UNSINKABLE SHIPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 August 1939, Page 6

UNSINKABLE SHIPS

BRITAIN’S NEW CARGO VESSELS TRYING OUT EXPERIMENT. BRITISH VESSELS SAFEST IN THE WORLD. British cargo ships of the future are to be made the safest in the world. They will be unsinkable. Proposals being put forward in shipbuilding circles will have far-reaching effects on the safety of all vessels flying the Red Ensign. They could be adopted on most of the cargo vessels to be built and put into commission next year, writes a “Reynolds News” correspondent. The safety principles to be applied are so simple that many experts with whom I have discussed new ideas of design are unanimous in their approval and have expressed the opinion that it is surprising that they have not been adopted long before. At the moment most of our cargo ships are built in watertight sections called bulkheads^—big steel walls which extend from the bottom of the ship to the main deck. It is now thought that if these bulkheads are carried to the deck above, the result will be a ship which will remain afloat no matter what happens. SAFETY COMPARTMENTS. Such an extension of the bulkheads will give bigger safety compartments. Even if two of these compartments were flooded through collision or some other cause the vessel would still remain afloat. It would even remain afloat after extensive damage caused through aerial bombs or mines. These larger compartments would also afford greater protection against the most feared terror of the sea-fire.

Our present tonnage laws encourage the building of cargo ships of a type which are especially easy to sink. These laws provide that the ’tween deck of a ship is exempt from measurement, and hence from the payment of dues. This has naturally encouraged the building of ships with ’tween decks open from end to end so as to provide ■ the maximum loading space. There are over 2,000,000 tons of these vessels at present in service. The lack of extensive watertight bulkheads in the ’tween decks means that these ships have no reserve buoyancy. Future designs of longer bulkheads will modify this serious fault. As our ships are at present designed the collapse of even one bulkhead might mean the total loss of a vessel. Yet, after all these years, a vessel is only now being built which embodies these latest safety proposals. EXPERIMENTAL VESSELS. This experimental vessel is the 11.000-ton, 17-knot cargo motor liner Suffolk, which will go into the New Zealand trade. She has just been launched. Her performances will be watched with the closest interest by shipbuilders all over the world. Shipowners will have no excuse in not embodying these safety proposals in vessels which they order in future, for it is estimated that the cost will be small in comparison with the advantages to be obtained. Shipbuilding experts have found that the additional steel weight involved, in an average sized cargo ship witli these safety proposals would be about 20 tons, and this could be worked into lhe structure of a new vessel. I am able to reveal, however, that some owners have already appreciated the advantages of these proposals and are altering the design of the vessels they have under construction to have them embodied before their vessels are launched. INSIGNIFICANT OUTLAY. A shipbuilder explained to mo this week that the small expenditure on capital cost of the proposed alterations, taken in terms of depreciation and interest over eaclt voyage could be regarded as an insurance premium involving an outlay which was insignificant when compared to the extraordinary safety which would be added to future ships. “It is to be hoped,” he said, “that shipowners and marine superintendents will readily acknowledge the vast improvement in the safety of vessels, and particularly their crews, as well as in the security of cargoes. "Seamen will no longer go in fear of being trapped in sinking vessels, and owners will benefit from lower insurance premiums which will naturally be offered by marine underwriters."