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MO AR > ORD oO OO ye foe pager oe Diesel Engines | Are Used with Complete Success | 1 Many Classes of Marine Service §}LL foreign maritime countries are keenly alive to the economic importance of adopt- i} ing diesel engine drive for many classes =. of vessels. With motor vessels already representing about 50 per cent of the entire present world construction of shipping it is evident that the diesel engine as motive power for ships has come through its tentative period of questioning and distrust and is now accepted as a proven, suitable and highly efficient type of power for marine propulsion. According to Lloyd’s latest statement the ton- nage of motorships building in Great Britain at the end of September amounted to 54.5 per cent of the steam tonnage then under construc- tion. In other countries such as Sweden and Den- mark 80 to 90 per cent of the total output of new vessels is of the diesel type. Italy will soon have in operation large and sumptuous passenger motor liners in the new SATURNIA and AUGUSTUS. The latter when completed will be the largest and highest powered oil engined vessel afloat. Use Oil Engines in Large Vessels Careful analysis of new ship construction in the United States for the year 1925 shows that near- ly 31 per cent in number of steel vessels about 100 gross tons and over were fitted with diesel direct or diesel electric drive. Percentage in tonnage would, however, fall far below this figure as many of the diesel engine vessels in this list were harbor and bay and river craft. The American steamship owner and operator is in a general way familiar with this condition and he is no doubt giving it serious consideration. There is no way of dodging the issue and at the same time continue to compete for long in any Engine room of the twin screw diesel tanker GULFCREST—13,895 tons 12 deadweight—An American product throughout in design and con- struction of engines and hull—Completed 1926 routes where the diesel engine can show greater efficiency. He must think seriously of dieseliza- tion or take the stand that the trend in this direc- tion so evident all over the world is a mistake and is doomed to failure. In the face of actual experience, over long periods of time, in the suc- cessful operation of hundreds of motorships such a position is not tenable. American Operator Is Conservative Inventiveness, mechanical ingenuity and en- terprise are traits which even foreigners will readily concede to Americans. We pretend to no monopoly of such characteristics but the indus- trial growth of the country surely indicates their presence. And yet there is apparently a certain conservatism in the development and acceptance of the practical possibilities of new ideas. This has been strikingly noticeable in regard to the adoption of the diesel engine for marine propul- sion. Many factors enter into the reasons for this backwardness on the part of a progressive people. The comparative ease with which capital and brains can find employment with a minimum of risk in many remunerative enterprises of a me- chanical nature has tended to discourage their ap- plication with zeal and energy to the improvement of ship propulsion. Competition is of course the greatest incentive in a demand for greater effi- ciency. Due to the small amount of privately owned American tonnage in foreign trade this incentive has not existed to any marked degree. The very considerable merchant marine engaged in the domestic trade has been, and rightly so, protected against foreign competition. Any op- erator in this trade is not particularly interested eS 27) >) AS br PU SN ep AN aaa Shel a oA