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40 fast Atlantic vessel afloat and to in- troduce every known contrivance for the safety and comfort of the passen- gers, compelled the designers to adopt unprecedented dimensions. The question of the best means to 'be adopted for propelling such a huge structure at the speed of a railway train over a distance of about 2,900 knots without a stoppage was the greatest problem that marine engi- 'neers had been called upon to solve. It was generally conceded that, with . THE Marine REVIEW neer Lieutenant W. H. Wood, R. N., as secretary. After some months of research and experiment, this com- mission unanimously reported in_ fa- vor of the adoption of marine steam turbines on the Parsons principle. Thus, the propelling machinery of the Mauretania is the greatest prac- tical tribute to the inventive genius of the Hon. Charles Algernon Par- sons, whose Turbinia Works at Wall- send lie midway between the prem- ises of the ship builders and those of PORTION OF FIRST-CLASS the ordinary form of ,reciprocating engine, the limit of speed practicable for Atlantic passenger steamships had: been almost reached. The alterna- tive means of propulsion--the steam turbine--was as yet only in its i- fancy so far as its application to marine work was concerned. The turbine propelling: machinery fitted in cross-channel steamers, in destroyers, and in His Majesty's third-class cruiser Amethyst, was of very much smaller power than that required for the two Cunarders. At that time the turbine-driven Carmania, already re- ferred to, had not been designed. To study the question closely, a commission was appointed with James Bain (representing the Cunard Steam- ship Co.) as chairman, and consisting of Rear Admiral H. J. Oram (repre- senting the British admiralty), Sir William H. White (Swan, Hunter, & Wigham Richardson), Andrew Laing (Wallsend Slipway Co.), the Hon. C. Mm Parsons, Co. Bi; 3:8 Te Milton (Lloyds Register), Thomas Bell (John Brown & Co.), and: the late Wm. Brock (Denny Brothers), with Engi- UPPER DINING SALOON. the constructors of the vessel's ma- chinery. Models of the proposed steamships were designed by Swan, Hunter, & Wigham Richardson, John Brown & Co., and Vickers, Sons and Maxim, and tested by R. E. Froude in the admiralty experimental tank at Has- lar, and further models of increased breadth and finer lines were made and tested under the directions of Sir Philip Watts, director of naval construction. As a further instance of the care and patient research which have char- acterized those responsible for the design and construction of the great liner, the model experiments carried out by Swan, Hunter, & Wigham Richardson may be quoted. An ex- act model of the vessel, 47% ft. long, and provided ' with electrically-driven propelling machinery, was built, and a= series of experiments com- menced in order to arrive at the most suitable form of the after lines of the ship, and the number, position and design of pro- pellers likely to give the most satis- factory results. These investigations, which extended over about. nine months, were the most elaborate of their kind ever carried out, and the data derived was of great value to the builders. In many questions aris- . ing during the designing and_build- ing of the Mauretania, the builders have had the benefit of the advice of Sir William H. White, Ki C. B. (Gor- merly director of naval construction and assistant controller of the royal navy), who has acted as consulting naval architect. The following are the leading di- mensions of the Mauretania: Mength over all. c. oe oy ees we 790 feet Length between perpendiculars....... 760 feet Breadth, extreme oe cai cv secs re ec so 88 feet Depth;*molded:, 2.2..025 ea 60 feet 6 inches Gross tonnase 57. ss oe ee she 32,000 tons Waxiumium draught a. ca 37 feet 6 inches Registered displacement .......... 44,640 tons Brunel's wonderful creation, the Great Eastern, the standard by which the public endeavor to obtain an idea of the size of our greatest modern steamships, was 95 ft. shorter, 5 ft. less in breadth, and 3 ft. less in depth than the Mauretania, while the gross tonnage was 7,640 short of the Cu- narder's. The two fastest German liners now crossing the Atlantic are the Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Deutschland. The gross tonnage of the former is 12,000 less, and that of the latter 15,498 less than the tonnage of the Mauretania. The new Cunarder and her sister the Lusitania are the largest vessels in the world and the fastest merchant steamers afloat. The Mauretania, however, is actually a little larger than the other vessel, being greater i depth by 5 or 6 in. To. the un- initiated this increased depth appears insignificant; but extending the ves- sel's total length of 790 ft., it repre- sents an addition of about 300 tons to the gross tonnage when compared with the Lusitania. The hull has been constructed of steel on the cellular double bottom principle, with floors on every frame. The double bottom is extended well up the ship's sides, thus affording great additional protection in the event of the liner grounding, at the Same time giving structural strength transversely and longitudinally. The plates on the vyessel's shell, and the heavier plates on the decks, are in most cases 35 ft. long, and weigh 2% to 3 tons each. In some instances, however, the length of the plates is 48 1€; weighing 4 to 5 tons--a record size for ship plates of this descrip- tion. In the top part of the struc- ture, subject to great stresses when. the vessel is in a seaway, speciat high-tensile steel has been employed.