The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-05-23
SCRAP BOOK FOR TO-DAY

Just year ago to-day the 1eviathan liner, the Imperator, took her first dip into the ocean at Hamburg. The first anniversary of that event finds the giant 9OO-foot, eleven-story liner on the eve of her maiden voyage across the Atlantic to New York.
 When she sails away for the New World, the mammoth German craft will be the largest liner in service, but not the largest af1oat. That supre- macy has already been lost to her, as the German Vaterland and the Eng fish Aquitania, both recently launched, are the Imperator's superiors in size. Another English leviathan, the Brit tanic, now under construction, will be somewhat shorter than either the Inn perator or the Aquttania, but will have greater tonnage. Still another Ger
 man liner now building will be larger than the Mauretania and the Lus1ta- mia, but not so large as the Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic, and to-day the largest liner in service.
 The Vater1and, launched last month and now the biggest ship ahoat, is owned by the same German company that built the Imperator, and this line is preparing to add two similar ves- sels to it's fleet. The vater1and has a length of $50 feet, as compared with the Imperator's 919 feet, the Aquitan- ia's 901 feet, the Brittanic's 8S7 feet, the O1ynlpic's sa2 feet, and the z9O feet length of the Mauretania. and L11- sitania. The tonnage of the Water land is 55,000. that of the Brittanic 51,000, the Imperator 50,000, the Aqui- tania 47,0oO, the Olympic 45,000, and the Mauretania and Lusitanfa 32,000.
 The maiden voyage of the Impera- tor on June Il will mark the begin ming of another great battle for su premacy on the North Atlantic be- tween British and German steamship companies. The sinking of the Ti- tanic gave the German companies a temporary advantage, as the Olympic was withdrawn from the service in or ble sides and additional watertight bulkheads. This work has been com p1eted, and the Olympic is again in commission. The Lusitania will soon rejoin the fleet of British liners, and then the odds will again favor the English companies.
 The great German company will have the Inperator, vaterland and two similar vessels in the North At 1antio service within few years. while another German line will soon com p1ete the Co1um bus, which will have a length of .815 feet and a tonnage Of 37,000. The English will have the Aquitania,, Brittanic, Olympic, Mature tania and Lus1tania. Thus each coun- try will have five vessels each, but Great Britain has the advantage in that all of her fleet of giants are com pleted or well along toward comp1e- ton, while this can be said of only three of the German five. England is ahead by year or two, and, it is alleged British companies have a pro- gram of two keels to one to meet Ger many's rivalry. When the Lusitania. and the Mauretania were the aquatic wonders of the world, German ner- cantfle marine men were saying that the turbine would prove a, failure, and that ships of such colossal size were eimpracticabIe. When the Germans at last woke up, England had a good start, and the British companies are not likely to lose their advantage for some time to come, if ever.
 And only a quarter of a century ago the largest liner affoat was the Urn- bria, with a length of 500 feet, and a tonnage of 14,3O0. Shipbuilders now set the limit of length at 1000 feet, and it is likely that this limit will soon be reached-and passed.