ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 26, 1 February 1915, Page 6

ELECTRICALLY DRIVEN.

Just as the navies of the world have become accustomed to the use "of 'steam turbine driven vessels, and when oil propelled battleships had just come into their own,the United States Navy Board creates a new type of vessel, which promises to entirely revolutionise the ships of the world. The “Army and Navy Journal” of New York, in making the announcement, gives the following particulars of a new, ship just sanctioned by the United States Senate in its shipbuilding programme for 1915.

plans of the prepared by Engineer-in-Chief Robert S. Griffin, chief of the Bureau'of Steam Engineering, and she is to lie called the California. The system, to he installed is an installation of ly-driyen machinery, which is to be the sole method of propulsion, and it is asserted that the new_ idea wilt completely revolutionise not only warship building, but also the ocean liners. The system is not being hastily or haphazardly installed, for exhaustive trials were made, on the naval collier Jupiter, before the authorities decided definitely to adopt it for the United States Navy.. On trial it proved a success beyond the expectations f the designers. No attempt was made at the time to develop high speed for the turbo-electro motive power. The Jupiter 'is. a 15-knot ship, and her equipment was merely designed to reduce the cost of operation. The officer in charge of the Jupiter, who tested her in all weathers and under all conditions in •to "trip from- the Pacific Coast; through the Panama Canal, up to New York, made a report which indicates that under the conditions of her new installation the Jupiter is one of the most economical ships afloat. Although the designers say it would he possible to do so, it is not proposed to give the California any greater speed than that of other battleships of the United States Navy, which ranges from 21 to 22 knots per hour. The economy in the n'-e of fuel results fro mthe use of smaller turbine engines, which are run ,t a very high' r&te', of speed. Ti rbine en-

{pities without an electric chive must he run at a lower rate of sp. d than is required to secure the maximum power at■ the minimum cost. T T ncler the svstem now to he utilised the turbine;',eingines dif battleships and other large vessels, it is claimed, waste steam, and are-more expensive to run than the old- reciprocating type of engine. With 1 the electric drive—which is ' virtually the power-house system used on tramway lines, the speed of the : scrow of tho ship can he regulated without regard to the revolutions of the turbine. In addition to the great. economy of operating ships, it is contended that with the new system of elecvic control# battleship can ,be .'manoeuvred, staff® ed, stopped, and handled generafty with greater facility. This latter advantage will, if it prove itself all that is claimed, be a more important factor in determining its adoption ;, i% battleships than ,the mere matter of producing economic results.