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August, 1909 ships are of the armored cruiser class, and with the exception of the Drake have been but recently put into com- TAE Marine Review mission and they thus represent the modern type of British naval construc- tion. The Patent Steamer Monitoria ONSIDERABLE interest has been created in British ship building circles in the launch on july 5 of the "stéamer Monitoria, a new vessel which consti- tutes an innovation in ship building. naval architects up to the present time have all agreed that the greater the wetted surface in the hull of a ship the more difficult the vessel was to drive. The depth of the projections. men- tioned have, it is understood, only been 267 the usual ship ending. In the earlier experiments of the designers, a groove in the side of the vessel was_ tried. Very good results were obtained, but from a commercial standpoint, a groove placed on the outside of the vessel was better, as it was easier of appli- cation, cheaper in practice, whilst there is scarcely any difference in its result- ing efficiency upon the undulating stream lines. The evolution developed, therefore, into the two projections fitted on the Monitoria, which add to the PROFILE The vessel is being constructed by Messrs. Osbourne Graham & Co., Sun- derland, to the order of the Ericsson Shipping Co. and her distinctive fea- ture is that she is built according to the patented design of the Monitor Ship- ping Corporation, Ltd. This design in- cludes a departure from the accepted form of hull to the extent that below her water line on both sides there are two longitudinal projections or swellings: of the shell plating with a slightly hol- lowed groove between them. These corrugations, whilst giving the vessel greater strength and adding to the car- tying capacity, will also, the inventors anticipate, tend to increase the speed of the vessel by at least 10 per cent over the ordinary design of ship, while the other advantages may be summarized as follows: Displacement increased; increased speed with the same dis- placement or less horsepower to give the same speed, although there is more displacement to propel; less coal con- sumption; steadier vessel at sea; rolling teduced; greater strength longitudinally, laterally, and to resist crushing strains; and diminished' wave disturbance. The change, it is claimed, is absolutely con- trary to all theory and book law, for AND Deck PLAN OF PATENT STEAMER MONITORIA. arrived at after many years of careful experiment, and the inventors have found, by testing with models, that the projections on the Monitoria are almost ideal for obtaining arn increase of speed. Curiously enough when the size of the projections was decreased, the tests proved a proportionate decrease in speed. Improvements in ships during the last 30 years have almost exclusively lain in the direction of - modifications to the inside of the vessel in order to gain a better disposition of material and strength. In the case of the Monitoria, however, the innovation is connected with the outside underwater body of the ship, and despite which the in- ventors--the prime mover amongst whom is A. EL. Haver, ML 4. Nos formerly with Messrs. W. Doxford & Sons, Ltd., the patentees of the turret type of steamer--claim that these wave- like projections or corrugations will cause a diminution of resistance. In the new vessel the usual contour of the vessel is altered. The wave-like swellings lie between the load water line and the bilge, and extend along the vessel to about the turn of the bows and quar- ters, where they gradually merge into displacement, the draught being slightly increased, with consequently increased deadweight; but, if normal speed is in- tended, smaller engines can be fitted into the ship which in its turn means less weight and less coal consumption, so that altogether a smaller ship can be got to do the same work required when these Monitor projections are fitted. *Besides, it is claimed that the form of the projections add considerably to the strength of the vessel laterally, vertically and locally. The form, as adoped in the Monitoria, will give nine times more crushing strength against quay walls than. the resistance of a flat plate, and is also of such strong sections that the British Corporation and Lloyd's Registry have both allowed reduced scantlings. The patent cau be applied to old vessels, all that is re- quired being the taking out of three or four strakes of plates and _ replacing these with corrugated plates after the patentee's plans. Patentee has also ar- ranged that any builder may build ves- sels of this type on royalty terms. As Messrs. Osbourne Graham & Co. have built a very large number of similar sized vessels to the Monitoria, but of ordinary form of construction, they