DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 92, Issue 14262, 13 January 1920, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

II was Lord Fisher’s recent statement that half the British Navy was Oil obsolete, and the other half v. would he obsolete in a few Coal, years owing to the progress

of internal combustion and the use of oil fuel. This really raises the issue of oil versus coal. It is said that though the war has led to remarkable development in the construction of motor vessels, it has tended to obscure the extraordinary progress that has been made in the application of internal combustion to ship propulsion. The submarine.may be cited as an outstanding Illustration of what can be done by the internal combustion engine at sea. Surface vessels in 'considerable numbers supply, of course, similar evidence. In an article in the Daily Telegraph we read; “There are two men > n England to whom the chie’f credit is due for thedevelopment in the use of oil .for producing power in ships. Lord Fisher and Sir Marcus Samuel were the first.to see the possibilities of oil. The latter was foremost, and converted „Lord Fisher to his ’views, but it took many years before they could get the Admiralty to sanction the building of an oil-fired ship. No engineer in the Royal Navy would now use coal as a steam-raiser if lie could get oil. It is safe to assume that Lord Fisher and Sir Marcus Samuel are again right when they foresee that the internal combustion engine will supersede the steam boiler at sea. If the'advice of these gentlemen had not been taken in time, and the Navy had still been dependent on coal for power, it is doubtful if it could have accomplished the glorious service it rendered during the war. The magnificent performances of the Queen Elizabeth, the Renown,, and other oilburning ships are the justification of the pioneers who pointed out the methods of progress. In these great ships a working pressure of 2001 b to the square inch is maintained without lifting a shove,l or opening a furnace, door: and the stoker complement is infinitesimal compared with what it is in a coal-burning ship. The men who foresaw this possibility, and did so much to bring it about, now tell us that an even greater advance can he made by the substitution of the oil engine for the steam boiler. It would surely be wise to give heed to their advice in time. lest, this country wake up on: day to find the seopower and sea-carrying which are her very life-blood, are. vanishing from her possession."