The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1919-10-17

Ign navy yard and launched in the summer of 1917
She Is 624 feet ALL She weighs (dispaces)
$1,000 tons. She draws 30 feet of water. She has
81 feet Az inches beam at the waerline. At full
speed she make slightly in excess of u knots
an hour She generates 2s0oo horsepower for
propulsion. Her crew numbers nearly l.200 men.
she burns OIL instead of coal fuel and has
total fuel capacity of about 100000 gallons.
It's not an easy thing nowadays to get permits
sion to examine battleship from stem to stern
ana TO take photographs of her interior. But rep
resentatives of one of the big concerns which
mad hand In making the New Mexico what she
is was recently allowed the privege-which has
been exceedingly rare since the beginning of the
great war. The following account of inspec-
ton Of the superdreadnaught at drydock In the
Brooklyn navy yard Is the re- suit.
Lieut.. Com. p. 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
sell and to half dozen other parts Of the ship,
each OF which has u particular and important
function to perform. Next we begin a systematic
survey Of the ship, and to begin as far down into
the vitals of the vessel possible we are led
through crcutous 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
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 control device. This is only one Of
five different methods of steering the SHIP In a
water-tight compartment directly aft is what is
known as the auxiliary steering gear And here
four large wheels connected to IL shaft
which when occasion demands, can be used to
move the rudder by hand-whch takes eight men.
But this shaft is also connected to an electric
motor and by the simple turn of switch can be
operated electrically Two other electrical units
situated in this compartment for rudder con-
troll and If all steering methods fail, jury" rud-
der may be rugged off the stern.
Going forward along the bottom of the ship we
come presently to the propeller shafts-four In
number-cach operating an immense propeller.
These shafts extend from the motors which oper
ate them back through the ship and out at the
stern, through what known respectively the
starboard outboard shaft alley, starboard inboard,
port inboard and port cupboard alleys. Following
forward along the inboard shaft so through
several more water-tght compartments drop
down a 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 revove.
This motor stands 10 feet high from the floor
and is II feet wide 1t generates 1000 horsepower.
Like the rest, 1t is inclosed in watertight com
protected by bukheads, and If anything
should happen TO 1t. the current may be cut off
at once and directed the operation of the other
three propellers.
To how the motor is controlled. reversed.
started, stopped. etc, follow the wire cables
further forward, still almost on the bottom of the
ship until come to what The engineers call the
center engine room. Here spread out before Va
lies a switchboard containing levers, dials, tele-
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, 1t is often
called the heart of the vessel
Here in this compartment the electrical current
is received, measured and passed on to the motors
propeers may be made 10 reverse. or to go at
full speed ahead: two propellers may he reversed
while the other two driven ahead Here also
any combination of control may be made up. The
neXibility of control made possible by this cen
lral control station constitutes of the adyan-
tages of the system of electric drive The captain
of 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-
irolled we are naturally curious 10 the source
from which the tremendous energy comes. The
rabIes from the switchboard lead us forward info