New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1919-10-17
nm ZITTC

sive lighting machine. She was built at the Brook
Ign navy yard and launched in the summer of 1917.
She is 62i feet over all. She weighs (displaces)
32,G0 tons. She draws 80 feet of water. She has
% feet AZ inches beam at the waterline. At full
speed she can make slightly in excess of n knots
an hour, She generates 2S,U0 horsepower for
propulsion. Her crew numbers nearly 1,2OO men.
She burns oil instead of coal as fuel and has Il
total fuel capacity of about 100000 gallons.
It's not mn easy thing nowadays to get permits
sion to examine Il b~attleship from stem to stern
and to take photographs of her interior. But rep
resentatives of one of the big concerns which
had II hand in making the New Mexico what she
is was recently allowed the priyilege-which has
been exceedingly rare since the beginning of the
great war. The following account of an inspec-
ton of the superdreadnaught ut drydock in the
brooklyn navy yard is the result.
Lieut.. Com. L. l.. Carroll. chief engineer, turns
us over to one of the junior engineers. We start
with the navigating bridge and examine the vari-
Gus pieces of apparatus for transmitting signals
to the engine room for the control of the YES
sci, and to half a dozen other parts of the ship,
each of which has Il particular and important
function to perform. Next we begin a systematic
survey of the ship, and to begin as far down into
the yitals of the vessel as possible we are led
through c%ircuitOus routes, down steep hatchways,
through narrow alleys, and down more ladders,
through deck after deck until we have lost all
knowledge of time and space.
We find ourselves AT last on the very bottom of
the ship. directly behind the rudder, A compli.
Gated mass of machinery, pistons, rods, valves,
dials and electric motors, combine to make up
the steering gear engine. This machinery is oper-
ated and controlled directly from the navigating
bridge by IA control device. This Is only one of
five different methods of steering the ship. In Il
watcr-tight compartment directly aft is what is
known as the auxiliary steering gear. And here
We see four large wheels connected to II shaft
which when occasion demands. can be used TO
move the rudier by hand-which takes eight men.
But this shaft is ALSO connected Ia an electric
motor and 10y the simple Iuru of II switch can be
operated electrically. Two other electrical units
are situated in This compartment for rudder con
troll and il all steering methods fail. II Jury" rud-
der may be rugged off the stern.
Going forward along the bottom of the ship We
come presently To the propeller Shafts-f0ur in
number-each operating an immense propeller.
These shafts extend from the motors which oper-
ate them back through the ship and out al the
stern. through what are known respectively as the
starboard outboard shaft alley, starboard inbOard.
port inboard and port cupboard alleys. Following
forward along the inboard shaft We go through
several more water-tight compartments, drop
down Il hatchway and find ourselves in the pro
polling motor room. This is the section of the
ship which actually drives the propellers.
The tremendous motor which meets our gaze
gives an inkling of the power necessary TO make
the big shafts revolve.
This motor stands II feet high from the hoor
and is /. feet wide. II generates 1000 horsepower.
Like the rest, ii is inclosed in u water-tight com
partmcnt. protected by bulkleads. and if anything
should happen to ii. the current may be cut on
mt once and directed to the operation of the other
three propellers.
To see how the motor is controlled. reversed.
started, stopped. etc, We follow the wire cables
further forward. still almost on the bottom of the
shin until we come to what the engineers call the
center engine room. Here spread out before Us
lies a switchboard containing levers. dials. teie-
phones. indicators. and instruments for measur-
ing electrical currents. 1t is The main control
station of the ship containing the arteries
through which courses the life blood of the YES
sci, the electrical current. In fact. IL is often
called the heart of the vessel.
Here in this compartment the electrical current
is received. measured and passed on TO the motors
we have just left. From this station the
may be made TO reverse. or to go al
full speed ahead; two propeliers may be reversed
while the other two are driven ahead. Here also
any combination of control may be made up. The
fexibiIity of control made possible by this cen
trail control station constitutes one of the advan-
tages of the system of electric drive. The captain
the ship communicates directly To this station
and gives instructions concerning the control of
the vessel.
Having seen how the ship is propelled. and con-
troIIed. we are naturally curious 10 see the source
from which the tremendous energy comes. The
cables from the switchboard lead Us forward into