The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-10-07
FOR LIFTING GREAT SHIPS.
The Wonderful Floating Dock Recently
Built for the Government

The Wonderful Floating Dock Recently
Built for the Government.
Down at sparrows Point, completed
!, all but few finishing touches, lies the
great steel floating dry dock built by
the Maryland Steel company for the
United States government, and which
is to be towed to Algiers, La, as soor
as the West India hurricane season
has passed. That will be about Octo-
Der l, and several powerful >ocean-go-
ing tugs will convey the immense dock
to it's destination.
1t is certain that this immense piece
of marine mechanism for lifting great
vessels out of the water to clean or re-
pair them is without a superior In it's
line, and it is doubtful whether 1t has
an equal 1t can raise fifteen thou
sand ton battleship and have the floor
of the dock two feet above the water,
which is demanded by the government
for its work, but with the floor even
with the water line it can lift an eigh-
teen thousand ton ship.
The dock is five hundred and twenty
five feet in length over all, while it's
breadth is exactly one hundred and
twenty-six feet two and seven six
teenth inches The width between the
sides is one hundred feet. The entire
height of the sides, from their bottoms,
which are submerged, to the tops is
f1fty-five feet. The depth of the pom
toons, or what the inexperienced might
call the hulls of the docks, is seventeen
feet six inches. The greatest draught
of the dock is fortynine feet six inch
es. There are three pontoons, which
| form it's floor and also, with the sides,
give it buoyancy The middle pontoon
is the largest, being two hundred and
| forty-two feet long, and the end pom
| toons are each one hundred and forty
one feet three eigth inch long and are
nine feet in width at the top and thir-
| teen feet at the bottom. The pontoons
and sides are divided into forty water
tight compartments, which enable the
dock to be completely under the control
of the dock master who can make it
assume any position required to dock a.
/ vessel 1t has two hundred and sixty
one keel blocks, upon which the vessel
rests in the dock, and they are nova
BILE, so that they can be readily adjust
ed. The weight of the steel in the
dock is $3.50 tons, and the weight of the
dock equipment Is one thousand tons,
making total weight of $685. tons.
The cost of the dock complete is $780,
900.
The stability of the structure, accord
ing to the engineers figures is some
thing remarkable Carrying a fifteen
thousand ton battleship two feet above
the water, 1t will cause her stability to
be fifteen or twenty times as great as
that of a ship in the water. The nu-
merous compart ments add to the stead
mess of the dock, for, if they We're few
in number, the water In them when the
dock was submerged or partly so,
would splash about and cause consider
able motion to the structure
When it is necessary to dock vessel |
water is admitted to the compartments
through sixteen valves, each sixteen |
inches in diameter, and it requires
about an hour to sink the dock so that .
craft enter it. After the dock is suffi- |
GENTLY deep in the water the vessel en-
ters and having been accurately adj
justed, the water is pumped out of the
compartments by means of eight
pumps, which are driven by four eng
ines that have four boilers of the wa
ter-tube type and Of one hundred and =
thirty five horsepower each to supply !
them with steam. The pumping appa-
ratus is so arranged that either engine
can steam from either boiler, apd in
case there is a break down on one side
of the dock the pair of pumps on the
other could do all the pumping. 1t
takes about three hours and half to
,Ir 10
a line of hose, which is employed to
wash the slime from the hulls of ves-
sells that are locked. This is quite a,
task, for the amount Of fouling which
Is washed from the sides of a large ship ,
Is considerable, and after it has been
cleaned the stuff has also to be washed
from the floor Of the dock, otherwise
he men could not work about the craft. l.
Although a great number of shores ,
Ire not used to support the vessel in {
he dock, as the American plan of s
locking craft provides for supporting J.,
hem at the bottom on each side of the I
Keel this dock has four mechanical q
side shores for centering vessels accu- 8
'atey in it. They are marked with (
eet and inches, so that the beam of the r
,essel being known the shores of one +
ide can be adjusted to the proper | r
ength. The vessel Is then run into the a
lock and set against the two shores so
djusted after which the other two Z
hores are pushed up against her. hold h
ne her firmly in position. This done f
efore the vessel is lifted. If a craft "
hould be listed the compartments on n
ne side of the dock are emptied suffi- h
iently to enable her to enter the dock n
arallel with it's sides. She is then adj r,
listed in position by means of the W
hores, and the dock is lifted to an up ri
light position and the vessel also as NJ
lmes the same attitude. The dock M
as adjustable bilge blocks and keel %,
locks, which can be concentrated If w
eduired for ssmall vessels. The en- J m