The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-08-05
Great Things Expected Of'New
Naval Station
DRYD0CK DEWEY A PART
Machines to Coal Batteships in the
Tropics Without the, Aid of Man.
ual Labor in Only
5 Hours


Coaling a battleship in the tropics with
out the aid of manual labor in five hours
is the record that is to be made when
the new naval station at Port Olongapo,
on subg bay. in the Philippines is
finished. The drydock Dewey, which ar
rived there only short time ago after
a most unusual trip across seas, is part
of the station.
The plans involve an expenditure Of
100000 to begin with. The elaborate
coaling facilities are the principle fea-
lures, although they will cost only about
q third of the total expenditure Besides
The drydock and the eoaling plant there
will be eight big buildings each more
than city block in length and half as
wide. which will be used as shops. There
viii be quarters for men and officers de-
tailed to be at 0longapo and big recre-
alton ground The harbor will be so
heavily fortified that it will be impossible
for any enemy TO make a successful at
tack from the sea.
The coaling plant is by all odds the
most interesting part Of the shore plant.
There are to be six units. all in dupli-
fCdle- fdGD Unit Is lnAu6 up Oh n steel
md concrete wharf, a storage shed OF
,15.0o0 tons capacity and coal handling APP
paratus consisting Of belt conVeyors and
large travelling cranes with clam-shell
buckets for unloading golfers. The ca
paeity of the storage shed on each wharf
Is sufficient to coal four to six large
ships Each unit Will cost approximate
ly half a million dollars.
The whole construction will be massive
and not bit of wood will be used. This
Is chiefly for the reason that in the Phil
1ppines the teredo or white ant honey
combs timber construction so rapidly
that its life is very short. Each wharf
will be $50 feet long and 80 feet wide,
and that will be plenty big enough to
berth the largest battleship. The deck
of the wharf will be ~ inches thick
along the outer edge where the load is
heaviest, aud "A inches in toward the
shore. A concrete retaining wall is being
built along the shore and the docks or
the wharves will be built right into this
retaining wall at the shore end.
Supported on Concrete.
These wharves will be supported on pill
lars of concrete feet 6 inches in diam
eter and the front row of pillars will so
down very deep. Those out near the ex-
treme sea end of the wharf will go down
30 feet
The first Of these wharves was started
four months ago and is expected to be
finished early next year.
Erected upon the wharves are the con-
veying systems The machinery on each
wharf will be capable of taking 200 tons
of coal an hour out of the hold Of a col
1ier and putting it in the storage shed
which lies parallel to the wharf on the
shore The work of putting coal in a
battleship can be done at least twice as
fast because the coal can be deposited
in the ships bunkers with the assistance
OF gravity
Along the outer edge of the wharf
there Is an elevated bunker running the
entire length This is divided into com
partments Of about 10 feet each. Each
commandment is thus a small bur'ter with
n sloping bottom and door near the
bottom ON the seaboard side The four
belt conveyors carry coal in STEADY
stream through the shed on the wharf
no the wharf bunker.
conVeYor which runs perpendicular
to the main belt line takes the coal and
distributes 1t to any of the compart-
snents on the main line Thus coal can
he brought from any place In the storage
shed 10 any point along the outer edge
of the wharf without the direct use OF
manual labor in any way, and any bunk
err on a warship can be filed independ-
emily of the others. When the doors OF
Hhe separate wharf bunkers are opened
the coal slides down by gravity through
ohutes into the ship.
Coal Is taken from the Golfers by
means of travelling cranes. These run
along the top Of the wharf bunkers, eacl
provided with clam shell bucket car
ried ON an arm projecting over the ship
The coal is dredgea ont of the collier as
mud is scooped out of harbors, Convey
ors carry It back to the storage shed
All the apparatus is operated by electric
fly.
Interesting Feature.
An interesting feature of the electrical
system is the thermostatic fire alarm APP
tparatus in the storage shed, whereby a
!lre In any bunker in the shed Is at once
Indicated on a board in the office of the
AtuperIntendent With an alarm thus
Electrically given the bunker can be
flooded by powerful pumping system
The storage shed of each unit will be
a steel frame building $50 feet long anC
LOO feet wide.
The eoalng facilities provided by these
plans will be a model of their kind anC
Will constitute when completed the fines
naval coaling station east of Suez."
While the dry dock Dewey and the
coaling plant are the most important sin
ton. there will be nnumerable auxiliary
buildings and engineering works. The
ward will have a wide area and trans
portation for material and the like will
be provided by complete system OF
marrow gauge railways, The main line
will run along the shore between the
sorehouses and shops on the one side
and the main repairing piers, of which
there will be three. on the other. The
terminal OF this line will be near th'
anchorage Of the Dewey. Spur lines will
he run from the main line into each OF
the shops and storehouses and out or
10 each pier.
The shop outlay includes eight large
buildings. There are two machine shops
n blacksmith shop. a carpentry and pat
tern making shop, sheet metal shoI
and foundry There are also eighteen
other important buildings in the store
house system aside from the coal stor-
age Each of the repairing piers is tC
be 500 feet long and so feet wide, anC
each will take two warshps at one time
Provisions for quartering the many Of
Acers and the force of men comfortably
have necessarily received much atten
4ion in the plans A recreation groun(
FULLY equipped for baseball tennis ant
other sports will be located on a pen
Ursula near the temporary anchorage o.