VAST FLOATING DOCK

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 342, 1 May 1928, Page 9

VAST FLOATING DOCK

FOR SINGAPORE BASE LONG TOW FROM TYNE British Official Wireless RUGBY, Sunday. The world’s largest floating dock will leave the Tyne in six weeks on a fourmonths’ voyage of 5,600 miles to Singapore. When this huge floating workship, built in 10 months at the \yallsend yard of Messrs. Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, reaches its destination, it will represent a magnificent achievement, for the task of towing it will almost be equal to that of its construction.

For the purpose of the towing, the dock will be split into two parts. The three centre sections, which will contain the heaviest machinery, will be fitted with a bulkhead at each end, making one craft. The two ends will then be fitted to each other, making another craft. Ahead of each section two huge tugs will pull, while behind two others will guide. When the two portions arrive at the Suez Canal, that waterway will be closed to all traffic for a whole weekend while the dock, with a margin of about three feet at either side, is navigated through. When the dock 'arrives at Singapore, and is put together, it will require a depth of 70 feet of water, and will be capable of holding easily ships of the size of the Mauretania, which when in the dock would have 30 feet to spare at the bow and stern.

The dock has a lifting capacity of 50.000 tons. It is 855 feet long, 172 feet wide, and 75 feet deep. The pumping plant can deal with 30,000 tons of water an hour.