Evening star., 1912-09-15

direction of adequate conseryatio of a
supply which shall be for the navy SO
long as Uncle Sam may need war
ship afloat.
Biggest Warships Oil Burners.
For several years the Navy Depart
ment has been working upon the problem
Of the eventual displacement Of coal by
oil throughout the naval establishment.
The experiments with oil-burning engines
in the torpedo boats and torpedo-boat de-
stroyers long ago convinced the naval
engineers that oil for fuel possessed ad-
vantages over coal that We're practically
incalculable They have hoped that some
such provision as the recent ACCOMPLISH
ment Of the administration would be in
corporated into an executive action.
Upon the certainty of the navy being
placed. by some such method as this, in
the position to know that for definite
period of years it's oil supply would be Sc
cure. the announcement now follows the
action that hereafter even the biggest of
| the first-class battleships will be oil burn
| ers The Nevada and Oklahoma, the bat
| for the fiscal year 1911-12. as well as the
Pennsylvania. the one super-dreadnaught
| authorized in the appropriation for 1872
IL, will burn Oil exclusively.
Ine Arkansas and Wyoming were
| equipped with auxiliary oil burners un-
| der their boilers: SO will be the New
| York and Texas. The Florida, Utah
North Dakota and Delaware have aux
| iliary Oil supply and can convert from
| coal 20 oil fires at a moments notice
These vessels all carry about 100 tons of
| fuel oil, which is less than one-ffth of
| their total fuel supply. The three newer
| ships above mentioned will have no coal
| bunkerS whatsoever.
The advantage of getting rid of coal
| altogether is shown in the amount of labor
| necessary to keep the great fires going
| under the boilers of a modern battleship.
In the biggest coal-burnifg ships of the
navy today the fireroom complement is
202 men. With the oil burning Nevada
the fireroom will require the services of
| only 1O1 men. exactly cutting in half
| the number of firemen and saving to the
cost of maintaining the ship not only
| the pay of one-half of the firemen. but
also their subsistence and the valuable
| room which these men will take up in the
sleeping and living quarters of the YES
sell
The saving means that the oil ships
OF the future will require a ships
| company Of practically Is per can't less
than the complement of coal burner
| of equal size and power.
Advantages of Oil.
Regarding the advantages accruing
to the navy through the exchange of
coal for oil as ships fuel Hutch 1.
Cone, engineer-in-chief said yesterday:
day:
Fuel can be taken aboard more
rapidly and without manual labor and
without interruption to the routine of
the ship. The problem of fueling at
sea is solved.
Steam for full power can be main
| tanned as readily as for low power. A
| vessel burning oil is capable of runs at
full speed limited in duration only by the
supply of fuel There is no reduction in
| speed due to dirty fires or to difficulty in
/ trimming coal from remote bunkerS or to
| exhaustion of the fireroOm force.
There are no cinders and the amount
of smoke can be controlled.
1.-The weight of space required for boil
ers is reduced-frst. by the. reduction of
heating surface required, and, second, by
the shortening of fireroorns. Consequent
on the reduction in heating surface is a
decrease in the weight and cost Of boil
| ers
Coal and ash handling gear is
eliminated. This renders unnecessary
the piercing Of the hull for coal trunks
and discharges from the ash propellers
and ash electors.
much easier than Of coal, and will re-
suit in much cleaner ship, with con-
sequent increase in time available for
drills
THE mechanical supply of fuel to the
boilers gives a prompt and delicate con-
troll of the steam supply, permitting more
sudden changes in speed than with coal,
which is tactical advantage.
THE nature of fuel oil permits the util-
lization of remote portions of the ship and
of CONSTRUCTED spaces for its stowage.
Assured Of Supply.
"We are now assured. through the ap-
plication of this conservation of national
fuel supply to the uses of the navy, as
to the supply. We are assured that there
is sufficient oil on the public lands of
the state Of California alone to supply
| all proba BILE naval demands for hundred
| years, should oil he burned to the eX-
clusion of coal, and, Of course, there is
considerable oil in other portions OF
| United States territory.
| 1.-The question as to the distribution of
| oil among the ports from which fuel
might be required for our vessels in time
| of war Is one that Is we'll within our
| power to solve. from its nature the
| oil can be transported and stored more
| transport of oil in time of war we are
| already better prepared than for coal,
there being large number of tank
| steamers flying the American flag.
| "Oil is therefore certain rapidly to re-
place coal as fuel for naval purposes
Public attention is called by the Navy
| Department to the fact that the United
States viii have but single rival in the
| enjoyment OF the applied economy which
the adoption of oil as steaming fuel
| will bring to the navy. The only other
great power possessing oil supply un-
developed or partially developed which
| will in any way compare with Uncle
Sans private oil reserve is Russia