LAST WORD IN SHIPS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 115, 4 November 1911, Page 2 (Supplement)

LAST WORD IN SHIPS.

I'lIK CKI-i.YiAX iJM-i! [.Mi'KIiATOII. Hcrr liallin, the director-general of the llambnrg-Aincrika line, is responsible fov I he remarkable growth and rapid development of tlm con.slnicOou and organisation of ocean-going liners in Germany, llerr Jiallin is a man who has the exceptional facility of seeing years ahead and making his plans accordingly. It was due to the foresight of llerr' liallin that (lermany held the blue riband of the North Atlantic, for eight years, when the Deutschland was the fastest vessel crossing between Europe and America. It is not usually known, however, that llerr liallin decided within a year of Ihe completion of the Deulselila'nd (hat he would never build a really fast steamer again, lie has kept his word, and with llie exception of the Cnnard line, it may lie said that every steamship company has followed his example. Kor they have decided to design their vessels with more consideration for the size of the vessel and the comfort of the passengers than for speed. The Iniperator, the mammoth liner now in course of construction at the Vnlkan shipbuilding van] at Hamburg shows that the policy of the HamburgAmerika line has not changed, and, as the London representative of the company explained to a representative of an American journal, the Imperator will be the last word in shipbuilding. This great vessel will enter the North Atlantic service in the spring of 1913, and it is expected that her sister ship will be completed and ready for service in August of the same year. Competition in shipbuilding is as keen as in other industries, and it i.s because of this that the Ham-lmrg-Amerika Company consider it advisable to withhold certain details from publication. ft may be said, however, that the length of the Imperator will most certainly be 881 feet or more and | her beam 96 'feet, with a tonnage of at I least 50,000. The magnitude of this vessel will perhaps be better realised when it is stated that she will be capable of carrying 6000 persons. With regard to the engines, they will be Parsons' turbines, developing 70,000 horse-power, or about 30,000 horse-power more than is developed by the engines of the Olympic. This vessel and her sister ship will also be fitted with Fram's anti-rolling tanks, which ,it is said, will prevent the vessel rolling more than two degrees in any weather. That the Imperator will he fitted out in a most luxurious manner goes without saying. There will be no fewer than nine decks along which passengers will be able to walk, and it is therefore hardly surprising that the vessel as she at present appears on the stocks at Hamburg should be likened to an 11-storied skyscraper in course of construction.

It is but ten years ago since the Dcutchland entered the trans-Atlantic service, but she is small when compared with this latest production of the Vulkan yard. The length of the Imperator, if taken as 881 feet, is equal to the height of St. Paul's Cathedral, the Westminster clock tower and the monument all added together, and there is no doubt that the Imperator will make good the claim that she will not only be the largest, but the most comfortable vessel afloat.

As regards the price of cabins, which in the first-class will be supplied with beds instead of bunks, it will be the same as on the Mauretania, the Oceanic and others; these prices are, of course, fixed by the combine. The energy and foresight of Herr Ballin could not be better illustrated than by the fact that the company of which he is director-general was the first to carry out systematic experiments with the internal combustion engine for propelling large vessels. For some years the Hamburg-Amerika line have carried out numerous trials with a vessel fitted with these engines, with the result that they laid down two ships using oil fuel of 9000 tons each. These vessels, which will be used for carrying cargo, will be propelled by two 1500-horse-power Diesel engines, the largest internal combustion engines every built. If successful, the present method of propulsion will be entirely revolutionised, and so confident is Herr Ballin of success that large contracts have already been made for the supply of oil. It would certainly appear, judging from the success that has attended Her Ballin's previous undertakings, that the internal combustion engine has come to stay, and if proved successful for transport of cargo, there is nothing to prevent the employment of vessels fitted with this method of propulsion for passenger service.