The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1914-12-08
WARSHIP DESIGNS
Work Involved In the Planning oil
a Dreadnought.
A TASK OF MANY PROBLEMS.
The Monster Armored Naval Battery
Must Be Steady In Heavy Sea, Else
She Is Not Good Gun Platform.
Wonderful Accuracy In Results.

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Talk of a Chinese puzzle II Is moth
ing TO the problem set before a naval
designer who has to build a buttleship
Here he has steel structure OF such
and such a length and breadth and
depth. and into this space. which is
controlled by hard and fast measure
ments he has 10 dit so much coal. SO
much armament. room for so much am
munition. quarters for so many men,
space for engines of certain power
and also allow for an immense weight
Of arn,Or
Take the original DreadnouGht. for
instance. The task which was given tc
Sir Philip Watts was to plan battle
ship capable OF steaming 1000 miles nj
II knots. with room for 800 officers and
men and able TO carry ten tweIye-inch
guns with eighty rounds of ammuhi-
ton for each.
She had also to he enormously, heav,
lily armored This armor alone when
the sum was worked out was found 90
weigh nearly 10000 tons and the neces.
sary coal TO weigh $500 tons. The
guns and their mountings weighed
1000 tons, their ammunition 4Jo tons.
When you add To this that the boil
ers and machinery of the first Dread
nought were calculated 10 weigh not
less than LEO tons the reader may be.
gin to get some faint idea OF the diff.
cuties before the designer.
We have not even mentioned the
smaller but quite Important details.
such as hoats-some of them large
steam launches sixty feet long-an-
chors and cables of gigantic size and
weight. torpcdoes. etc.
TO be a good naval designer man
must I've far more than a mere naval
architect He must have the most ex-
tensive knowledge Of all sorts OF craft
and be blessed with large share OF
Imagination into the bargain.
Now take the Dreadnought again.
She il $50 feet long. II her hull had
been built OF the same shape rs pre-.
vious battlcships she would have been
very unhandy. Her great length would
have prevented her from turning
quickly. rs is always necessary in a
sea fight
Sir Philip got over this difficulty by
shortening her keel base. Under water
she IS very like n racing yacht. being
much shorter below water than above.
Another clever dodge vf her designer
was TO fiji two rudders abreast well un
der the aerI. The same dodge has
been adopted in all the Dreadnoughts.
with the result that they are wonder.
fully quick TO answer their helms.
Quite apart from the marvellous in
ternal fittings of great warship and
the utilization Of every inch OF space
inside the hull the hull itself Is a nerve
straining problem. 4 battleship must
no. only he fast. she must also be a
good sea boat.
This is all important. for II she Is
not steady in heavy sea She is not Il
good gun platform.
To gain the requisite combination OF
speed and steadlncss each new war
snip. as soon rs her plans are ccmplet'.
L. built up in model. and these models
gre tested In a biz tank 200 or COO feet
long. The models. which are butt all
solu,cly 10 scale. are drawn through
the water nc certain speeds, and the
waves which they make are measured
10y clever apparatus too technical to
be- here described
The designing OF new type Of bat
ilesllip is not one man job When a
new departure Is To he made the mem
beers of the board Of admiralty call to
gcther a number Of naval experts. and
the opinion OF each Is asked and dis
cussed. When the general design has
been approved then the director OF
naval construction and his assistants
Get 10 work.
The extraordinary accuracy of such
work may be gathered from the fol
lowing.
The Majestic Of 5000 tons, was de
signed by Sir William White. When
finished and armed she was exactly. to |
a very few pounds, the weight which |
lac had estimated beforehand. while |
her center Of gravity wns within two |
inches of the point which he had pre-
viouslv Fixed on.--I.ondon Answers.