LARGEST VESSEL EVER BUILT.

Mt Benger Mail, 5 October 1938, Page 4

LARGEST VESSEL EVER BUILT.

QUEEN ELIZABETH TO HAVE THEATRE AND CINEMA. The new Cuuard-White Star liner Queen Elizabeth, now in process of construction at the works of Messrs John Brown and Co., Clydebank, and which was named and launched by Her Majesty the Queen on Tuesday, will be the largest and heaviest vessel ever built.

Her length—l,o3l feet over all—exceeds that of the Queen Mary by 13ft, and her eventual tonnage is estimated to be about 85,000, as against the Queen Mary’s 81,235. Transferred to London, the Queen Elizabeth is about the same length as the Hungerford and Waterloo bridges, and would overlap the familiar river facade of the Houses of Parliament by about 40yds. Placed on her keel in Trafalgar Square, her funnel tops would reach practically to the top of the effigy on the Nelson Column.

TWO FUNNELS ONLY. I The most obvious change in outward appearance is the provision of only two funnels in place of three, this being associated with a reduction in the total number of boilers from 24 main watertube units to 12 of larger size and output. A new form of hull has also been developed, one feature of which is a stem with an additional rake forward, thus accounting for the extra 13ft of length. The other principal dimensions remain unaltered. I The external appearance has also been changed by the elimination of the, separate forecastle, the forward well deck having been enclosed to give a flush deck from the bows to the fore superstructure. Further variety is introduced by a re-design of the upper works and the addition of a new superstructure deck. Internally, the reduced space required for the funnel casings has allowed a complete rearrangement of the accom- j modation, while a new feature is a , theatre in the superstructure available ! alternatively for cabin and tourist class j passengers. Third-class passengers will j have a cinema in their own accommo- j dation. Future practice is also being anticipated in regard to air conditioning of the main public rooms, while completely new treatments are being evolved for the decoration of these spaces. The total passenger accommodation will be 2,410, some 300 more than in the Queen Mary. Some of the largest steel casting ever manufactured were produced for the new ship at the works of Messrs William Beardmore and Co., Parkhead, Glasgow. The huge stern frame, in live pieces, weighs 180 tons, some 300 < tons of molten steel being required to produce it. The outer propeller shaft brackets, each in two pieces, turn the scale at 160 tons, and the inner shaft brackets 100 tons. The rudder, in two parts, weighs 120 tons, and the stem piece, 125 feet in height and built up in five sections, 60 tons. In all, about 1,000 tons of liquid steel of special quality were required to produce the odd 600 tons finished weight of all the castings mentioned. The rest went off in the form of waste and during the process of machining. The whole work of easting such huge pieces is intricate beyond explanation, and demands the most careful planning and workmanship. The Parkhead Forge, however, has the benefit of long experience. It has been in active operation for over a century. AN ECONOMIC REASON. The reason for two similar ships of ihe size and speed* of the Queen Mary being constructed for the Cunard-White Star Company is one of simple economies. A regular seven-day service is required from Southampton on the one side and from New York on the other. In other words, if one vessel sails from Southampton on, say, a Friday, she must be prepared to sail from New York on the following Friday. To be a paying proposition the service must be regular and the ships large enough to carry thousands of passengers to earn the necessary revenue over and above any receipt for the carriage of mails.

Allowanc has to be made for the necessary calls at Cherbourg on the outward and homeward voyages, the strictly moderate speeds necessary in the Solent and on approaching and leaving New York, and the time taken to replenish the ship with fuel, boiler water, provisions, stores, linen, and the like.

The work of this turnover has been reduced to a fine art and can at a pinch be done in a little more than 24 hours. However, after allowing time for one lot of passengers to leave the ship in comfort and a fresh lot to embark at a convenient hour, the new sailing should take place, roughly, 50 hours after the vessel's arrival. A weekly service of this nature carried on by two ships requires a minimum ocean speed of slightly more than 28 .knots.

The great shipbuilding and marine engineering firm of John Brown and Company, Clydebank, had its origin as the Clyde Engineering Works, established in Glasgow in 1846 by" Messrs James and George Thomson. Its connection with the Cunard Line dates from 1853, when it built the Jura, one of the earliest of the iron screw Cunarders. She was followed by ships of the Cunard and other companies, and many vessels of war.

Among the well-known Cunarders were the Russia (1867), the last vessel with the old-fashioned clipper bow; the Bothnia, Ccythia, and Gallia, of the ’seventies; the 161-knot Scrvia, the first steel Cunarder and the first to have electric light; the Caronia and Carmania of 1904-5, the last named the first Cunard turbine steamer; the famous Luisitania of 1907, which with the Mauretania won back the so-called Blue Riband from the Germans; the Aquitania, 1914, and, finally, the Cun-ard-White Star Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.