de luxe suites, numerous rooms with private baths and others with private shower baths. Their outward appearance will be of the modern type, as they have two broad and short funnels and two masts only. It is assumed in some quarters that the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic will pass to the Germans as soon as these ships have been placed in commission,, writes the Shipping World. This phrase is usually accepted as referring only to speed, but speed can be purchased at too high a price. It will be recalled that on one occasion a German liner narrowly escaped losing her after-part in mid-ocean owing to the excessive vibration which was set up when steaming at full speed. German shipbuilders have learnt many lessons since that experience, and there is no reason to believe that either of the new vessels will behave in this way. But, though they may prove acceptable ships, is it certain that they Will be more popular than the fine vessels which the Cunard and White Star Lines already have on the North Atlantic route? Will they be better equipped with all the comforts of travel which are now regarded as essential? Will they be steadier boats in a heavy seaway? It may be suggested that these are considerations which will not be ignored by passengers who contemplate crossing the Atlantic. They may be taken into consideration, without unduly stretching tho meaning of the phrase, when there is talk of the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic.

Even if the narrowest meaning be given to these -words, and it is conceded that the owners of the swiftest ships are entitled to claim the Blue Ribbon, is it beyond doubt that either the Bremen or Europa will wrest the distinction from the British Merchant Navy? The Mauretania has shown that British-built ships can do ever after upwards of twenty years’ service. She was at first regarded as a steady 25-knot vessel, but after her turbines had been well run in, she attained an average speed on one day in an eastward passage of 27.01 knots, or 1 knot in excess of the speed which was reached during her trials. Last month she crossed the Atlantic twice in 12J days. That record has never been excelled. She must at times have developed upwards of 95,000 horse power. It has yet to be seen whether the Mauretania has reached the limit of performance which her engines render possible.