The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1914-12-19
WARSHIP DESIGNS
Work Involved In the Planning of
a Dreadnought.
A TASK or MANY PROBLEMS.

Must Be Steady In Heavy Sea, Else
She Is Not a Good Gun Platform.
Wonderful Accuracy In Results.
Talk or a Chinese puzzle. II Is moth
Ing 10 the problem set before a naval
designer who has 10 build n battleship
Here he has a 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 10 ht 80 much coal. 50
much armament. room for so much am
munition, quarters for so many men.
space for engines OF n certain power
and also allow for an immense weight
OF armor.
Take the original Dreadnought. for
instance. The task which was given 10
Sir Philip Watts was 10 plan battle
ship capable OF steaming 1000 miles at
II knots. with room for 800 officers and
men and able 70 carry ten twelve-lnch
guns with eighty rounds OF ammunl
ton for each.
She had also to be enormously. heay
the sum was worked out was found 20
weigh nearly 10000 tons and the neces
sary coal TO weigh $500 tons. The
guns and their mountings weighed
LOGO tons. their ammunition 400 tons.
When you add TO this that the boil
ers and machinery OF the FIRST Dread.
nought were calculated TO weigh not
less than 1000 tons the reader may be.
gin 10 get some faint idea OF the diff
cultles before the designer.
We have not even mentioned the
smaller but quite important details.
such rs boats-some of them large
steam launches sixty feet long-an-
chors and cables of gigantic size and
weight, torpedoes, etc.
To be a good naval designer n man
must be far more than 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 Is $50 feet long II her hull had
been built OF the same shape as pre-
vious battleshiRs she would have been
very unhandy. Her great length would
have prevented her from turning
quickly, as is always necessary in
sea fight
Sir Philip got over this difficulty by
shortening her keel base. Under water
she Is very like racing yacht, being
much shorter below water than above
Another clever dodge OF her designer
was to TT 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 n great warship aud
the utilization OF every inch OF space |
inside the hull. the hull itself Is a nerve |
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 heavy sea she is not a !
good gun platform.
To gain the requisite combination or |
speed and steadiness each new war
ship, as soon as her plans are complete.
Is built up in model, and these models
are tested In big tank 500 or coo feet
long. The models, which are built ab.
solutely 20 scale, are drawn through
the water nj certain speeds. and the
waves which they make are measured
by n clever apparatus too technical 10
be- here described
The designing OF new type OF bat
1eship IL not n one man job. When
new departure is TO be made the mem
bers OF the board OF admiralty call to
yether n number OF naval experts. and
The opinion OF each is asked and dis
,ussed. 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
owing:
The Majestic, OF 1900 tons, was de
signed by Sir William White. When
lnished and armed she was exactly. 10
| very few pounds. the weight which
re had estimated beforehand. while
Ter center OF gravity was within two
inches OF the point which he had pre-
,iously fixed on.-London Answers.