The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-10-17

orally recognized mat the navy ue-
partment has decided to equip all of
a. its new capital ships with electric
nsaAsssAw, propulsion apparatus.
The New Mexico is a most impress
sive fighting machine. She was built at the Brook
Ign navy yard and launched i'm the summer of 1917.
She is GA feet over all. She weighs (displaces)
$4,000 tons. She draws 80 feet Of water. She has
81 feet az inches beam at the waterline. At full
speed She can make slightly in excess of u knots
an hour. She generates $4,000 horsepower for
propulsion. Her crew numbers nearly 200 men.
She burns oil instead Of coal rs fuel and has a
total fuel capacity of about 100000 gallons.
It's not an easy thing nowadays to get permits
sion to examine Il battleShip from stem to stern
and TO take photographs of her interior. But rep
reSentativeS of one of the big concerns when
had a hand in making the New Mexico what she
is was recently allowed the p"rivilege-which has
been exceedingly rare since the beginning of the
great war. The following account of an inspec-
ton OF the superdreadnaught at drydock IN the
Brooklyn navy yard is the result.
Lieut.. Com. L. l.. Carroll, chief engineer, turns
us over 20 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 Il systematic
survey Of the ship, and to begin as far down into
the vitalS of the vessel as possible we are LED
through circuitOuS 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 a 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
we see four large wheels connected to Il shaft
which when occasion demands, can be used to
move the rudder by hand-which takes eight men.
But this shaft is also connected to an electric
motor and by the simple turn of a switch can be
operated electrically. Two other electrical units
are situated in this compartment for rudder con
troll and if all steering methods fan, ii jury rud-
der may be rugged off the stern.
Going forward along the bottom of the snip we
come presently to the propeller shafts-four III
number-each operating an immense propeller.
These shafts extend from the motors when oper'
ate them back through the snip ana out at 'he
stern, through what are known reSpecuVel! as 'nc
starboard cupboard shaft alley, starDoaru lhoo"i''
port inboard and port cupboard alleys. foiio"'ns
forward along the inboard shaft we 90 through
SeNptnl more Nultl- llSil
down n hatchway and find ourselves In the pro-
Melting motor room. This is the section OF Tie
shin which actually drives the propellers'
The tremendous motor which meets our sa%e
gives an inkling Of the power necessary """N
the big shafts revofve.
This motor stands II feet high from the moor
and is II feet wide. 1t generates ''ooo horsepo"ei'
Like the rest, it is incosed in a water-ugh' CON-
partment. protected by bulkheads' ana II ahsuihs
should happen to it, the current may De cut oi
at once and directed to the operation Oh 'he o'nei
three prOpellers.
To see how the motor is controlled. reverseu
started. stopped, etc, we follow the wire capie>
turtber forward. still almost on the bottom OF the
ship until we come to what the engineers :" ~
center engine room. Here spread out before Us
,ias . switchboard containing levers, dials, teie
nbones Indicators, and instruments for measur
inc electrical currents. 1T Is me main con.io
station of the ship containing the ARTERIES
through which courses the life blood OF the yes
co, the electrical current. In fact, it is OTTER
called the heart Of the vessel.
Here in this compartment the electrical current
is received. measured and passed on TO the motors
which we have just left. FROM 'his sta'ioh '"'
propellers may be made TO reverse, or 10 go a
full speed ahead; two propellers may be reversed
while the other two are driven ahead. Here als'
anv combination, of control may be made up. Th'
feyibility of control made possible by this cen
trail control station constitutes one or the auVan
tapes of thd system of electric drive. The captain
Of the shin communicates directly to this station
ord o;vos Instructions concerning the control o
the vessel. h
uou,nc seen how the ship is propelled, and con
..ouoa - are naturally curious to see the sourc
from WHICH the uemenuous $3.50 eor,v.~a ~.
. cables fro1f the