Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1907-07-12
SHIP WITHOUT STACKS
C.itich Naval Architects lea CT
lie Future Harsh.p.
E.c..ccT-a CT GREAT Tc2:.aGE

Its soeed 10 Exceed That Of Any Vessel
No. Afloat-will Be Run by Internal
Combustion Ensines-ouns to Be OF
DeaGiiest Csliber.
The .battleshlp OF the future. accord
Ing TO ]. McEechnie. the engineering
director Of the great British sh.pbuild-
ing firm of Walkers Sons x Maxim
limited. of Barrow-in-Furness. Is To be
mi.Ety ship of great tonnage thdt
will be run by internal combustion EN-
gines. will be minus smokeStacks, or
greater speed than any vessel now
afioat and with an armament consist
ing only of guns of the deadl!est cali
Der. says the New York Times. Mr.
McKecllnie. who stands in the very
forefront of British naval architects. Is
reported 10 have stated that his firm
now stands ready To accept the con-
tract for the construction OF such II
battleShip.
William j. Baxter, the naval con-
structor under whose supervision the
government built the great battleship
Connecticut, the present flagship of
the United States Atlantic fleet, does
not go SO far as Mr.. McKechnie, but
he believes that the scheme is not un-
feasible and will probably be success
fully realized some day perhaps not
far distant.
Baxter believes that the IDEAS of Mr..
McKechnie should be experimental
| with in progressive way-that Is, yes
sells of light tonnage, such as torpedo
boats. should first be constructed along
the proposed lines. then gunboats, pro
| tected cruisers, armored cruisers and
lastly. with the information gained IN
| the construction of the vessels of the
smaller and less powerful type, Il
would probably be safe to try the ex
pertinent in first class battleShip con
struction. Mr. Baxter has received 6
copy of Mr.. McKechnie's paper, which
was read before the British Institute
Of Naval Architects recently, in whicl
Mr.. McKechnie outlined his plans fol
the battleshp of the future.
In this paper Mr.. McKechnie, in dis
cussing the battleShip engine. advo
Gates the internal combustion engine
In the picture that was drawn of til,
proposed new battleship is seen Il mon
ster of 10000 tons. without smoke
stacks. and whose decks are covere,
with great turrets. every one of then
containing pair of guns of the lively,
inch type.
In this ship deck distractions ar,
practically obviated. the starting of tn
gas or oil engines is matter of bu
a few minutes, and as the macainer.
is at a much lower level than is TIL
case in the ships of the present da.
the vitals of the ship are correspond
ingly better protected. Then, the shil
will be great deal less liable to de
lection IN that there is no smoke o
flame. as in the case of the reciprocal
ing and turbine propelled ships of to
day, great amount of space is saved
and every one Of the mighty guns
so placed that all of them can be train
ed on single object at the same time
Mr.. McKechnie submitted to hi
brother naval architects table i
which the weights. area occupied b.
machinery. horsepower per ton of ma
chinery, etc, on ships of the steam. OF
and gas types were compared. Til
weights as compiled are for Il battle
ship of about 10000 tonnage. For il
stance, the weight of machinery, il
Guiding the usual auxllaries, but no
deck machinery, in the case of YES
sci the power of which is furnished b.
a steam engine would be 1856 tons. /
vessel OF the gas engine type LILO
tons and in one the engines of whic
are of the oil type $50 tons.
The area occupied by machinery, ell
gines and boilers of vessel of til
steam engine type is 1850 square fee
that of the gas engine type $3.50 squar
feet and of the oil engine type All
square feet. The fuel consumption o
the ships of the three types also grea
ly favOrs the gas and oil ships.
In the constructions Of torpedo boa
destroyers 1t was pointed out that say
ing in space and weight would make
possible to arm these ships with fou
four-inch guns and two six-pounder
on a ship that is now armed only wit
twelve and six FOUNDER guns. A THU
ty knot destroyer, driven by oil Ell
gines, would have radius six and
half times greater than that of
steam driven vessel of the same tor
mage with full coal supply.
The McKechnie paper is being care
fully studied by the naval architects O
the great powers. That Mr.. McKecl
ME knows what he Is talking about
the opinion of many of the leadin
naval constructors, among whom ar
several of the best known of the Uni
ed States navy.