THE RESEARCH

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 156, 30 December 1938, Page 4

THE RESEARCH

LITTLE METAL USED

The Royal Research ship Research* which is being constructed for the Admiralty by Philip and Son, Ltd., of ■ Dartmouth, to surveys in magnetic variation,'is expected to be ready for her first fcVulse at; tneena of next yeari according to an! overseas exchange, The.,planking, of the vessel is now being, completed, .the bulwarks; are being erected, and the caulking of the hull with oakum is proceeding.

The-Research will be of 770 tons displacement,, and 142 ft in length, and her .building of almost entirely nonmagnetic material has involved a number of unusual processes^ She will carry less than 7001b of iron and steel, and this consists of essential parts of the engines and dynamo. The total metal material will amount to 300 tons, so that iron and steel form only onethousandth'part of the metal used.

Nearly 10,000 cubic feet of teak has gone to the making of the hull, and a special order had to be sent to Burma for some of the wood used. The two mainmasts will be made of Columbian pine and the bowsprits of pitch-pine.

Bronze is being used for the framework and propeller, and aluminium bronze for the windlass and winches, anchors, cables, and standing rigging. ;■

The Nippon Yusen Kaisya have contracted with the Kawasaki Dockyard for the construction of, two passengerj vessels of 28,000 tons each. : !