The Washington herald., 1908-01-05
LAST WORD IN SHIPS
Contrast Between Fighting
and Merchant Vessels.
PEOPLE BELIEVE LATEST BEST
Passenger and War Craft HecOg-
Bized by Scientists as Merely Steps
Toward Possible Achievement.
Destroyer Swift and CuDarder
Lusitania Highest Modern Types.

LuHitanlAA HIEASst MO0egh Agpcss
There IS a curious contrast between
the way in which DEVELOPMENTS IN fight
ing and merchant shipping are received
by the average man, says q writer in the
London Express. Every new battle ship
or cruiser design is regularly heralded
as the last word" beyond which the
wit OF man can no further go. Even
eminent naval officers and architects de-
clared that the Nile. built in 1855 marked
the climax OF battle ship development,
while the advent of the Drake in 1901 was
very widely held TO write hnis' 10 the
arTnored cruiser. Yet we have advanced
from the 12000 tons Of the Nile 70 1000
in the Dreadnought, and from A,lO OF
the Drake to 1880 in the Infexible' and
considering the energy with which i'm
provements are being sought both at
home and abroad he would be rash
man who would say that the highest pos
sibIe point in size and power has been
reached even in these leviathans
With merchant ships and passenger
liners the case is different, though why
it should be no one can tell Successive
Atlantic record breakers have never in
spired this belief. They are recognized,
as all creations Of science should be.
merely as steps in a progress Of which 10
man can see the end-tO which, maybe,
there is no end-and the twenty-five
knots Of the Mauretania and Lusitania
are no more regarded as the ne plus
ultra OF transatlantic speed than is the
Null Secundus Of aerial navigation.
Twenty Years Ago.
What for many years must remain the
goal Of marine architects was laid down
more than twenty years ago by one Of
the most prominent ship designers Of the
day. Sir William Pearce had just de-
signed the Umbria and Etruria, which
shattered all previous records by crossing
the Atlantic at an average speed Of nine
teen knots. and in an address delivered
shortly after TO one Of the learned socie-
ties of Glasgow he declared that he was
ready. then and there, 10 produce a vessel
which should accomplish the voyage at
speed Of forty knots. If this could be
done ii would reduce the Lusitania's
time by 30 per cent
1t is not surprising that Sir William
Pearce's statement was received with
good deal of skepticism. Even IN these
DAYS the realization OF such a feat seems
sufficiently far on. and in 1888 twin
screws were only Just coming into promi-
nence. while the turbine. for marine pur-
poses at all events. was unknown Tbs
difficulties TO be overcome were, there
fore, tremendous, and in order 10 COM
bine the requisite horsepower with
capacity for paying It's way as an ordi-
nary cargo and passenger ship. Il would.
said Sir William, be necessary 10 give the
vessel a length Of 800 feet and beam
Of 80 feet-just about twice the dimen-
sions OF the Lusitania. The cost Of such
a ship would have been fabulous.
The Turbine.
The progress OF the last twenty years,
and most Of all the adoption Of the tur-
bine as a marine engine. enables US to
look upon Sir William Pearce's boast
with more credulity than was possible
when he made IL II for the next thirty
years we advance at the same proper
tionate rate as We have done for the last
twenty, 40-knot liner should be cross
ing the Atlantic in three days by 1880
The evolution OF marine architecture
has been phenomenal The last wooden
liner was built in 1850, and the last iron
liner in 1883. The last paddle ship was
the Scotia, of 1874 and the Etruria. Of
1885. was the last single-screw ship. Now
that the turbine has so completely vindi~
Gated itself, IL cannot be many years be-
fore we come 10 the last of the TeciprO-
cating-engined ships. and with the un-
hampered development Of the turbine,
forty knots will be comparatively easily
realizable.
There is at present no seagoing ship
afloat which can do more than thirty
four knots an hour The tOTpedO-boat
destroyers Viper and Cobra. the first
turbine-englned warships ever built. each
did we'll over thirty-six knots, but were
both lost at sea, and since those disas-
ters the admiralty has been content with
comparatively moderate speeds. There
is now building, however. destroyer
which bids fair TO break all records. The
Swift, a vessel OF 1,So0 tons-four times
the size of the average destroyer-noW
completing at the works of Messrs. Cam
NEIL, Laird e Co., at Birkenhead, has a
contract speed OF thirty-six knots This
alone is sufficiently remarkable for a YES
sci OF her size. but IL is an open secret
that the builders and designers hope to
get .forty-two OF foTty-four knots out OF
her
The displacement OF the Swift is little
more than a twentieth OF the Lusitania's,
but her engines will develop 10000 horse
power as compared with the liners "a
600. and she will cost as much as four
OF five ordinary destToyers.
OF course the Swift could not cross
the Atlantic at thirty-six knots. or any,
thing like IT. since her oil-carTying ca
pacity is limited to $50 tons. but the naval
architect, If left TO himself, would have
no difficulty whatever In producing a
ship capable of doing it.
The trouble with such a ship would not
lie with the naval architect, but with the
civil engineer. Waters now traversed in
perfect safety by the Lusitania and her
sister would become perilous, all exist
ing wharves and docks would be useless,
and frequent docking is vital TO q ship
which is to maintain her speed.
The Popularity Of Brick Paving.
There is an interesting showing OF
the popularity OF brick for paving in
the January number Of Municipal En-
gineering, where the statement is made
that up TO the first OF December, the
contracts for br{oI- M wing anterad into