New-York tribune., 1921-04-21
New Board to
Consider Fleet
OF Motor Ships
70 Hog Island Boats Could
BE Converted at Cost of
sl4.35O,OOO Above the
Replacement of Gears
Would Halve Bill for Fuel
seheme for Conversion of
Different Types Is Also
Afoot: Tests To Be Made

establishment Of feet of motor
.sips to carry cargo will be one of the
..rIy subjects to be brought up for the
,ns;deration of the new Shipping
aosrd. At present the board has only
.ue Of these vessels.
That a feet Of seventy of these yes
.,s can be provided at d cost of less
,ssn sl5,oo0,00o is pointed out by ad-
rccates Of the plan to bring under the
american flag a volume of motor ship
.,snage to meet the competition of for
,iyn nations which are now turning
1.rgely to this type of construction.
officials of the board have been work
ne on the matter, but no action will
!. taken until the new board has had
chance to decide.
Board to Test Vessels
In the mean time an opportunity is
.sered for studying the best type of
rropulsion to be adopted. Experts of
ii. board are checking up on the re-
suits Of the operation of the turbined
ssctrically driven Eclipse, as compared
si.h an oil-burning vessel with geared
,urbines With the completion of the
Diesel engined, electric driven Fordon-
an in the near future, comparative
tests will also be instituted on this
ressel.
It has been reported that the Ship
,ng Board was contemplating the
Iauipping of seventy ships of the Hog
Stand 7,500-ton A type of cargo car
rsrs with Diesel electric drive install
i.ion. Many of these ships will have
to have their geared turbines removed,
md, instead of replacing them with the
sane kind of equipment, consideration
las been given to the advisabiity of
Y.alling Diesel engines.
Some question has arisen. however.
ssto the desirability of having so large
motor ship fleet of one type of vessel,
md the matter of taking boats of vari-
us sizes whose propulsive equipment
a.sds replacement and converting
tisse into motor ships is also under
:,nsideration.
Cost of Motor Ship Fleet
In the case of the Hog Island A
tips, it is pointed out, the cost of re-
,scing the damaged gearings will be
lnut $4,000 ship. For the seventy
lips this would represent an expendi-
aN Of $3.50, 900.
Diesel engines of about 2,500-horse
Nser would be necessary for the con-
esion to Diesel electric drive. The
wof this installation, it is estimated,
sad not be over 500 per horsepower,
q 900 per ship. For the seventy
ships the total cost would be SIT, $780,
500.
As ar Offset against this, however,
the $3.50 900 required to replace the
gearings is to be taken, leaving the
actual additional cost due to Diesel in
stallation at 14,350,0 900.
This would mean an additional CAPT
al cost on the seventy ships of the lat
sr amount Interest on this sum at 6
PER cent would come to 1861 900 annu-
lily, and interest and depreciation at
per cent each would aggregate ST.,
5000, total of s2,296,000 annually.
With the Diesel installation, however,
It is pointed out, the annual fuel bill
sould be cut to half of that of the YES
isls as equipped at present, and this,
ogether with the great increase gained
n cargo space, would much more than
onset the additional caDital cost