NEW COLONIAL LINER

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22517, 27 September 1938, Page 5

NEW COLONIAL LINER

DETAILS OF DOMINION MONARCH MAIDEN VOYAGE IN FEBRUARY (nou ocm owi cobrespohsbrt.) LONDON, July 27. Passengers on the Dominion Monarch the new Shaw Savill 27,000-ton liner, will be able to lie in their beds, bunks are very much a thing of the past, and talk to their friends on shore by telephone. This is one of the many services provided by the new vessel.•Telephoncs will be placed next to each bed and connected to a central exchange operated night-and-day;-ln.port the ship will be linked direct to shore telephone systems. Exceptionally large windows are a feature of the various public rooms and lounges. They look out on to the decks. The dining room is 87 feet long and extends the full width of the ship. It seats 300. An extensive verandah cafe, which is also as broad as the vessel, wilt be available as a cinema. Special attention has been given to the hospitals, placed amidships. There are special wards and general wards. There is also a selfcontained isolation hospital away from the passengers' .accommodation. . The latest modern electric and steam cooking appliances have been fitted in the kitchen and main pantry. Separate refrigerated chambers to carry all commodities are fitted immediately below the kitchen. In the foyer will.be a shop, a cocktail bar, and hairdressing saloons for men and women. It will be reached by a lift serving all decks. There is a permanent open-air swimming bath, a fully equipped gymnasium, and a sun bathing deck. t For handling cargo there will be 24 electric winches capable of lifting live tons at 130 feet a minute. One derrick, at No. 2 hatchway, will lift up to 40 tons. . , . ," Special precautions have been taken to eliminate vibration by fitting the five Diesel generating sets, each directly coupled to a 600 kilowatt dynamo of 220 volts at 280 revolutions a minute, on fabricated steel base plates, under which.special pads are placed, the whole being secured by springs. The vessel will be capable of'travelling at a speed of 22 knots loaded," ensuring a sea service speed of 194 to 20 knots being maintained. An army of 6000 men. is engaged in completing the Dominion Monarch in time for her maiden voyage to South ■Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, beginning on February 16. Immediately after her launching a start was made to prepare the. vessel for her engines Preparations for the successful launching began eight weeks befor the due date. Several thousand tons of wood, mostrof it new, because the stock was too small were laid to make standing ways, six feet wide. A covering of tallow, grease, and soft soap three-quarters of an inch deep, was'placed for 700 feet The most intricate task was the fixing of the releasing arrangements. Three triggers; two mechanical and one hydraulic, were placed on each side and synchronised with the launching instrument -on the platform. It took several days to heave the piles of drag chains alongside the giant hull. Three hundred and fifty tons were curled up on the port side and 250 on the" starboard, so that the ship's, nose would be pulled round, and not crash into the slipway side.