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Giant Cunarder Anchor Chain Electric Welded By Capt. J. G. Bisset liner, until now known by her job number of 534, is to be launched on Sept. 26 by Her Majesty, the Queen, and will be named BRITANNIA. Unlike the three mammoth liners, LEVIATHAN, MAJESTIC and BERENGARIA, which carry a stem, or center anchor weighing 14 tons and two bower an- chors weighing 8% tons each, the BRITANNIA will carry only two bower anchors weighing 16 tons each. The main reason for this is that the stem of the BRITANNIA will be of full, round- ed form so that should the cable lead across the stem, it will not be sub- jected to any more of a nip than it would when leading aft from a well de- signed hawse-pipe. In the three ships above mentioned, the stems are sharp and center hawse- pipes are necessary. This meant that the stem anchor was in constant use while the bower anchors were looked upon merely as supplementary. The 16-ton anchors of the BRITANNIA will each have 165 fathoms of cable attached. These cables are being man- ufactured by Samuel Taylor & Sons T=: world’s greatest and fastest Three-inch di- ameter stud link chain cable going through the welding ma- chine at Sam- uel Taylor €& Sons Ltd., Eng- land. When tested to de- struction, broke at 372.9 tons load ® Ltd. of Brierley Hill, Staffordshire, England, under a_ special process known as ‘“‘Tayco.” They are made of 31 to 35 tons ten- Sile steel and will have a total weight of 145 tons. The links are 4% inches in diameter, and each cable will be tested to a tensile strain of 289.4 tons. In addition to this, a three link piece will be taken from each 15-fathom length and tested to the breaking Strain of 405.1 tons. The raw mate- rial (Siemens-Martin steel) for each link takes the form of two forgings, and these together form one link, with a stud that is an integral portion of the link. The links are made with a joint across the middle of the stud, and are forged with this joint sufficiently open for threading. After threading, the joint is closed and the two flat faces thus formed are welded together in an electric forge. Each link can be bent double when cold, without showing signs of fracture. Our illustration shows a three link piece being subjected to a destruc- tion test, and some idea of the perfec- © Destruction test on 44%,-inch diameter stud link chain ca- ble. Fractured at 693.4 tons load. From chain similar to that for “ihe new giant liner Britannia 4 MARINE REVIEW—July, 1934 tion to which electric welding has been brought, is attained from the fact that the cable fractured under a 693.4 tons load, and not in the weld, but in the original solid material. Lloyd’s tensile strain for 4%%-inch diameter hand welded chain cable made from iron, is 206.7 tons, and the breaking strain on a three link sample piece is 289.4 tons. From the foregoing it will be real- ized that the anchoring arrangements of the BRITANNIA will leave nothing to chance, and will, for a season at least, be the most powerful afloat. Cunard-White Star Merger Chairman of the Cunard line, Sir Percy Bates, has been elected chair- man of the board of the newly organ- ized Cunard-White Star Ltd. He has been a member of the board of direc- tors of the Cunard line since 1900. S. J. Lister, general manager and a director of the Cunard line, and A. B. Cauty, general Manager of the White Star line, have been appointed — co- managers of the Cunard-White Star Ltd. Consummation of the merger of the two steamship companies will actual- ly occur July 2, when the activities of the White Star line offices and ships will be transferred to the Cunard of- fices at 25 Broadway, New York, and Piers 53, 54 and 56, North river. Long Distance Towing The tug Susan A. Moran of the Moran Towing & Transportation Co;, 17 Battery place, New York, recently completed another long distance tow- ing job, having brought the huge dredge INDIANA of the Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. from Cristobal, C. Z., to Montreal, a distance of 3771 miles. The tow was made in 31 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes, arriving in Montreal May 30. The INDIANA pro- ceeded from Montreal, through the can- als and lakes, to Detroit. The Susan A. Moran, on her re- turn, will tow the tugs BATHALUM and BAYMEAD from Montreal to New York to be reconditioned. These two tugs will then leave New York under their own power for Vladivostock via the Panama canal and San Francisco, the Soviet government having acquired them from the Ford Motor Co. Arthur M. Tode, national president of the Propeller Club of the United States, announced the formation of the Providence, R. I., Propeller club, on May 21. The officers to serve until July 1, 1935, are as follows: president. Tames F. Moran. Goff & Page Co.; vice presi- dent, Harold J. O’Brien. Standard Oil Co.; secretary, James F. Rawdon, United States steamboat inspection service; and treasurer, John J. Orr. 13