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Marine Electrical Progress During the Past Year By H. C. Coleman ing activity during the year 1933 we see a marked change in the trends as compared with those of the past few years. During 1930, 1931 and most of 1932, the greater part of our shipbuilding facilities were kept busy with the construction of a con- siderable number of large combina- tion passenger and cargo vessels con- structed with the help of government loans made available by the Jones- White merchant marine act of 1928 in connection with mail contracts, as well as an appreciable number of smaller craft for coastwise, river and harbor work. A relatively small portion of the country’s shipbuilding capacity was being used for naval construction. In the latter part of 1932 and the first half of 1933, the shipyards delivered the remainder of the large vessels con- tracted for under the merchant ma- rine act. In the same period, there was a distinct falling off of orders for small craft. This left the shipyards with very little work in hand. [ OOKING back over the shipbuild- The New Naval Program The launching of the new naval building program by the new admin- istration has changed the entire ship- building trend during the last six months of 1933 from one of mainly merchant marine construction to one of predominantly naval and other government vessels. Thus, the govern- ment building program has brought forth a great deal of activity in the shipbuilding and marine equipment field at a time when it was badly needed because of the great reduction in commercial shipbuilding activity. The last one of the large combina- tion passenger and cargo vessels built under the mail contract provisions, the S. S. WASHINGTON, was delivered to her owner the United States lines early in May, and sailed on her maiden voyage May 10, 1933. While this ves- sel is a sister ship of the S. S. MAn- HATTAN which has made such an en- viable record during the past year, a review of some of the electrical fea- tures of this outstanding American vessel seems fitting. Electrical power is utilized throughout the vessel for all sorts of operations and services. For supplying the power there are four 500-kilowatt, 250-volt, Westinghouse direct current turbine generator sets. A 75-kilowatt diesel driven generator The author of this article, H. C. Cole- man, is an engineer on the staff of the marine electrical engineering depart- ment, Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co., Pittsburgh. and a 200-ampere capacity battery are provided to supply power in an emer- gency in case of failure of the main auxiliary power plant. An indication of the extensive use of electrical power may be gained from the fact that this ship carries, exclusive of stateroom fans, more than 250 electric motors with a total horsepower of about 3600, most of which were furnished by the Westinghouse company. Two Pipeline Dredges During 1933 two new self-propelled pipeline dredges, the SAINTE GENEVIEVE and the GRAFTON, were delivered by the builder, the Dravo Contracting Co., Pittsburgh, to the United States engineer corps for service on inland waterways. Power for operation of these dredges is furnished by oil-fired steam boilers. Electric drive is used for the main dredging plant as well as for most of the auxiliaries. The dredging power plant consists of a 1200-kilowatt direct current type geared turbine generator set compris- ing a 1000-kilowatt, 250-volt main gen- erator and a 200-kilowatt, 250-volt aux- iliary unit. In addition, there are pro- vided two 75-kilowatt, steam turbine driven generators for sunplying small auxiliaries as well as a 15-kilowatt and a 2-kilowatt unit for standby use. The 20-inch dredge pump is driven by a 1200 horsepower Westinghouse motor which is fed from the 1000-kilowatt generator and designed to deliver its full horsepower rating at any speed between 200 and 250 revolutions per minute. The most interesting feature of this installation is the special control of the dredge pump and its generator. By a special combination in the gen- erator field design, characteristics are provided such as to cause the pump motor to inherently deliver additional power when a plug attempts to form in the discharge line. Thus, the ma- chinery provides for automatically clearing the discharge line under such conditions and restoring normal op- eration as soon as the difficulty is over- come, without any attention or adjust- ment by the operator. The 200-kilowatt generator supplies power to the 225 horsepower cutter motor, and is endowed with charac- teristics similar to those described for the main generator which feeds the pump motor, so as to limit the maxi- mum torque which can be applied to the cutter machinery. These dredges are similar in con- struction to the dredge DuNpEE, which MarRINE Review—January, 1934 was delivered in 1932, except that the pumping capacity is somewhat greater and electrically driven cutters are used instead of the dust pan type of suction head. The increased naval building pro- gram has resulted in considerable de- velopment along electrical lines for naval vessels of all kinds. Most im- portant in this development has been the utilization and application of al- ternating current equipment to a far greater extent than has ever been at- tempted before. Because of very stringent weight and space limitations, remarkable progress has been made by the use of structural materials, welding, and aluminum castings in reducing weight and in obtaining the maximum rating in surprisingly small space allotments. Research work and more scientific use of improved materials have made possible surprising accomplishments, particularly in connection with aux- iliary generators and _ switchboard equipment. Likewise, a great deal of development work has béen carried out in the application of alternating current motors and control for the various auxiliary requirements on naval vessels. These developments have brought forth many interesting problems and results indicate that the use of alternating current auxiliary machinery will be greatly extended not only in the navy, but in the mer- chant marine in the near future. Prospects for Merchant Work Looking forward to the year 1934, indications are that, during the first half of the year at least, our major efforts will be required in connection with the large number of vessels to be built for the navy and the coast guard. With the general improvement of business and shipping, it is to be expected that orders will be placed for modern cargo vessels. (Continued from Page 21) he was succeeded by Capt. Roger Wil- liams who had been operating mana- ger of the International Mercantile Marine Co. : At the time of his death Mr. Palen was vice president and a-director of the Newport News Land. Corp., an associate member of the American Society of Naval Engineers, past vice president of the National Council of American Shipbuilders, and a mem- ber of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and the Ameri- can Bureau of Shipping. Among his clubs were the Bankers’ and Engi- neers’ clubs, New York, West More- land club, Richmond, Va., and the Delta Upsilon fraternity. Surviving him are his wife, the former Miss Lina Livingston Mayo of Richmond, Va.; a son, Frederick P. Palen Jr., New York; a sister, Mrs. Sidney Woods, Ithaca, N, Y.; and a brother, L. S. Palen who lives in France. 29