The Bossier banner., 1915-03-18
WARSHIp DESIGNS
Work Involved In the Planning of
a 0readnought.
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,


Must Be Steady In a Heavy Sea. Else
She Is Not Good Gun Platform.
Wonderful Accuracy In Results.
Talk of Chinese puzzle 1t Is moth
ing to the problem set before il naval
designer who has to build II battleShip
Here he has 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 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
p knots. with room for 800 officers and
men and able to carry ten twelye-inch
guns with eighty rounds Of amnluni
tion for each
She had also to be enormously, heav.
lily 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
l.600 tons. their ammunition $50 tons.
When you add to this that the boil
ers and machinery Of the first Dread
nought We're calculated to weigh not
less than 1000 tons the reader may be
gin to get some faint idea of the diff
rulties before the designer
We have not even mentioned the
such as boats-soine of them large
steam launches sixty feet long-an-
chors and cables of gigantic size and
weight. torpedoes. etc.
To be good naval designer 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. If her hull had
been built of the same shape as pre-
rious battieships she would have been
very unhandy. Her great length would
have prevented her from turning
quickly, as is always necessary In q
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 a great warship aud
the utilization of every inch of space
inside the hull, the hull itself is Nerve
straining problem. battleship must
not only be fast, she must also be q
good sea boat.
This is all important. for II she IL
not steady in heavy sea she is not a
good gun platform.
To gain the requisite combination Of
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 600 feei
long The models, which are built alb
solutely to scale. are drawn through
the water ut certain speeds. and the
waves which they make are measured
by q clever apparatus too technical to
be here described.
The designing of new type of bat.
tleship Is not n one man job When a
new departure is to be made the mem
bers Of the board Of admiralty call to
gether number Of naval experts. and
the opinion Of each is asked and dis
cussed When the general design has
been approved then the director oi
naval construction and his assistants
get to work
The extraordinary accuracy OF sucl
work may be gathered from the fol
lowing:
The Majestic. of 5000 tons. was de
signed by Sir William White. Wher
finished and armed she was exactly. t.
very few pounds. the weight which
lie had estimated beforehand. Will,
her center of gravity was within tw'
inches of the point which he had pre-
viously fixed on.-London Answers.