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THE Marine REVIEW --_----- H. M. S. Darinc, tHE First Boat Whornycroft played a conspicuous part, for in 1886 there was built at Chiswick the first vessel to attain a speed Of over 27 knots (31.125 miles) per hour. This was the de- stroyer "'Ariete," which went through the Spanish-American war, and which Bessel is still in service: It was .a two-funneled boat, 148 ft. 3 in. in icgetn by 14 it, 6.in,. beam, and .a draught of 5 ft. and was conspicuous for the rounded forward deck which has since proved a feature of vessels ef this. class. During the next few years efforts were made to secure still greater speed, which attempts were assisted by the invention of forced draft, which was evolved by Sir John Thornycroft, and in 1894, Messrs. Yarrow & Co. produced a new tor- pedo boat: destroyer for the British navy which attained a speed of 28 knots (32.278 miles) per hour. A few days later the "Daring," which was the first of five similar boats which were under construction at Chiswick for the British navy, eclipsed this achievement by notch- ing an extra knot, the speed on the measured mile against the tide being 29.268 knots (34.72 miles) per hour. Ie Dating" was 185 tt. in length, with a beam of 19 ft., and a draught of 7. ft, the oe being 260 tons, 'This cratt. was 'notable for many improvements, In the first place, the Thornycroft water-tube boiler was employed for raising steam, there being a battery of three in- To ATTAIN A SPEED OF 28 KNOTS. stalled and capable of raising steam to 210 lbs. per sq. in. pressure from cold water within the space of 15 minutes. The engines too were bal- anced upon a system that the builders, as a result of their investigation and experiment, had found to minimize vibration, the eight cylinders ar- ranged in pairs driving cranks set at 180 deg., so that the inertia stresses were. self contained. Ihe engines were Of the triple expansion type, indicating from 4,700 to 44,800 horse- power, driving twin screws, and the beneficial effects of the balancing system adopted were strikingly em- phasized when traveling at-full Speed, there being but little vibration e ceptible: Another innovation -- proved highly successful was 4 corporation of double rudders where- by the maneuvering capacity of. the boat at the highest speeds was con- siderably increased. together with the patent apparatus for rapid Steering when running astern. Another very noticeable improvye- ment was the absence of any bow. or stern wave. owing to the fine lines of the vessel's hull. The wake showed the spinning effect of the propellers very clearly without any upheaval, the wake being as flat at the maxi- mum as at half speed. This happy result was due to the Thornycroft design of stern, which has always 'constituted one of the most promi- nent. features of this fast class of craft with which they have been identified. The stern is of full mid- ship breadth immediately above the water-line, and forms. a chamber 'drawing a few inches of water, thus completely immersing the propellers though at the same time enabling them to work near the water's sur- face without splashing or any loss of power through racing. The ves- sel had bunker capacity for 60 tons of coal which was sufficient for a radius of 3,000 miles at a cruising speed of 10 knots. Her armament comprised one 12-pounder, three 6- pounder guns, and two torpedo tubes. In®the years 1895 and 1896, further speed records were achieved by the "Boxer" and "Desperate" respectively. The success of the water-tube boilers Torpepo Boat Destroyer Boxer Wirn Bruiser ASTERN, First OVER SPEED OF to ATTAIN A 30AT 29 Knots.