Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1953-02-25
New Ship Will Slice
20-Foot Ice Cubes .
Breakers Are Essential
For Polor War Navigation
By Thomos R. Henry

A super icebreaker now is under con-
struction, presumably for the Navy or
Coast Guard.
It will be about twice as big and
pack about twice the power of the most
powerful ships in existence built dur
ing World War II.
These craft-the Coast Guards North
Wind and East Wind and the Nays
Burton ISland-could smash their way
easily and indefinitely through ice 10
feet thick and slowly but surely
through much thicker pack.
The new icebreaker, construction of
which is announced by the Westing-
house Electric Corp, will be able to 60
routinely through ice 20 feet thick.
The ENTHUSIASTICALLY Russian
invention and type of craft on which
the Soviet navy supposedly has car
ried out much development work in
the past few years-iS essential for
wintertime navigation nj both the Arctic
and Antarctic. It is the only kind Of
ship that can possibly get through
thick ice pack.
Possible battle-ground.
The Arctic might well be a major
battle-ground in another war. since 1t
affords the shortest route between
North America and Northeastern
Europe.
The old icebreakers are 5.040-ton
vessels, each powered by two 5000
horsepower motors. the largest installed
on any ship. These have proved quite
adequate for routine. peacetime opera
tons.
The much larger, more powerful ice
breaker now under construction, says
the Westinghouse announcement. also
will have two motors, but each will
have more than twice the rating of
the two wind class motors. Each
10,500- horsepower motor will be is feet
in diameter and will weigh 108 tons.
Ten generators, driven by diesel en-
gineS, will supply power to the motors.
five being connected in parallel with
each motor. The new vessel, yet un-
named, will be Al feet longer and will
have q displacement of 3,240 tons
greater than its predecessors. 1t will
have an all-welded steel hull.
Under the auspices of the Library Of
Congress, a start has been made at
microfilming the vast number of manu-
scripts dating from the earliest days
of Christianity in the libraries of the
monasteries on Mount Athos, the
white marble mountain of monks
which juts out from the Macedonian
Peninsula.
Library workers have now completed
the work of microfilming the manu-
scripts in st. Catharine's Monastery
on the summit of Mount Sinai and in
the Libraries of the Greek Orthodox
and Armenian PatriarchateS in Jeru-
salem. Study of these is throwing
much new light on biblical themes.
Mount Athos, however. threatened to
be more formidable and expensive. It
amount of early Christian material
including, possibly, some apochryphal
GoSpelS-could be found there. The
monastic libraries have been quite in
adequately catalogued and nobody
knows what may turn up. It is known
that many perhaps priceless parch-
ment manuscripts were destroyed dur
ing the Greek Turkish wars when the
Turks used the material for cartridges.
Some Of the manuscripts were torn up
Wy 1OCd1 A1u WHO VI IkAC
parchment used for bait. ..-
No Routes to Mountain.
The microfilming work has been
started by DR.. Ernest w. Saunders
of the Garrett Biblical Institute of
Evanston, H.. now Fulbright Fellow
in Greece. The mountain, he found.
was quite difficult to visit. It is on
no established travel routes.
The population of the mountain,
which reaches an altitude Of i. $50 feet,
consists of monks of the order Of
st. Basil. Government is by an assembly
of monks, 20 from each community.
The place has been Christian strong
hold for nearly 10 centuries. Nearly
all the monasteries are fortified, the
churches being inclosed in quadrangles.
At one of the monasteries, Moni
Dionysiou, DR.. Saunders was told by
the abbot that at least $50 of the
manuscripts in the collection never
have been carefully examined. They
were hidden when the collection was
last catalogued. A total of several
thousand manuscripts is contained
in the various establishments.