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What the British Are Doing PEAKING at the annual meeting of Cammell Laird & Co. Ltd. Chairman W. L. Hichens, said the Birkenhead shipbuilding yard was far more efficient today than ever before and challenged comparison with any other yard in the country. They were doing work of great importance to Merseyside and they demonstrated they could build ships as economically and efficiently as any other in the United Kingdom. The_ shipbuilding outlook was not at all good. General trading was depresed and everyone in the basic industries was experi- encing a difficult uphill struggle. It was well known that the capacity of British shipyards was largely in ex- cess of the present and indeed of any probable demand with the result that competition was very keen and prices had been cut to a very fine point. The Birkenhead shipyard had been well employed during the last year and al- though the actual tonnage launched was less than in 1928 the volume of work done was greater. * * e ARLAND & WOLFF have launched at Belfast the motor liner WARWICK CASTLE for the South African service of the Union Castle Mail Steamship Co. The new vessel has a tonnage of 20,500 tons and her 650 = feet, dimensions are: length breadth 75 feet, depth 44% feet. She has a cruiser stern and two low fun- nels. Luxurious accommodation is provided for 760 first, second and third class passengers. The propelling machinery consists of two 8-cylinder double acting 4-stroke engines of the Harland B. & W. type. * * * + SE eee on the Clyde has received a setback within the last month, only one comparatively small contract being announced. It is there- fore inevitable, unless there is an early improvement in shipping, that the yards will experience a slack time during the summer and _ autumn. There were launched in Scotland in April, 80 vessels of approximately 35,000 tons, and it was lower than any previous month this year. The total for the four months was 62 ves- sels as compared with 64 in the cor- responding period of last year and 76 in the best corresponding period on record. Other parts of the coun- try are in the same position as the Clyde and shipbuilders in all areas are finding difficulty in obtaining work. ‘ % * * HE Prince of Wales, just home from his South African tour, has consented to launch the Canadian Pa- cific new giant express Atlantic liner 46 MARINE REVIEW—June, 1930 EMPRESS OF BRITAIN at Glasgow on June 11. The vessel is being built by John Brown & Co. Ltd., Clyde- bank, the order having been placed by the Canadian Pacific railway to- ward the end of 1927. When she is put into commission next year she will be one of the world’s largest vessels and the most up-to-date ex- pression of Britain’s shipbuilding in- dustry. At the same time ske is the’ largest steamer yet built for the Canadian service. She is 755 feet long, 97% feet broad and 42,000 tons gross. A UNIQUE - ship _ reconstruction and re-fitment job costing over £100,000 has been carried out at Palmers yard, Hebburn-on-Tyne. The ship is the Anglo-American Oil Co.’s 12,000-ton CADILLAC, one of the larg- est tankers afloat which instead of being laid up for repairs which would have taken at least four months, has been cut clean in three and a new midships section, built while the ves- sel was still in commission at sea, has been inserted between the orig- inal bow and stern sections, the whole operation being estimated to take about seven weeks. The operation of cutting the vessel in three toek only a fortnight. The new mid portion is over 300 feet long. x * * Welded Steel Gear Case on Dredge New Jersey Ae boiler horsepower geared turbine drive, in which the first all welded steel gear case was used, has been installed on the American Dredging Co.’s dredge NEW JERSEY by the West- inghouse Electric & Mfg. Co. Be- cause the all-welded construction provides a lighter and stronger gear case, it has become standard practice for dredge installations. The first all-welded gear case as installed on the New JERSEY is shown in the accompanying il- lustration.