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. . ; ‘ See gee Wy ech Be eee. 28 hoe eee v= oy VaR gigs 5 tale So, oe. Large Lake Steamer Being Sent to Atlantic on Beam Ends 5 inches was the width at the narrow- est lock and it was decided to make the overall width of the ship on her side at the 14-foot water line an even 44 feet. A wooden fender was fitted to protect the thin plating of the pontoons and this was fitted vertical so as to be easily removed and thus provide additional clearance for an emergency. The pontoons were How Great Lakes Yards May Profit HEN the forward end of the steamer CHARLES R. VAN Hise on her beam ends successfully entered the first lock of the Welland canal, it proved conclusively that the restricted lockage accommodations of the canal were not a _ positive barrier to the transporting of large vessel sections to the sea coast. While ships have been cut in two and locked through in two sections, the trip of the forward section of the VAN Hise shows that it is possible to take a comparatively large vessel through the canal with the sections rolled on their beam ends. To rivet the vessel sections to- gether unithout drydocking is an- other plan which will be tested and if successful will strengthen — the ability of Great Lakes’ builders to construct deep-water tonnage. When the vessel is on her beam ends, only a comparatively small section is under water. Thus, it will be an easy matter to float the sections together and rivet the joint for approximately two-thirds of its length. By righting the vessel and careening her until her bilge 1s out of water, the remainder of the 1oint can be readily riveted. The Van Hise is a flush decked vessel which necessitated + building entire pontoons to retain the water used as ballast in the rolling opera- tion. By building well-decked ves- sels, as commonly used on. deep water, the work can be materially lessened as with this design, two sides of a pontoon are already available for use. designed to occupy ape the available deck a space, being omit- ted where the — pow section of the Vessel ship’s superstruc- ture would have reduced their depth or thickness to a point to make them of little value. With the reconstruction well under way, calculations were made _ by Wilbur F. Powers, technical assistant of the shipping board, to determine the methods to be employed to insure the success of the undertaking. The weight and the center of gravity of each section was the most important point to be determined and as it was impossible to wait until the ship was cut in two, it had to be determined by. experiment. Calculations had to be relied on solely. This was done by the laborious process of taking, item by item, in transverse sections, for each 4-foot frame space, for the en- tire length of the ship. Then when it was decided just where the cut was to be made, it was an easy mat- ter to combine the weights belonging to each half. After the weights and position of the center of gravity of each half of the ship had been determined, the weights of each pontoon and its center of gravity was calculated. Then the weights of water, with its center of gravity, which each compartment of the double bottom, wing tank, or pontoon would hold, was determined. Next the displacement, center of buoyancy and metacenter of each half when on its side on an even keel drawing 14 feet of water was found. It was decided to obtain a metacentric height of at least 18 inches when the sections were on their sides. To do this, it was then seen that the center of gravity of the ship would have to be shifted about 6 feet athwartships and raised 4 or 5 feet. The difference between the light weights of each section and its displacement when drawing 14 feet on its side was ap- proximately 1000 tons and this weight had to be applied in such a manner that it would turn the ship exactly 90 degrees and through varying degrees of trim on to an even keel, so to speak, when finally on her side. Hav- . ing certain fixed compartments in the _ ship and pontoons availabie, the propo- sition was simply one of selecting 175 on Her Beam Ends as She Appeared in the Canal Locks those compartments which, when filled with water, would move the combined center of gravity of ship and ballast to as nearly as possible the desired final sosition. How Final Adjustment Was Made The final adjustment, of course, had to be secured by placing a- certain definite amount of fixed ballast in such a position that it would balance all the other weights about a point over the final center of buoyancy. The boilers and engines and all machinery were left in place, in the after section, and in order to make the final adjust- ment in this section, 135. tons of steel punchings were placed next to the shell of the ship, between the frames. It was decided to carry on board all materials which could not be incor- porated into the structure previous to passing through the locks. This in- cluded deck houses, engine and boiler > casings, anchors, anchor chain, bitts, chocks, boat davits, companion lad- ders, stern tube, bushings, propeller blades, stern frame, rudder, winches and windlass, masts and all plates re- moved at the cut. These articles, for the most part, were stowed in No. 1 hold of the forward section and were utilized as the fixed ballast for that section. The final distribution of weights were as follows: Forward After section — section HU = fONS Res eet ee eee 1674 °1578 Machinery; : $09) <-."44.c0% 2.0 terete a 263 Pontoonss*steel; tens 35 os cium se sae 103 146 Fixed ballast and equipment, tons. 151 196 Water in wing tanks, tons....... 130 215 Water in pontoons,. tons......... 464 496 Water in inner bottom, «tons...... 172 Totals weights: TONS: sie c ks acca 2694 2794 Total fixed weight, tons.......... 254 342 Total water ballast, tons........ 766 611 Total added weight, tons....... 1020 953 Draftvon: “side; sfeets 0.24. cee 14 14 After the amount and distribution of the weights necessary to turn each section on to its side and make them stable when in that position was de- termined, it remained to investigate the stability of each section while being rolled. After considering various methods of cross curves, it was de-