OIL FUEL FOR THE NAVY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1708, 27 March 1913, Page 5

OIL FUEL FOR THE NAVY.

RECOMMENDED ■ BY COMMISSION. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright ; J London, March 25. The Royal Commission appointed under tho chairmanship of Admiral Lord Fisher, to investigate and repoH on the supply of oil fuel for tho Navy, recommends that all British naval ships should bo oil-driven. 1 The Admiralty is. expending two millions on oil fuel depots.

PROBLEMS,OF OIL- FUEL. INTERESTING FIGURES.' The development of the oil supply has led to two lines of investigation, lirst, of oil as a. combustiblo in boilers; second, in the direct application- of propulsion in the internal combustion engine. The difficulties have been two, the variation of speed and tho readiness of reversing, both of which have now been largely overcome. The problem of burning heavy crude oil has been solved in engines of the Deisel type, which burn oil in tho cylinders at a liigh_ temperature and a high- pressure, the oil being forced into .the cylinder by mechanical means. This improvement has given a greater degree of reliability and a remarkable cheapening in tho cost of power development. That tho Navy is bdund eventually to adopt the internal combustion engine is. now a foregone as practically all tho difficulties have been done away with, and the possibility of destruction has been reduced by tho fact of there being fewer vital parts, nearly everything being well below the water-line. Then, again, tho absence of tell-tale, pmoke is a highly-important consideration, and one which naval authorities must ever keep before, tliem.

The storage of fuel also lias been! very much simplified, the oil being stored in convenient tanks, and not requiting a largo staff'Of firemen or boiler attendants, thus expending tho possible members of tlio fighting crew. Although no are available, so-'far as the Navy_ is' con-' cemed, the first largo marine installation, that of the Jutlandia, a Swedish cargo vessel, lias proved an unqualified success. Some of the comparative .'types, quoted show that the oil consumption of the Jutlandia is reckoned at 10 tons per day, as compared with a coal consumption of 42 tons per day. In other words, the full capacity of the vessel would be 28.800 miles for 1000 tons of oil, or only GBSO miles for 1000 tons of coal. The saving of spaco was enormous. The cargo capacity ,was 351,000 cubic feet with oil' fuel,' as against Soi,ooo cubic feet with coal;

WHAT THE NAVi" WANTS. Tho object both, of the Admiralty and of private iinns at present, would seem to be tlio .finding ol'.; t|!<? best form of design, so many things lii naval requirements have to be considered which are entirely inapplicable to tho mercantile, marine. One of the primary difficulties! in all navy work is the variation of power required l>etweon cruising speed and battle speed. This has 'always been ono of the difficulties of tho internal oombustion engine, and will possibly bo overcome by the introduction of a multiplicity of nnibs. In untechnical language, tho power) cf one engine cannot bo increased, therefore ono must "turn on" moro engines. Thus 100,000 horse-power would be split up between perhnps 10 units, each capable of individual development in the propulsion of the ship. Those developments apply of conrsq only to such vessels as have previously been propelled by steam. In the British Navy at least experiments are as yet confined to small vessels like' destroyers, torpedoboats, and so on, though tho German Government is already btiilding, or proposing to build, a 35,000-ton cruiser on similar lines. For tho submarine naturally tho motor-engine has been a sino qua non, and has proved remarkably reliable and successful. Tho single danger of these engines, has been tho risk of imperfect combustion, and of tlms choking the confined atmosphere of tho ship with the poisonous fumes of carbon monoxide. The ordinary carbon dioxide vapours, resulting from perfect combustion, ato allowed continuously to escapa outwards into the water, "but though impossible to breat&o, owing_ to tho lack of oxygon, thoy aro not poisonous, and a leakago into tho ship's interior could bo counteracted by n release from tho cylinders of oxygen, of which every submarine carries threo or four.