The morning call., 1891-06-21
EEMARKABLE YES EL-NAVAL MAT
TERS.

The new Atlantic liner, which Messrs.
Thompson & Co. propose to build, viii be
such an advance upon the vessels now ply
ing between New York and Liverpool that
she will remind people of the Great Eastern.
Her length is to be about $50 feet and her
beam 70, and her twenty boilers viii exert
a force equal to 43, 600 horsepower, which
will drive her through the water at the rate
of 25h knots or y geographical miles an
hour.
The crack Yesse Is Of the day, the City of
Paris and her sister ship the CITY of New
York, are considerab ~ smaller, and the
Furst Bismarck is of about the same dmen-
sions as they. The twin Cities are $50 feet
long with 6S feet beam. The Thompson
ship, which is not yet named, is 20 feet
longer, and 10 feet broader. The tendency
of modern naval architecture is toward in
creased size. The Great Western, which
was the first ship TO cross the Atlantic, was
only 212 feet long by 35 feet beam; the
Britannia, which was for long time the flag
ship Of the White Star line, and was built
in 1874, is 455 feet long by 46 feet beam; the
Oregon, which was built in 1883, was 500
feet ,ong by 81 feet bsam; the dimensions of
the City of Paris and the Thompson ship
show a steady advance. 1t must be remem-
bered that tie Great Eastern, which was
$50 feet long by SO feet beam, was mere
experiment which having proved a COM
mercal failure, did not alter the rules of
naval architecture. Up to the present time
$50 or $50 feet have been regarded as the ex-
treme lengths which ocean steamers could
attain, and many builders have considered
this length excessive. The Etruria of the
Cunard line and her sister ship the Umbria
are only trifle over 500 feet long. They
were built in 1884, and are fay0rte ships at
this day.
There has been also, in the last thirty
years, gradual tendency toward increaS-
ing the proportion which beam bears to
length in ocean steamers. Atfirst the model
of the English cutter was closely followed.
1t was argued that The more closely a ships
hull resembled knife-blade, the more
swiftly she would cleave the water. Prior
to 1850 the proportion of beam to length
was 80 to ESQ. When the City of Berlin
was built in 1875. mainly for the emigrant
traffic, it was believed that broader ships
would steam as fast and would be more
pr0ftabe-her beam was 1l.90 of her length.
But the experiment was not regarded as
successful, aud in the ships built in 1S8l-S3
the proportion Of beam TO length was only
fraction over g. The Thompsons propose to
go back to broad ships. In their new model
the proportion of beam to length is some
thing like lilo.
But the most startling innovation in the
new model is in the driving power. This is
to be supplied by boilers, which are to num-
Der either IS or 20, it is not certain which.
Each of these boilers will generate steam
enough TO be equal to 2ljO horsepower.
This tremendous power will be used 10 drive
twin screws, with four blades EACH Of the
extraordinary dimensions Of twenty feet. It
is difficult to form a conception of the force
that such piece of mechanism win exert
when revolving at the rate at which these
screws will move
1t is interesting for US who are accus-
toned to steamers $50 to 400 feet long and
80 feet beam, with speed of fifteen knots
an hour, to read of this leviathan of the
deep, which will cross the Atlantic in five
days, and would reach Yokohama from San
Francisco in about eight But there is a
higher significance in the new development of
naval architecture than the coming improve
ment Of travel The weight of the new
Thompson steamer will exceed that of the
heaviest ironclad ever built in England.
Her momentum being her weight multiplied
by her velocity, she would strike any object
that stood in her way with a force which
nothing could resist The crack ship Inflexi-
bic would go down before her like cock
boat Steaming at the rate of nearly half
mile in minute, she would not be exposed
to an effective fire for more than about two
minutes, and it would be remarkably good
gunnery to hit her in vital part in that
time, as she would come bow Oh, and the
sea, if at all rough. would disturb the gun
ner's aim. 1t looks as though three or four
such vessels could dispose of any national
feet that could be gathered. If so, would not