The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-01-18
new BATTLESH|PS
THELARGESTEVER
Two American Marine Fighters
WIN Have Speed Of Thirty
Five Knots

/ .
WASHINGTON d. o.-some idea o.
the size aud power Of the super battle.
cruisers proposed as part Of the new
naval program may be gained from the
Tact that each one would he 500 feet
long--more than twice as long as any
battleship which participated in the
Spanish American war, more than 2O0
feet longer than any battleship now
ahoat and 10 feet longer than was the
Lusitania. $50
Pests of hull models for the giant
cruisers are proceeding at the model
basin in the Washington navy yard TO
determine just how much horsepower
will be required to drive them 80 knots
an hour, the speed fixed by the navy
general board. IL will take six sepa,
rate sets Of steam turbines, it is un,
derstood, operating six pgopellers to
attain that pace, and the hull designs
of the models show huge square
cross section amidships in order to
accommodate the mass of machinery.
There is no longer any doubt about
the amount of horsepower required to
drive a ship Of known design at any
desired speed. The model basin has
done away with speculation on that
point. 1t is a huge tank several hun
bred feet long and so feet wide, above
which runs travelling bridge arrange.
ment carrying the complicated me.
chanism to measure the resistance of
fered by a model huh towed through
the water. ~.
The average battleship model is 20
feet long and isNin exact proportion to
the ship it is planned as law Of ply.
sizes that the power required. to pull
model through the water at six knots
for instance, will show exactly the force
necessary to drive the ship herself at
a Predetermined rate. The effect of
any minor changes in hull construction
is instantly shown by the recording in
struments. An 1s-knot speed can be
reached in the tank.
England Builds Fast Ship
Indefinite information has reached
navy officers that England is building
swift vessel as an experiment which
may reach 80 knots an hour and which
will carry heavy guns and no armoi
whatever. She will be new type of
scout cruiser rather than battle craft,
it is understood, and have less endu.
rance than battlecruisers. IS
The navy model basin is now
equipped with a wave making device
with which the rolling qualities of a
ship design can be tested and also her
ability to sustain high speed in rough
water. 1t consists of a motor driven
fan under water which stirs the con
tents of the tank into wave motions
of any desired frequency or size. At
the opposite end of the tank is beach
Iver which the waves run to be
trapped in the space behind prevent
ing their return up the tank to inter.
fere with experiments. More accurate
data on ship construction has been
given out from the navy plant than
from altogether similar tanks in the
world combined. 1t has a capacity
of testing 100 or more models annual
ly, as compared to 50 in the British
admiralty tank. 4
Nearly 200G models have been tested
at the navy yard and the results care
fully tabulated. In slack periods a reg
ular series of test models is produced
and the results noted in order that the
whole scientific field may be covered.
The officer in charge presents the new
data gathered before a scientific socie.
ty each year and private designers can
now work out the hull of merchant
ship on the formulas gathered by the
Government.
About fifth of the work now done
in the basin is for private shiphui!ders
who send plans of proposed ships to the
navy yard, where models are construct.
ed and tested. The plant soon will have
capacity of producing and testing one
model every twenty-four hours.