BIG AND FAST SHIPS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1061, 27 August 1930, Page 11

BIG AND FAST SHIPS

AMERICA HAS NOT RIVALLED BRITAIN SWIFT MERCHANT VESSELS Although in recent years there has been a great advance in the speed of both merchant and warships, there are only nine merchant vessels afloat with a speed of 25 knots or over. Seven of these are British, two German and one American, but the Ameri-can-owned ship Leviathan was built and engined in .Germany and was surrendered to th® United States in accordance with the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Despite the great efforts she has made, the United States has not yet succeeded in rivalling Britain, Germany and other countries in the size and speed of her great ocean liners. Of 60 ships with a speed exceeding 21 knots, only five are owned in America, while 40 fly the British flag. There are two classes of fast merchant ships—the big liners such as Europa, Bremen. Mauretania, Majestic, Leviathan, Aquitania, Berengaria, lie de France and Olympic, all with a tonnage exceeding 40,000 (except the Mauretania) and all with a speed over 23 knots. At the other end *of the scale are the fast turbine packets, | built and designed for short crossChannel runs and owned by various railway companies which operate them in conjunction with their passenger and mail services. The fastest of these are the British-owned Anglia, Hibernia, Cambria and Scotia, all sister ships of about 3,000 tons, with the very high speed in service of 25 knots. The French, who are skilled shipbuilders and engineers, have, the 24 knot Versailles of under 2,000 tons and the Newhaven and Rouen, which though nearly 30 years old. are still among the first 20 fastest ships in the world with a speed of 23 knots. The Germans, noted for their shipbuilding skill, in which they are at the moment pre-eminent, have recently gone in for a process of amalgamation, their two biggest lines. Hamburg-Amerika and Norddeutscher Lloyd, now working together, with a consequent reduction in overhead costs. This policy is being followed in British shipbuilding yards, the smaller yards being closed down and the work concentrated in the larger yards. Italy is prominent in big shipbuilding, and there are eight Italian liners of 20,000 tons or over. Japan, which has a very extensive merchant marine, relies largely on the medium size ship, the largest vessels under the Japanese flag being the Asama and Tatsuta of 16,000 tons.

But of a world’s total tonnage ol' ships of every type and build, totalling 66,000,000 tons, the British Empire accounts for one-third.

In warship size, Britain again takes the lead with the enormous battleships Rodney and Nelson, with a full displacement of 40,000 tons at full load and a speed of 24 knots. Whereas merchant ship tonnages are based on space measurement, warship displacement is actual weight of ship, and as each country has a different basis of measurement, controversy arises as to which owns the largest ships. The Leviathan, when measured by the United States Shipping Board rules, has a tonnage of 61,206. which makes her easily the largest ship in the world; btu if measured by British rules her tonnage is 54,282. The Majestic, of 56.621 tons by British measurement, is thus larger than the Leviathan, and is also nine feet longer and can thus claim with justice to be in fact the world's biggest ship. The world’s biggest warship remains the Hood, of 45,000 tons fully loaded and equipped for sea. This great vessel has achieved a speed of 34 knots in bad weather, though the precise speeds of warships are usually kept secret. The latest type of warship is the 10,000-ton cruiser, built by all the chief maritime Powers on a common basis of 10,000 tons. Most of them are very lightly armoured or not at all, in order to obtain the maximum speed. The Italian ships claim that short bursts have been obtained at 37 knots, compared with 34 knots of the British ships, while the French claim 35 knots. But whereas the French and Italian vessels were designed for the restricted waters of the Mediterranean, the British ships were built to range the world, and though the former may have higher power for short bursts, the British ships have a longer sea endurance and are better protected. In destroyers the French claim 40 knots for their latest craft against the highest British speed of 37. but whereas the French craft were prepared for the trial spells and lightened, the British trials were made under active service sea-going conditions.