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Improvements in Marine Engineering Older Shios Unable to Meet Competition By D. W. Niven* ness profitably on a reduced vol- ume basis has confronted the ship- owner, shipbuilder, and manufacturer of marine machinery during the past year. It has been a year of question- ing as to what is sound and what unsound—of true values, and of false hopes. In reviewing the material ad- vancements, it is noticeable that the projects completed have been those started during the previous year. Very little outstanding new business has been booked, and plans of a construc- tive nature which have been made for the future, have been temporarily set aside, to await the return of normal times. A survey of marine transportation, in general, shows its needs and short- comings to be greater than ever be- fore, with the gap between the new and the old widening with each year of inaction. Both the obsolete and idle tonnage, for which no useful pur- pose has been found, has acted as a deterrent to the building of the new ships required to keep the fleets mod- ern, and to the repair of the old to keep them seaworthy. These relics of the past are held on to with the hope that a return to old conditions will bring rich rewards. That evolu- tion will slip a few cogs and turn backward to catch up with the old, rather than advance to keep pace with the new seems doubtful. A large part of the future problem lies in the dis- posal of this obsolete tonnage so that the decks may be cleared for future action and advancement. Tes problem of conducting a busi- Higher Speed, Better Service New ship types are slowly rising above the wreckage of the past. The tramp freight ship is passing out of the picture and one might reasonably ask if such vessels were not simply a phase in the evolution of shipping. The slow line freight ship is also finding its field more restricted. Both types are being superseded by the all- service type of ship of much higher speed. Ships of the latter type that can accommodate passengers and transport both freight and refrigerated cargo have the better opportunity for survival, because of their broader field of activity. The strictly passenger liner en- compasses a very small field and each year sees the increasing difficulty of operating such vessels on one given *The author, D. W. Niven, is man- ager, Federal & Marine Department, General Electric Co. SURVEY of recent con- struction makes it apparent that the newer engineering has but scratched the surface. Mate- rial progress in the aggregate has not kept pace with the sound economic engineering practices already established, nor has there been that forward looking tend- ency from all sides that one might so readily expect. Paying for modernization without getting it is a costly procedure, and ships that are built without taking ad- vantage of the best that the present has to offer are outmoded before their completion. It may be said that greater care must be exercised on the part of ship- owners than ever before if they are to build that which is lasting, for the gap between the new and the old is becoming wider with every improvement. The Author Pere een ed MARINE REvIEw—January, 1933 trade route throughout the seasons. The fact that such ships are com- pelled to engage in week-end excursion trips and short yachting cruises shows that they are going through a process of evolution to conform to artificially created demands. What type of shir will eventually be evolved to take care of these altogether different activities is not certain. There is encouragement in the fu- ture, if one looks at the magnitude of the job ahead. Many new all-serv- ice ships will be required in the im- mediate future to replace tonnage that has been outmoded by time. Recon- ditioning of ships to fulfill a larger measure of service and for higher speeds must soon be undertaken if they are to remain competitive. Re- newals and repairs must be under- taken on our harbor, coastwise and inland waterway craft, which are now several years behind in such matters. Except for the modern ships, which have been launched during the past five years, the upbuilding of our mer- chant marine must be started anew. Our war-time-built tonnage, upon which we have placed almost com- plete dependance in the past, is no longer capable of standing alone in the field of open competition. Engi- neering has advanced at too rapid a pace to permit this. Advance in Marine Engineering Reviewing the field of marine en- gineering, a continuous advancement can be noted. Propelling equipment has attained new heights of effi- ciency. High steam pressures and temperatures are coming into wider use. <A better co-ordination exists between the main and_ auxiliary equipments, and more attention is be- ing given to heat balance and the avoidance of waste. Regenerative cycles are being included in new in- stallation work, either in the form of series feed water heating by the extraction method, or, by the salvage of the low-head heat in the stack gases by means of air preheaters or economizers. There has also been a definite trend towards the more com- plete use of electric auxiliaries, and the generation of auxiliary power by the main propelling machinery where the type of drive makes this permis- sible. Electric welding has continued to advance and both the technique and method of application have shown constant improvement. A further increase in its uses for purposes of weight reduction and strengthening of 1?