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i4 MARINE REVIEW Samer OTK fetid service--a repair ship and a distilling ship. The former is one phase of the modern method of treating large work by taking the tool to the work instead of bringing the work to the tool. The Vulcan was the equal of anything except a very large repair yard, and after the battle of San- tiago she was almost invaluable in the much needed general overhaul of all the ships. Besides an admirable outfit of machine tools and engineer- ing stores, the Vulcan was specially notable for using the first cupola ever installed on board ship. The distilling ship was fitted with a four- unit, triple-effect distilling apparatus capable of furnishing 50,000 gallons of fresh water per diem after use for some time with an economy of over twenty pounds of water per pound of coal burned under the boilers. With clean coils the Iris actually furnished over 100,000 gallons per diem. The bunker capacity is 3,000 tons of coal, thus giving a potential capacity of distilled water of 60,000 tons, or as much as twelve of the largest tank steamers. The advantages of a distilling ship over a "tanker" are very numerous and obvious. The war with Spain was too short to give a chance for great experience in any line, but the work of the Oregon stands out as a brilliant illustration of the fact that the modern battle- ship is not only the creature of the engineer, but is absolutely dependent ' upon him for success. You all know the story of Milligan's work as the chief engineer of the Oregon; of his ceaseless vigilance to keep everything in order and prevent any deterioration; of how he saved the good coal for the day of battle which finally came (though he was told it never could come), and, above all, how he persuaded Clark, the commanding officer, to have all the boilers ready all the time, although others had steam on only half the boilers and, where it could be done, half the engine power. was laid off. JI am firmly convinced that the brilliancy of the victory at Santiago is largely due to Milligan's skill and foresight, and, as I said, this case is direct proof that however ad- mirable as a great fighting machine, the battleship is useless except in the hands of trained engineers. During the last fifteen years naval engineering has shared in the general progress of all marine engineering, and has led in many respects. Wrought iron, which was formerly the mainstay of the designer, has practically disappeared, to be succeeded 'by mild steel, which is not only stronger but much more reliable, and the manufacture and inspection of which has been brought almost to perfection. There is little doubt that the great improvements which have been made in both engines and boilers would have been impossible but for the greatly improved material. One of the greatest improvements has been in the reduction of weight of machinery, and this has 'been due both to improved material and to radical changes in design. In the engine there has been a better dispo- sition of the material; and the use of hollow instead of solid shafting and other large pieces of forged material, the use of steel castings, etc., has been instrumental in enabling the use of higher pressures, and par- ticularly of higher rotative speeds. These rotative speeds have become possible since we have learned to design the propellers on rational prin- ciples. In the old days, as you are well aware, the rule was to make a propeller as large as possible, consistent with immersion, and this, on account of the empirical rules for the ratio of pitch to diameter, neces- sarily kept down engine speeds. Now we know that within reasonable limits we can design a propeller to suit almost any engine speed; conse- quently, we are left free to adopt as high a rotative speed as is desirable and consistent with safety, assured that we can afterward design an: eco- nomical propeller to fit it. In the boilers, the reduction of weight has been due, apart from the more recent opinion of the water tube type, to improved material, and especially to forced draft. This, as you are doubtless aware, is an Ameri- can invention almost contemporaneous with Fulton's: early steamers: but it had almost disappeared, and after a brief revival under Isherwood during the civil war, had again died out until it was taken up in some of the foreign navies. At the present time no naval machinery is ever de- signed without the use of forced draft. Pressures have been gradually rising, and even with shell boilers as high a pressure as 200 pounds has been employed; but with the present plans of using 250 pounds at the engine, with either triple or quadruple expansion, and some 25-or 50 pounds more at the boilers, nothing but the water tube boiler would do. At the present time it seems as though we had practically reached the highest development possible: with existing types of machinery for naval purposes, leaving the designer room only for greater perfection in details. We do not. of course, believe that finality has actually been reached, and it is possible that some radical change may take place which will give us a new type of machinery. Some of the more enthusiastic members of the profession think that the steam turbine is to: be the suc- cessor of the present steam engine, and assuredly the performance of Parsons' Turbina is sufficiently remarkable to justify the most careful study and further experiment. It is very interesting in this connection to know that in this country the development of the steam turbine is in the hands of one of our famous engineers, who is also one of the honorary members of this society--Mr. George Westinghouse. He has been developing the steam turbine with special reference to its use in driving electric generators, and some of the results already obtained are very remarkable. With his.characteristic energy and courage, he is not satisfied with results on a small scale, but is now getting out a steam turbine to develop about 2,000 horse power on a single shaft, and when this has been built and thoroughly tested we shall be in a position to: ap- preciate more thoroughly the bearing of this form of prime mover on naval engineering. rf ; See - Rear Admiral Melville's paper concludes with a summary: of matters pertaining to the navy personnel bill that is not new to readers of the Review. He says finally: "A natural inquiry. will be, how successful is this measure (personnel bill) in actual practice? .To this the answer is that any such change must, of necessity, require time, and it is too. early yet to speak: of 'results. ..I wish, however, to put on record my opinion that if the' administrative details necessary to. carry the law into effect are worked out with an honest desire to give due effect to its plain in- tent, and with a desire to make it a success, the results will be all that can be wished, and we shall have the most efficient navy in the world. If, through any unfortunate combination of circumstances, 'which, how- ever, I can hardly 'believe' possible, there should 'be any temporary in- | December 14, difference or opposition on the part of those in authority, the result can only be lack of efficiency and disaster in case of war until the intent of the personnel board and congress is put into working effect. It may occur to some who have only looked into the matter hastily that this scheme of amalgamation is contrary to the spirit of the age, with its tendency toward specialization; but, as an actual fact, the reverse is true. The misapprehension comes from a failure to thoroughly consider the case. When it is proposed to make every naval officer an engineer, we mean an engineer specially fitted for the work to be done in the navy. just as the other training of the line officer is for the duties which come specially to him; in other words, this new line officer--the fighting engineer--is to be a specialist in the very best sense of the term; that is, a man who has been specially and thoroughly trained for the work he has to do. In the past, engineering has been hampered at times in our navy on account of the subordinate position which its representatives held in the naval organization; but in the future, as the whole body of naval officers will be engineers, we have every reason to anticipate an era of progress and efficiency greater than has ever been known in the his- tory of navies. We of the old school have lived to see our fondest hopes realized in the proper recognition of our beloved profession 'before we have actually ceased to participate in its active work. We linger with jond memory over our trials and discouragements, as well as our suc- cesses, and we may, perhaps, realize that some of our successes have been due to the stimulus of opposition; nevertheless, it does not make for success that when one is honestly doing his best work he should feel that much of it may be in vain on account of senseless opposition and failure on the part of those in high places to appreciate it; and as we older men leave the scene of action and pass on our work to the younger generation, we can congratulate them heartily on starting out under cir- cumstances which are so infinitely better than those of our time, and which give them so much greater opportunity for highly efficient work for the republic." NO TIMBER DRY DOCKS. STRONG ARGUMENTS AGAINST THEM ARE AGAJN MADE IN THE ANNUAL REPORT OF REAR-ADMIRAL ENDIOOTT, CHIEF OF THE NAVY BUREAU OF YARDS AND DOCKS--SUPPORTED BY THE SEORETARY OF THE NAVY. Wasnineton Bureau, Marine Review, 1845 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, WasHinGton, D. C., DECEMBER 13, 1899. As might have been expected, the annual report of Rear Admiral Endicott, chief of the bureau of yards and docks, navy department, which has been forcibly endorsed by the secretary of the navy, makes an urgent plea for the additional appropriation necessary to have all four of the large graving docks now under contract constructed of masonry. It will be remembered that the last congress, in addition to providing for a float- ing dock at Algiers, La., provided also for masonry dry docks at Boston and Portsmouth; but for Mare Island, Cal., and League Island (Philadel- phia), the act specified timber docks. The department has made contracts ior these timber docks with the Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Co. at a cost of a little more than $1,500,000 for the two, but still hopes that congress will give authority to modify the contracts so as to build them of concrete and stone. The Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific Co., the members of which have had several years experience and have done creditable work for the government hitherto, was organized under its present name about cighteen months ago, shortly before it received the contract for the Mare Island dock. Mr. George W. Catt is the president of the company and Mr. H. S. Wood its secretary and treasurer. Its offices are in the World building, New York; No. 42 Market street, San Francisco and Marquette building, Chicago. The navy. department regards its equipment for dredging, for the construction of canals and for land reclamation, as well as for the building of piers, docks and foundations of bridges, very com- plete indeed. In support of the proposed change of contract, Rear Ad- miral Endicott says: "This recommendation is made because docks constructed of masonry are more substantial, safer, and more permanent than those constructed of wood, and further because, while the first cost of such docks is greater than that of docks constructed of timber, they are much cheaper and more economical in the end. While these propositions may have been regarded in the past by many minds as theories, they are fully established by the experience of the navy department at the present time. When the govern- ment contemplated entering upon the construction of dry docks for the navy in the early part of this century, congress provided that the secre- tary of the navy should call in to his aid some skillful engineer to locate and design the dry docks to be authorized. No attempt was made to' re- strict the department in the quality or character of these structures or in their location, but these were left to be such as the secretary of the navy, with the assistance of expert advice, should determine to be for the best interests.of the service. Under the, authority conferred, the department ca'led in an eminent civil engineer, Col. Loammi Baldwin of Boston, first as designer and then as constructing engineer, and the result was the con- struction of two masonry graving docks, one at Boston and one at Nor- folk, which are classed with the finest examples of work of their kind in this or any other country. These two docks are in service in the navy today, after a period of sixty-five years, in good, substantial condition, with almost an insignificant cost for repairs upon the dry dock structure proper since their completion in consideration of the long time they have been in service. "The first of the large timber dry docks that have caused us so much trouble was completed in 1889, the last one in 1898, and while the service has extended over only a few years, the experience has been such as to demonstrate conclusively that timber graving dry docks of the capacity required by the navy are really expensive temporary structures, unreliable and unsafe. In urging in favor of the timber dry dock its smaller relative cost, it has almost 'invariably been based upon the difference of cost be- tween a timber dry dock built by contract and either the New York or Mare Island stone dry dock, which latter were built by days' labor, the