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Baltimore Mail Line Adds Bremen to Schedule Fortnightly service to and from Bremen, in addition to the regular weekly service between the ports of Baltimore, Hampton Roads, Havre, and Hamburg, is provided by a new sailing schedule of the Baltimore Mail Line’s transatlantic fleet of fast pas- senger and cargo ships. This an- nouncement was made on Dec. 2 by Gaillard Ravenel, vice president of the Roosevelt Steamship Co., manager and operator of this line. Decision to offer regular service re- sulted from the response which came from exporters and importers to the irregular service provided for over a year. Under the new schedule, every other ship will call at Bremen west- bound, making a regular fortnightly service. Time of departure, itinerary and time in transit of eastbound ships will remain the same as under the old schedule. Mail liners westbound, scheduled to call at Bremen, will leave Hamburg on Friday night and Bremen on Sat- urday night, and will sail from Havre on Monday instead of Sunday. Ar- rivals at Hampton Roads will be on Wednesdays and arrivals at Baltimore on Thursdays—a day later than for- merly. On alternate weeks the liners which do not call at Bremen will leave Ham- burg on Saturday night, sail from Havre on Monday, arriving at Hamp- ton Roads on Wednesday and at Bal- timore on Thursday, so that all west- bound ships whether they call at Bre- men or not will sail from Havre, Monday. The time in transit will be on the same fast schedule as for- merly. The new sailing schedules will be inaugurated by the City oF BALTIMORE from Baltimore, Dec. 27. This vessel will call at Bremen and will sail from that port Saturday, Jan. 13. There- after a Mail liner will sail from Bre- men every other Saturday. Cunard, White Star Merger Is Now Certain On Dec. 13 Neville Chamberlain, chancellor of the exchequor, speaking in the house of commons, announced that the long looked-for merger of the Cunard and White Star lines in trans- atlantic service is to take place soon. He further stated that the British government will extend the required financial aid for completing the Cun- ard superliner now on the ways at the shipyard of John Brown, Clyde- bank, Scotland. More than £4,000,000, it is estimated, will be needed to com- plete the new vessel, £2,000,000 al- ready having been spent on her. The name of No. 534, the Cunard superliner, it is now said, will be the PRINCESS ELIZABETH. When completed, the PRINCESS ELIZABETH is expected to regain for Britain the blue ribbon of the Atlantic. Both in speed and size, her supremacy, however, will be chal- lenged by the NoRMANDIE. New Bows on Hamburg-American Liners UNIQUE § ship’ construction A job is under way at the ship- yard of Blohm & Vos., Ham- burg. Never before, as far as known, has so huge a program of alterations to existing ships been undertaken. Coming in one at a time, the S. 8. Hampure, S. S. New York, S. 8. DEUTSCHLAND, and S. S. ALBERT BAL- LIN, known as the “Ballin” type steam- ers of the Hamburg-American line, are to have elaborate alterations, includ- ing new bows. In the meantime, the four new bows, aligned in a row, one behind the other, were built in one of the shipyard’s large floating dry docks. Bach ship by having a new bow installed will be lengthened by 39 feet, 4 inches. As a result the fore body of these ships will be very con- siderably fined, with the double ef- fect of improving fuel economy or increasing the speed, and permitting attractive rearrangement and im- provements in passenger accommo- dations. The first of the four ships, the S. S. Hampure went into drydock on October 2, and was scheduled for completion early in December. It is estimated that a period of two months will be necessary for the elongation of each ship. The last of the four, the S. S. New YorK is sched- uled to leave the shipyard early in July, 1934. During the winter of 1929-30 the four ‘‘Ballin”’’ type ships were fitted out with new machinery and boilers increasing their propelling power from 15,000 to 28,000 horsepower. As a result of this increase in pow- 22 er, their average speed was increased from 16 to 19% knots. The purpose of the present reconstruction is to obtain the same average speed with considerably less engine power. That is, instead of using the 28,000 horsepower available, 20,000 horse- power is calculated to be sufficient. This means a substantial saving in the fuel consumption, a most impor- tant item in the economical opera- S. 8S. Hamburg with New Bow MARINE REvIEw—January, 1934 tion of vessels. According to the calculations of the shipyard engi- neers, the saving will be of such or der as to pay for the reconstruction of these ships within a period of about three years. This elaborate program of recon- struction is of great interest to naval architects, marine engineers and shipowners as it represents the prac- tical application of the most recent discoveries regarding hull form, par- ticularly of the. forward end, in its relation to speed and operating cost of the ship. Numerous tests were made by German experts to ascertain the proper form of bow to insure the desired results. To interfere as little as possible with the use of the four ships in serv- ice, the reconstruction period has been made dependent on their sail- ing schedules which provides for weekly sailings. In order to com- plete the operation in the stipulated two months, the following method of construction was followed: Four new bows were built on the keel blocks of the drydock in much the same manner in which an entire ship might be built in a drydock. Each bow is 78 feet, 8 inches high; 82 feet long; and has a weight of ap- proximately 600 tons. When one of the steamers enters the shipyard for the projected altera- tions a portion of the old bow about 72 feet in length and of about 500 tons in weight is cut away and scrapped. All accessories such as machinery, piping, berths, and any other equipment which can be profit- ably used in the new bow are salv-