New-York tribune., 1906-06-19
TURBINE CUNARDERS.
"A Most Audacious Experiment an
Marine architecture.


,or,a this week at CIydebank is one of theSe tri-
unnphs OF modern engineering celebrated pio"
rurely because there never was more auu"
cious experiment in marine archlIec'uie TO-
,bis mammoth turbine liner, yet cohhoehuS
,vitbal because every detail of her constructor
has been calculated with the closest possiDle ap-
,-oa.b to exact science. The contract between
.ar,,ral+v and the Cunard IAne for the
bufldinC of this ship and Of the Mauritania was
q ,roof Of the revival of British maritime en-
~, Mr. Chamberlain had his hand in H. anu
+tst Vas praoticaI evidence that somebody was
..,beir king irnperially." 1t followed peliou
o4 6enression when national prestige had peei
,mnaired by the prolongation or hostlllies Al
South Africa and when Germany had won uio
sapa Of speed in the transatlantic services "ifo
80 N,oryan combination was attempting to raid
the British merchant marine. 80 reVoiU'.O -,
an undertaking as the construction OF t"o
,-.a.ta,,s 1oreer broader and deeper than Bru-
80 r,,scalculated failure, the Great Eastern
d ,vt,,Ie largely exceeding il in gross toliliae'
t.,,;ng six times the horsepower for ooupliNe
,ba sea speed was an indication that 'ile Spie--
6td audacity Of Drake and the sea-IoEN's
buccaneers of the Eaizabethan era hao sur
and that old England WIS stin young aiio pu''
ar- in hopefulness and determined 10 regain o.
any cost the command Of the ocean II vas "
sign that the government had placed us mo-
~sog resources
,,oea1 If the Oldest steamship company and tha'
a most determined effort was 10 be mace u p'O
7rce . maximum speed of 25 knots by ne"
ord evnerin,enta, form of driving power IN an
,o,o-,,oTs shin The spirit behind that comDlNa-
.for WAS that OF oldtme Britain in the best DAYS
OF maritime adventure.
When the Admiralty contract was n1aoe loi
supplying the capital for the undertaking on 1le
easiest possible terms there had been 1e" IeS''
Of the eAiciency Of turbine engines, even IN YES
sells Of moderate dimensions TWO Ciieiii,'-
,,s-rars tho brighton with turbines, and the
a77,,del with reciprocating engines, had peeh
sent from Newhaven 10 Dieppe and pacA' sue
IN, side and there had been an exhaustive sc40ii-
rIfc comparison Of speed, coal consuinp'ioii
,,ra+fo, and economy per unit Of power. The
oyeen. plving between Calais and Dover Win
.ra most royyerful turbines then afoat, had oeeh
,i+foa1v studied: the output OF electricity from
,,,vli,,a and reciprocaJing engines had been ac-
C,,~q-aly, measured at Neptune Bank, and a 1e"
other experiments had been made by the al
,77iraltv experts. The evidence in favor OF IuI-
bines was good so far II went, but there was
NOT enough of il to warrant the conclusion liio'
they would be superior 10 reciproeatlng engines
for the largest liners II was an EXPERIMENT u
extraordinary risk, Yet the Admiralty eNI'ei'S
recommended turbines, not only TO the CulIaiu
managers. but also 10 their own designers "llo
,rare making calculations for the battleshlp
Dreadnought. Possibly they acted on the as
sumption that the Germans, in constructing the
Kaiser Wilhelm II had carried the reciprocating
engine to as high q stage Of development as was
practicable and that recourse must be had to
some other driving power 10 produce raster
ship. Certainly the fresh evidence obtained
since the contract with the Cunard Line was
signed has been wholly in favor Of turbines. In
addition TO the tests with the Amethyst and the
-Topaze there have been the highly successful
trials Of the Allan turbine liners, the satisfac-
tory voyages Of the Carnania, the experiments
with high and low speed turbines in the Yarrow
cruiser and the excellent results obtained in the
operation Of the Midland Railway Companys
new steamers In view Of the larger experience
with marine turbines the results Of their apph-
cation 10 ships like the Dreadnought and the
Lusitania are now less coniectural than for
nerly. Yet the application Of the new driving
power 10 the new Cunarders remains a stupen-
dous experiment. Hundreds Of tests may be
made with models and propellers in a tank, but
the development Of 6SO0O-horsepover for de-
signed speed Of - knots for a vessel with a dis
placement Of 3S 600 tons is a problem which the
most accomplished expert cannot solve on paper.
i is a leap in the dark
The mighty hull. however. has made its
ably q stronger one was never framed for q
merchant ship. without the mechanism or
superstructure the weight Of the immense shell.
with its double bottom, is 5000 tons. Turbines
a enormous size are in course Of construction.
and these are TO be placed four ahead and TWO
astern, the largest rotor with its blades. having
z maximum diameter Of 19 feet 1 inches There
VIII be 1872 furnaces and . boilers connected
WIN the steam generating mechanism, and the
aggregate heating surface VIII be 100000 square
feet. These figures indicate how enormous are
The weights 10 be added in mechanism in order
10 secure gain Of one and one-half knot on
The sea speed Of the best German liner and how
necessary It has been 10 exceed the Kaiser VIII
helm II IN length breadth. draft tonnage and
displacement in the designs for the new hull
me extra one and one-half knot implies sixty
Sght additional furnaces, six more boilers, over
1iiy-two thousand additional square feet Of
heating surface and another thirty thousand
horsepower; and 10 provide for the increased
weights the ship has 10 be heightened seventy
eight and one-half feet broadened sixteen feet
and ceeDeued four feet and the displacement
enlarged by twelve thousand tons. If turbines
had not been employed at least three 10000
horsepower engines. with shaft and screw pro-
IeIer, would have been necessary. and many,
clthcultes would have been faced in rlacing
Haem 50 as 10 balance weights and to avoid
vibration. With rotary engines substituted for
'eclIrocating engines there are economies Of
space and other advantages: but the marine
engineers are suddenly called upon TO supplv
turbines for the Lusitania which will develop
Your ufnes as much power as those OF the Ame-
ihysI and 70 adapt an immense mass Of in
i2cate mechanism TO them It is like an alb
rupL advance from the Britannia 10 the Kaiser
Wilhelm II without a Paris, a Campania y
Deutschland and a score of other ir,e,,,,o7 Az, -