The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1914-12-24
WARsHIP DESIGNS
Work involved In the Planning of
a Dreadnought.
A TASK OF MANY PROBLEMS.
The Monster Armored Naval Battery
Must Be Steady In Heavy Sea, Else
She Is Not a Good Gun Platform.
Wonderful Accuracy In Results.

one is Not Sooo 1un FiatTorn,
Wonderful Accuracy In Results.
Talk of a Chinese puzzle 1t is moth
ing to the problem set before a naval
designer who has to build battleship
Here he has Il steel structure of such
and such length and breadth and
depth, and into this space, which is
controlled by hard and fast measure
ments, he has to fit so much coal. so
much armament, room for so much am
munition. quarters for so many men
space for engines of a certain power
and also allow for an immense weight
of armor.
Take the original Dreadnought. for
instance. The task which was given to
Sir Philip Watts was to plan battle
ship capable of steaming 1000 miles at
q knots, with room for 800 officers and
men and able to carry ten twelve-inch
guns with eighty rounds of ammuni
ton for each
She had also to be enormously, heav
fly armored This armor alone when
the sum was worked out was found to
weigh nearly 10000 tons and the neces-
sary coal to weigh $500 tons. The
guns and their mountings weighed
1,600 tons, their ammunition 450 tons.
When you add to this that the boil
ers and machinery of the first Dread
nought were calculated to weigh not
less than 1,200 tons the reader may be
gin to get some faint idea of the diff
culties before the designer
We have not even mentioned the
smaller but quite important details,
such as boats-some of them large
steam launches sixty feet long-an-
chors and cables of gigantic size and
weight. torpedoes, etc
To be q good naval designer a man
must be far more than a mere naval
architect. He must have the most ex
tensive knowledge of all sorts of craft
and be blessed with a large share of
Imagination into the bargain.
Now take the Dreadnought again.
She is $50 feet long If her hull had
been built Of the same shape rs pre-
vious battleships she would have been
very unhandy. Her great length would
have prevented her from turning
quickly, as is always necessary in a
sea fight
Sir Philip got over this difficulty by
shortening her keel base. Under water
she is very like a racing yacht. being
much shorter below water than above
Another clever dodge of her designer
was to fit two rudders abreast well un-
der the stern. 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 Il great warship and
the utilization Of every inch of space
inside the hull the hull itself is a nerve
straining problem A battleship must
not only be fast. she must also be n
good sea boat.
This IS all important for If she Is
not steady in a heavy sen she is not a
good gun platform.
To gain the requisite combination of
speed and steadiness each new war
SbIlJt as SUM DO ici tidAlo 'ti Z NOIil'itlC'
is built up In model. and these models
are tested in big tank 500 or 600 feet
long The models, which are built alb
solutely to scale, are drawn through
the water Mt certain speeds, and the
waves which they make are measured
by a clever apparatus too technical to
be here described
The designing OF a new type Of bat
tleship is not a one man job When a
new departure is to be made the mem
bers of the board of admiralty call to
gether 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 to work
The extraordinary accuracy of such
work may be gathered from the fol
| lowing:
The Majestic, OF $4,000 tons, was de
| signed by Sir William White. When
| finished and armed she was exactly TO
| a very few pounds the weight which
he had estimated beforehand while
| her center of gravity was within two
| inches Of the point which he had pre-
| viously fixed on. London Answers.
Military Age In Montenegro.