Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1920-01-10

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~ YNCLE Sans superdreadnaught New
Mexico is very much In the yes of
I the world these days for the special
NH reason that this battleshfp is the
lMWWJH first of any nation to be propelled by
SMY electricity. Moreover, electric drive
WT has been 30 successful and its fight
ing advantages have become so gem
orally recognized that the navy de-
partment has decided to equip all of
its new capital ships with electric
lISA. propulsion apparatus.
The New Mexico is a most impress
sive fighting machine. She was built at the Brook
Ign navy yard and launched in the summer of 1917.
She is 624 feet over all. She weighs (displaces)
$1,000 tons She draws 30 feet of water. She has
81 feet Az inches beam at the waterline At full
speed she can make slightly in excess of 81 knots
an hour. She generates $4,000 horsepower for
propulsion Her crew numbers nearly 1,200 men.
She burns oil instead of coal as fuel and has
total fuel capacity of about 100000 gallons.
It's not easy thing nowadays to get permits
sion to examine battleship from stem to stern
and to take photographs of her interior. But rep
reSentatives of of the big concerns which
had hand in making the New Mexico what she
Is was recently allowed the prvilege-whch 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
'N'N navy Saiu Is tile result
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
10 he engine room for the control of the YES
Sel and to half dozen other parts of the ship
euch OF which has q particular and important
junction to perform. Next we begin d systematic
survey OF the ship and to begin as far down into
NE "tals OF the Tessel 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
ne snip directly behind the rudder compli-
Ca'eu mass of machinery, pstons, rods valves
Fl ~"'s ana electric motors, combine to make up
inc steering gear engine. This machinery is oper-
a'eu and controlled directly from the navigating
of'uge oy control device. This is only one of
i've inherent methods of steering the ship In
n "aleftlght compartment directly aft is what ia
AuoWn as the auxiliary steering gear And here
Il We see -FOUR large wheels connected to a shaft
d WHICH When occasion demands can be used to
al NV nV'e 'he rudder by hand-which takes eight men
~, tnS smart is also connected to an electric
|# 0'o' ana by the simple turn of switch can he
IA operated electrically Two other electrical units
~g situated In this compartment for rudder con-
aO' anu II all steering methods fail Jury rud-
H$6 ''s6SA ou Nle steT0
"oing forward along the bottom of the ship we
- one presently to the propeller shafts--four In
each operating immense propeller
lHeSe shafts extend from the motors which oper.
Uen oacK through the ship and out at the
60 uloush what are known respectively as the
h.. "a ou'ooard shaft alley, starboard inboard,
e.. 'upo"tu and port cupboard alleys. Following
x o-"a[u along the inboard shaft we go through
- more Watertight compartments, drop
4 Ing motor room. This is the section of the
"nlch actually drives the propeners
= Tremendous motor which meets our gaze
,'S "A mixing of the power necessary to make
ne big shafts revolve
IDs motor stands u feet high from the floor
Fo :, = iee' wide. 1t generates 900 horsepower
sr,-alS. rest IT IS lnclosed in water-ught com
- projected by bulkheads and if anything
o "'Fpeu to IT, the current may be cut off
= brao 1"N directed to the operation of the other
s,,s.l No" me motor is controlled reversed
~ rho o.orp'q' etc, we follow the wire cables
81 n 1r. - " @Fu' stu almost the bottom of the
a. LIT He come to what the engineers call tho
-. 80 room. Here spread out before us
"a switchboard containing levers diaIs +ela-
s, ee4'ors, and Instruments for measur.
s, "ie"' currents. 1t is rhe main control
@ ror,t me ship containing the arteries
T. tho a,,s UourSes the life blood Of The YES
- led tbo t.1"i current In fact, it is often
'-e aeart Of the vessel.
ieFe 10 this connart,,o,. -,
A. M measured and passed on TO the motors
pana-, a,'e Just left. From this station the
sraas lug s he made to reverse. or to 20 At
he ,bs o., eao' two propellers may be reversed
cou,t,ra,[ TWO are driven ahead. Here also
bdi-r ~ o o OF control may be made up The
n control ~ "i made possible by this con.
d. a.. s.ouon constitutes one of the ad,en.
are. communicates dire~tly to this t s,pt,on
vessel ''oe'lons conesrling the control Of
I'd We s~a new The ship is propelled and con.
phi,t .s naturally curious to see the source
IS from ., ne tremendous energy comes THE
switchboard lead US forward into