Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-02-27
Engineers Announce Ingenious
Scheme to Conquer Treach-
er0us Coral Bottom
WILL CLEAR WRECK AND
BUILD ANEW OF CONCRETE
Huge Longitudinal Blocks to
Be Constructed Ashore and
Put in Place by Gigantic
Crane, Holding by Sheer
Weight and Strength - De-
tails Go to Washington by the
FIRST Mail

The great naval drydock at Pearl
Harbor will be built on the present
site; II will be built by method en-
tirely new and untried in drydock con-
struction; II will be finished on time.
The next mail coastward will carry
to washington full report OF the re-
cent disaster, and the details of new
plan to conquer the treacherous sands
and mud pockets on which the great
ship basin rests, worked out by Civil
Engineer E. r. Gayler, the naval en-
gineer in charge OF the Pearl Harbor
project. There is every reason to be-
lieve that Admiral Stanford, chief or
the bureau OF yards and docks, Will
approve the new scheme, for during
his visit here last summer he thor
oughly famiiarized himself with con-
ditions at Pearl Harbor, and there
fore fully realizes what the engineers
and the contractors have been up
against in trying to anchor the dry
dock to the unstable bottom.
Briefly stated, the latest solution TO
the drydock puzzle is to build the
bottom OF the basin of huge iongi
fudinal blocks OF concrete set on end,
and the sides of blocks of the proper
shape and dimensions, to be moulded
on shore. and laid entirely under
water. The drydock viii be built as
whole. and not in sections, which
means that the million feet OF false
'cribbing and sheath piling, some OF
which is now d hopeless wreck above
and below the surface, will be taken
out, ali together, leaving the basin
clear Of all timbering. The blocks
W.T.. be set closely together on top
OF the anchor piles, and concrete VIII
then be poured between the blocks
by the tremie method, welding the
wnole into solid concrete bottom ~
feet in thickness.
The concrete blocks which will be
set on end TO form the bottom of tht
dock will be 8 feet square and 70 feet
IN height. They will be cast on dry
land in forms, and when properly set
win he swung into the depths by the
great floating crane, which is now be-
ing assembled at the Honolulu naval
dock These blocks will weigh 120
tons each. They will be stood UP like
rows of ten pins on the bottom OF the
basin. about one foot apart, and Wnep
In place the tremie pipes will be IN
serted between them, and will pour
concrete until the bottom of the dock
Is a solid block 20 feet thick. The
engineers know that they have con-
crete mixture that will set properly
under water, and that the tremies will
do their work properly; this was dem
onstrated by the recent upheavaL II
is now question OF getting enough
weight on the drydock to keep the
bottom Of the harbor from rising, and
20 feet Of solid concrete Will un-
doubtedly do this, say the engineers.
sThe method of building the dry.
dock which I have worked out is new,1
said Civil Engineer Gayler this morn
ing. explaining the proposed plan,
.but we are going on the theory that
the United States must have dry
dock at Pearl Harbor, and this seems
To be the best way of arriving at re-
suits. The scheme Of making the
blocks ashore and lowering them into
place was talked of some time ago,
but at that time we had not proved
the success of laying under water con-
crete BY the tremie method. Now we !
know that we can get as good con-
crete under water as We can on land, !
so there is no difficulty in filling in
between the blocks to make solid |
bottom. The blocks will be recessed,
so that the poured concrete will form |
q KEY TO bind them solidly together.
There is no difficulty in making the,
vertical joints on the bottom, and on
the sides of the dock, where hori-
zontal joints must be made, the blocks /
will be so laid that the stresses at
the joints will be row.
From the times that we have
pumped sections of the dock and met
with set backs, we know the sum total /
of the upward pressure, and can figure
the weight necessary to offset this.
These concrete blocks will give the |
necessary weight"
The blocks will rest on the piles
that were driven to pin the bottom.
In cases where these piles have come
up, in the last upheaval of the bottom,
they will have to be re-driven. AS
the bottom of the dock will be thicker