Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1914-12-22
WARSH|P DESIGNS
Work Involved In the PLANNING of
a Oreadnought.
ATASK OF MANY PROBLEMS.

The Monster Armored Naval Battery
Must Be Steady In Heavy Sea. Else
She 10 Not q Good Gun Platform.
Wonderful Accuracy In Results.
Talk of Chinese puzzle. 1t Is moth
ing to the problem set before a naval
designer who has to build battIeship
Here be has steel structure of such
and such length and breadth and
Depth and into this space. which Is
controlled by hard and fast measure
uents, be has to fit so much coal. so
much armament. room for so much am
uunition, quarters for so many men.
pace for engines of certain power
and also allow for an immense weight
II arm0r.
Take the original Dreadnought for
instance. The task which was given to
4lr Philip Watts was to plan battle
! chip 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
don for each
She had also to be enormously. heav
tly 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 mountngs weighed
1000 tons. their ammunition 400 tons
M When you add to this that the boil
en- and machinery OF the first Dread
o0ught were calculated to weigh not
less than 20U tons the reader may be
GIN to get some faint idea of the dith
culties before the designer
We have nut even mentioned the
smaller but quite important details
such us boats some OF them large
steam launches sixty feet ioug--an
thOrs and cables of gigantic size and
weight. tOrpedoes. etc
To be a good naval designer 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 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-
sl0us battleshils she would nave Deeh
very unhaudy Her great length would
have prevented hev from turnin.
quickly, as Is always necessary tn
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 fit two ruddrrs abreast well un
Ger the stern The same dodge mas
oeen adopted in all the Dreadnou"hts
With the result that they are wonder
tully quick to answer their helms
Quite apart from the marvellous IN
Sefnal fittings of n great whrship anu
me utilization of every inch or space
Inside the hull. the hull itself Is nerve
straining problem. A battleship must
not only be fast, she must also be
good Sea boat
& This Is all important for II she Is
not steady in heavy sea she Is not d
good gun platform.
To gain the requisite combination OF
speed and steadiness each new war
ship. as soon as her plans are complete
built up in model. and these models
are tested In big tank 800 or GU 1ee'
long The models, which are butt 40
solutely to scale. are drawn through
the water at certain speeds. ana tue
waves which they make are measureo
~ u clever apparatus too terhnica' 10
o. here described
The designing OF new type OF o"'
deship Is not one man job When II
new departure IL to be made the mem
GERS of the board OF admiralty can u
Sether q number Of naval experts. an"
the opinion OF each il asked ana uis'
eussed. When the general design mas
been approved then the director OF
naval construction and bis assistants
ct to work.
The extraordinary accuracy OF sucn
work may be gathered from the .o..