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~ _ design would no doubt be possible. sions. 30 MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. eration affects ships. If it could be exactly and permanently de- termined in what way a fleet should be used, great economies in It might conceivably lead to greater specialization, so that a squadron, not necessarily hom- ogeneous as to offence or defence, should become the unit of design. The extended use of auxiliaries might tend to ease 'many difficulties in the design of a single fighting ship. (12) 'The greater demand for perfection in fittings has led "to increased weight in recent years.- This applies particularly to such matters as watertightness in skylights, ports, casings, and electrical fittings. No one who compares the fittings of two ships whose age differs by ten years or more can fail to see the additional weight of fittings due to this cause. (13) 'A desire not to press machinery severely imposes a great load on a ship compared with another in which such press- ing is admissible. If this consideration extend not merely to the boilers but to the many pieces of auxiliary machinery through- out the ship, the effect is very appreciable. (14) Daily life in a ship tends to call attention far more to . what is felt to be lacking than to what is redundant, and hence in a ship, as in a house, there is a constant tendency to add new fittings at a higher rate than to dispense with others. (15) Desire for great durability may unduly increase the first cost and size of a ship. It is possible that it may pay better to accept frequent repairs than to add to scantlings and weight. (16) The veneral tendency to raise important parts of the _ vessels in.relation to the water-line makes it even more difficult to secure adequate stability, and this involves increased dimen- Economies tend to be made in the lower parts of the ship. Additions are more often high up. (17) Every accident to a ship leads to demands for mechanical provision in all other ships to meet or prevent such a case, although the chance of its recurrence be small, or the ac- cident due to personal causes. These are, I believe, some of the principal causes which tend to increase the weight of warships. Some others might be named, but they do not, like these, spring from general consid- erations, and they could not well be discussed here. Some of these factors exist in merchant ships, but there is one radical difference between the mercantile marine and the navy. In the latter the test of experience is largely wanting. If from any cause there be imposed on a merchant ship unneces- sary loads or superfluous cost, there is an immediate and auto- . matic check. She does not pay. Somebody else's ships pay bet- ter. Dividends are the touchstone of efficiency. Nothing of the kind exists in any practical shape in regard to warships. You cannot test them by setting them to fight one another, and paper . valuations are a poor substitute. But, though the keenness of the competition in the case of fighting ships be less evident and [May 21, its realization be delayed, it is none the less real. Its very in- tensity makes these minor matters of design things of moment, It constitutes the best of reasons for saving small weights and for accepting small risks. Wherever we get similar conditions, as in the international race for the America cup, we find the same necessity for scrupulous design, involving the rejection of all fittings not needed for the decisive race, and the acceptance of minor risks of breakdown. It is interesting to note in the lat- ter connection that the margin of safety is sure in such a case to be very small. The accidents to the Shamrock did not show a mistaken policy in the design, but proved how great was the necessity for the avoidance of unnecessary strength. You could as certainly secure the loss of the race by a few additional pre- cautions against breakdown, such as making your spars or rig- ging somewhat too heavy as by making them too light. Pre- cisely the same thing is true respecting a closely contested strug- gle between well-matched naval powers. War is a great risk-- the greatest of risks. To try to make it safe is to secure beyond possibility of doubt that it shall be fatal. Not the avoidance of, but the equalization of, risk is the criterion of good design. It has. sometimes been suggested that there is no harm in making a ship somewhat bigger than is necessary for the satis- faction of the main conditions of the design. The saving of small weights is looked on as unnecessary stinginess. 'This line of thought ignores the fact that the weight involves cost. All the arguments I have tried to lay before you are immensely strengthened when we reflect that these additional weights nearly always impose an expenditure of money in greater proportion than that of weight. Improvements are generally expensive. You make a machine 10 per cent. more costly without making it 10 per cent. heavier. You sometimes do both without making it IO per cent. more efficient. These objections to economy ignore also the loss of time. Given two designs, in one of which there is a marked increase in elaboration and complexity of detail, and you will increase the time of building faster than the weight or, perhaps, than the cost. Speed of construction is an important. element of the naval strength of the country. It increases the available force at any moment and leaves our building resources available for fresh work. Elaboration does precisely the oppo- site. It takes from the primary features of each ship. It les- sens the number of ships to be got for a given sum. It delays 'their production. Lastly, in the ceaseless accumulation of these accessory fea- tures of warships we have one of the chief factors in their gen- eral deterioration. Their armament, armor, and machinery tend to fall behind as improvements in manufacture and design fol- low one another in rapid succession. 'This is, of course, inevit- able. But nothing so surely tells against a ship as the contin- ued process of sinking her. 'The history of many ships, as re- Saree os BELLEVILLE WATER-TUBE BOILERS NOW IN _USE (FEBRUARY, 1903) French Navy - ie - : English Royal Navy - - - Russian Imperial Navy The " Messageries Maritimes" Company On Board Sea-going Vessels, NOT INCLUDING New In- stallations Building or Erecting. Japanese Imperial Navy - = Austrian Imperial Navy _ - : a Italian Royal Navy - - - Chilian Navy - . ak thie Argentine Navy - : Chemins de fer de 'Ouest: (The French Western Railway. Co.) ; Steaniships si fii plying between Dieppe and Newhaven . 1 Beer: = Total Horse Power of Boilers in Use 276,460 H.-P. 849,300 " a a0 $22,700. 32,700.28 Toso0u. 26500 * . - 13,000. " BAO, a, whee 18,500 " 1,634,360 Rs _ WORKS: Ateliers et Chantiers de l'Ermitage, at Saint-Denis (Seine), France. TELEGRAPHIC ADDRESS: Belleville, Saint-Denis-Sur-Seine.