Motor Engines for a Battleship.

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 4, 1 February 1911, Page 543

Motor Engines for a Battleship.

The announcement is made in the Motor Boat that motor engines for a “ Dreadnought’ ’ battleship are building in England to-day. Prom an article on the subject in that journal we make the following extracts: — “The consummation which engineers declared only a few months ago to he years distant has actually been achieved. ... So astounding and so utterly unexpected is this announcement that there may be a n k unnatural inclination to doubt its accuracy. But our source of information, while it

may not be divulged, may be regarded as absolutely reliable. . . The design consists of eight-cylinder engines, practically two four-cylinder motors coupled in tandem, developing 12,000 h.p., that is, 1500 h.p. per cylinder. Three of these 12,000 h.p. units are in process of construction, making an aggregate of 36,000 h.p. The engines will be installed in a 'Dreadnought,' we believe, of this year's or next year's programme, and a speed of 21 knots is anticipated. "It will be matter merely of regret, not a calamity, that the first motor-driven 'Dreadnought' will be a foreign, not a British vessel. France, we believe we are correct in saying, will be the first Power to have a motor 'Dreadnought' in commission. Germany will be actually the first country to have one of these monster engines afloat in a warship, but her experiment, though further advanced, is of a more tentative nature; the engine will be in a vessel smaller than a 'Dreadnought.' The second motor 'Dreadnought' will, therefore, belong to Great Britain."