FIRST ELECTRIC BOAT.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 268, 24 December 1928, Page 5

FIRST ELECTRIC BOAT.

P. AND O. LINER. What is described as “the ship of the year,” the new P. and O. liner Viceroy of India, was launched from the Linthouse yard of Messrs Alexander Stephen and Sons, at Glasgow, by Lady Irwin, wife of the Viceroy of India, on September 16th. The new liner, which is of 19,000 tons burden, will be propelled by twin electric motors of 18,000 horse power, and turbo electric generators taking high pressure steam from water tube boilers burning ’l fuel. She will be lighted, fey Diesel motor generators, and will be electrically heated.

Stability was made the subject of a special clause in the balloting contract (says a report in the London Daily Telegraph) and it is expected that the vessel will be very steady in a seaway. The electric system of propulsion should make her free from the vibration and noise usually associated with reciprocating engines, or with gearing. She is 610ft' long and has a breadth of 80ft and a depth of 82ft. Her lines are the outcome of model experiments in the National Experimental Tank at Teddington, carried out under the personal supervision of • Viscount Inchcape, chairman of the P. and O. Company. There are 415 single berth cabins for saloon passengers and the state rooms each have a private bathroom. In addition to the public rooms there is a children’s room and a 24ft swimming bath. Two hundred and fifty-eight passengers in the second class can be canried, most of the cabines being fitted for two persons. Separate quarters are provided for ayahs, the Indian nurses who often accompany European mistresses on voyages between India and Britain.

Presiding at luncheon after the launching ceremony, Mr F. J. Stephen, chairman of the builders’ company, proposed the health and prosperity of the new ship, which, he said, was the first passenger liner built in Europe with the system of turbo-electric machinery. By adopting the electric drive and the principle of single berth rooms, Lord Inchcape and the P. and O. Company had shown their progressive spirit, and he was sure their enterprise would be rewarded, for the vessel should be the most comfortable passenger ship of her size afloat. When they saw what had been done in this case for the comfort of passengers they were led tlo think of the wonderful advance made in that direction within living memory. The public, lis thought, had accepted all the improvements in recent years, all the elaborateness of a modern passenger liner, without reflecting upon the immense amount of detail work which was expended. Lord Inchcape, who replied, said he expected the ship would be in commission on the London-Bombay service in the qarly spring. In making the passenger accommodation arrangements they had in view that, barring accident, the vessel would be oh the service for the next 25 years, and that even after that she would not be considered out of date.