SUBMARINE CARGO CAPACITY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1604, 29 August 1916, Page 2

SUBMARINE CARGO CAPACITY.

DISOI SSINtI ihe possible cargo capacity of the Herman submirsible cargo vessels, Engineering says; —“The descriptions which have been cabled .from America regarding tin; size and capacity of the Deutschland are somewhat contradictory, but they all agree in giving (lie displacement tonnage when oil, the surface as 2,000 tons, which would coincide with a length of aboat 300 ft. and a beam of 30ft, Again, there is agreement as to the power of the Diesel engines with which the vessel is propelled, the brake horse-power of each of the twin engines being given as 1,300 giving collectively 2,(100 brake horse-power. This, again, corresponds with a speed on the surface■ of 14 knots. It is comparatively easy to arrive at the weight of the cargo which such a vessel carry, and it may at once be said that the statements of the deadweight capacity, ranging, in the first 1 reports, from 800 to 1,000 tons, are 1

greatly exaggerated. Later reports, however, after the drooping spirits of the derma n people had been revived, give the weight of the eargo as 375 tons, which is mueh more in accordance with the possibilities than the earlier estimates. Under the must favourable conditions regarding the disposition of weight in the ship and Iter machinery and stores, a greater cargo cannot possibly be carried by a submersible vessel of 2,000 tons surface displacement. A summation of the weigths of the hull, machinery and necessary lit tings shows that out of the 2,000-ton surface displacement, there 1 is left only 350 tons us eargo deadweight carrying capacity. If passenger accommodation were provided, there would he a deduction from tin's for (he weight of liftings, of the passengers, and of the necessary provisions and stores. The weights allowed, it may be added, give an approximate radius of action of -1.500 nautical miles at 14 knots, and (5,(550 nautical miles til 111 knots. Assuming the reserve buoyancy as 55 per cent, of the surface displacement, the displacement submerged would .he about 3,100 tons. Those facts somewhat detract from the practical success of this vessel as a cargo carrier, and help to reduce to correct proportions the signilicancc of the voyage.”