"FURIES OF THE NAVY"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 60, 16 August 1940, Page 3

"FURIES OF THE NAVY"

Speed and Strength of British Destroyers British destroyers, deadliest of all sea-craft in hunting U-boats and protecting convoys, are known as the " furies of the fleet." Propelled by engines of 40,000 h.p., they are capable of tremendous speed, cutting the water like a blade. In this article @ British naval officer gives some idea of their power and performance.

Ti Navy's "greyhound" varies in in type and size, the smallest being about 900 tons. But whereas a battleship like H.M.S. Rodney costs £7,600,000 to build, twenty destroyers of the crack Tribal class can be constructed for a like amount. So active is this small type of craft in wartime, however, that an annual expenditure of £60,000 is needed to keep a single destroyer on the job. Her 150 officers and ratings live a more arduous life than those in a capital ship, which may remain at a safe base for weeks at a time. There is always work to be done, and in the event of a full naval action, the destroyer’s duty is to help form a screen for battle squadrons, to scout for hostile craft and attack enemy patrols. Because of the heavy expense of oilfuel, a destroyer seldom proceeds at her full speed of nearly 40 knots--approach-ing fifty miles an hour. But emergencies arise, and I have had the thrill of crossing the North Sea in rough weather in a destroyer racing all out. Let me give an idea what it was like. For an hour I remained on the bridge with the captain. Looking down on the high fo’c’sle-head, I saw the spray from the destroyer’s knife-like cutwater rising like giant ostrich plumes on either bow. When I left the bridge, I went to the low after-deck and paused by the stern rail. Immediately in the wake of the racing destroyer, the threshing screws were raising a hillock of foam so high that it was impossible to see another destroyer in line astern. Stupendous Power To get down below, I had to open a circular steel hatch, and descend a short, perpendicular ladder into a compartment called an air-lock, where two men would have had difficulty in turning round. Reaching up, I closed the rubber-lined hatch and made it fast. Not until this had been done did I dare open a narrow steel door, also lined with rubber, that led on to a grating from which ran a ladder to the bowels of the ship. Once the inner door was shut, it was like being transplanted into another worlda world of heat and thundrous noise. Outwardly, there was nothing sensational in this destroyer’s engine-room-no giant pistons thumping, shafts whirring or wheels revolving eccentrically. I joined the Engineer-Commander and two artificers on the starting platform | in a compartment remarkable for its neatness. Turbine engines of 40,000 horse-power were driving the ship on her homeward course, but this stupendous power could only be sensed. The turbines, with their thousands of steel blades upon which the steam operated, where hidden from view with-

in drum-like casings. Spinning at over 2,000 revolutions a minute, they could scarcely have been seen had the drums been open. But this high speed could not be utilised directly for revolving the propellers, for there is a definite limit to the speed whereby ships’ screws can get a grip on the water for propulsion. Therefore, a system of gears is used to "gear down".this high speed to cause the propeller shafts to revolve seven times less quickly than the turbines themselves. One of the artificers stood alertly at the control wheels, ready to respond immediately to any signal from the bridge conveyed by the engine-room telegraph. The speed of the ship could be regulated quickly by a mere twist of these wheels. . Her tremendous engine-power makes the destroyer about the handiest craft on the seas. With the propellers reversed, she can pull up dead within a few chain-lengths; she can thresh up from slow to full speed in a minute and a-half. This destroyer, like all modern warships, was an oil burner, and these modern stokers wore natty overalls-and gloves. Oil on Roaring Fires In an atmosphere of oily smell, the overalled stokers stood by the furnace valves whilst constant watch was kept on gauges and indicators. The destroyer carried 500 tons of oilfuel at full capacity--and 7 tons of drinking water, some of which was used for brewing the numerous cups of tea preferred by the stokers to either grog or limejuice. The oil was fed to the furnaces through pipes controlled by valves, and was pre-heated to a temperature of 180 degrees-before being sprayed in the form of vapour on to the furnace fires. The air was compressed below, owing to the tremendous draught caused by the swiftly rotating fans, for the furnaces needed ample air besides oil-fuel. It was on account of this that everyone had to take similar precautions to my own when coming down through the airlock from the open deck. One rubber lined hatch must always be closed. If both were opened at the same time the escaping air from the enclosed stokehold would cause the flames to leap outward from the furnaces, to the injury or death of the stokers. These roaring fires boiled the water in three boilers, each fitted with nearly 3,000 tubes. The steam formed was then super-heated to nearly 700 degrees to form an invisible vapour. It was this vapour that operated directly upon the thousands of turbine blades to give the propulsive power to the ship. _ A destroyer’s speed is useful in launching lightning attacks on hostile craft and

for her own defence. She has no special armour to resist high-explosive shells, but relies on speed and manoeuvring to escape shellfire and torpedo attack. For U-boat hunting, the destroyer is the deadliest vessel that patrols the seas. She is the light-weight with the big punch. Her punch can be delivered by her 4.7-inch guns, of which she may carry four, six or eight, or by the battery of torpedo-tubes (from four to ten in number), or from the depth-charge throwers. She has one other method of attacka lightning dash through the sea to ram the U-boat before she can crash-dive. The sharp prow of a destroyer will cut through the thin plating of a submarine like a knife through soft tin. Usually her torpedoes-they cost over £2,000 each-are reserved for bigger game. A-cheaper and equally effective method of attack on a U-boat is by the depth-charge.