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30 FAST COALING SHIPS.* By E. H. Tennyson D'Eyncourt. Of late considerable attention has been paid to the important question of coaling our warships, and the short paper which I now submit deals with one aspect of this question, namely, that of pro- viding specially-designed fast coaling vessels to accompany our squadrons when traveling at a high rate of speed, and so supply them with fuel without any delay. The idea is not by any means a new one, but it has lately, to some extent, I think, been pushed irto the background by the great number of other vital questions which are being dealt with in connection with increasing the effic- iency of our navy. My object in reading a paper on this subject is to keep alive a question which I believe to be second to none in importance to our navy, and to obtain the views 'of other mem- bers of this institution upon it. I may be blamed, as a mere naval architect, for introducing what must necessarily be, to a large ex- tent, a question for the naval authority and the strategist, but my excuse is that naval architects have to consider the question ot vessels keeping the sea for long periods, their radius of action, and kindred considerations, in the initial stages of design--ques- tions which are. inseparably bound up with others coming within the province of the tactician and strategist. It is, at any rate, the business of the naval architect to say what kind of ship can be provided for any special object, and, when the type has been ap- proved, to endeavor to produce the best possible article to fulfil the required purpose. The government has no doubt considered the question of building some such vessels as I propose, and some barges have actually been built, which can be towed about and have all the necessary appliances for dealing expeditiously with a cargo of coal. These barges carry about 1,000 tons. Some much larger vessels of a similar character, but with a capacity of about 10,000 tons of coal, are, I believe, now under, construction. These vessels, how- ever, like the smaller barges, or--coal haulabouts,--as they are termed, have no means of propelling themselves, and can only be moved about very slowly by towing. Both of these types of vessel will doubtless prove exceedingly useful, and will help to hasten the process of coaling our warships, in the close neighborhood of the coaling station or depot to which they belong. But though in this way they may prove of great service, these coal haulabouts lack that most vital necessity in time of war--mobility. It therefore appears essential that our navy should possess a sufficient number of vessels with all modern appliances, such as Temperley transporters, for quickly dealing with coal, both in harbor, when taking it on board, and at sea, when discharging into warships alongside; and that these vessels should also be | able to keep up with a fleet--not, perhaps, with our fastest cruisers at full speed (for to accomplish this and to carry a good cargo of coal is well-nigh impossible, except by going to very large and costly ships), but certainly to keep up with our most modern ar- mor-clads--that is, to be capable of maintaining a sea speed of 17 knots, and to do 18 knots in case of an emergency. If we can achieve this, a great deal will have been done towards increasing the efficiency of our navy, and we shall findthat it can be done at a cost which is small when set against the immense advantages which will be gained. To take a military parallel, it has surely been proved again and again in the late Boer war that mobility is an extremely im- portant quality in an army. This being accepted, it needs no elaborate proof ta show that- mobility is equally important for a fleet. However, to pursue the comparison for a moment to its logical conclusion, let us consider the relative strength of two armies of equal numerical value, one of which, however, has to re- turn .to its base at frequent intervals for supplies, against the other which has its supplies continually brought on close behind it, and keeping pace with the advance of the army; and yet, to a great extent, the former case more nearly approximates to the condition of a modern fleet as far as coal is concerned. - Napoleon once said that "an army'moves on its belly." It is equally true to say that a fleet moves with its fuel, for a modern warship when she has run out of fuel, is far more helpless than one of our old sailing ships. The high rates of speed now attained by our warships are no doubt of extreme value, but the capacity of being able to keep the sea for a long period at a good rate of speed or, as it is usually termed, the radius of action, is certainly of equal importance. It has been customary to give the radius of action of vessels of our navy at a very low speed, usually 10 knots, This may be very well on paper, and is no doubt good enough in times of peace, when such a slow speed has the great 'merit of economy, but it would never do in war time to crawl about at 10 knots, if a higher rate can possibly be attained and maintained with safety, and without too great a risk of being left without coal at a distance from the nearest coaling station. With- out coal ships in attendance, when the coal is nearly used, or per- haps only half used in the case of the base being distant, the fleet must return to its base for coaling, and without fast colliers, such as are proposed, how often would the coaling ship be close at hand? We therefore may find our fleet in the condition of the in- efcient army which has to return to its base for. supplies every few days. The fleet which can keep at sea for a long period wiil. have an incalculable advantage over the one which cannot do So, and has to return frequently to coal. Our ships must necessarily return now and then for docking and cleaning -and repairs, also for provisions and water, unless these can be supplied them in the o same, way as coal; but that is no reason why the far more frequent *Paper read at meeting of Institute of Naval Architects, London, x MARINE REVIEW AND MARINE RECORD. [Aug, 13, return for coal should not be avoided if possible. It requires no great stretch of imagination to picture a naval campaign in which the issue ultimately depended on the fact of one of the Opposing fleets being able to outlast the enemy in fuel. Granted the necessity for fast coaling vessels, it may be ar- gued that many of our faster liners would do for the purpose. But this, I think, is not the case, for though, no doubt, they would be useful, they would not be the best article procurable for the object in view, for the simple reason that they have not been de. signed and built with this one object. They could not carry the maximum amount of coal possible, nor have they the appliances for dealing with coal in the most expeditious manner, Then, again, the number of ships of our mercantile marine having a speed of 18 knots is limited, and those vessels would probably be te. quired in time of war for other purposes, such as bringing our food supplies from abroad, transporting troops, and possibly help- ing as scouts. The late war never brought home to the public mind the necessity of having fast transports and provision ships with speed enough to elude the enemy's cruisers, because, being purely a war between land forces, there were absolutely no cruis- ers to elude, and accordingly a great number of quite slow ships were requisitioned by the admiralty, and did excellent service-- ships, many of which would, without a doubt, have fallen an easy prey to a foe possessed of a large navy. Nor, again, was the ne- cessity for fast merchant ships brought out in the Spanish-Ameri- can war, nor in the war between Japan and China, the whole of -- the operations being carried on within, comparatively speaking, limited areas, and between nations which were practically self- supporting, as far as food supplies for their home population were concerned. é No more need, therefore, be said here on the point that, in the case of our being involved in a big war, our fast mercantile ships will be needed for the various purposes alluded to. The slower vessels, tramps, etc., which usually carry coal to our various stations, will be more busily engaged than ever in keeping pace -- with the increased demand for coal at those stations, and will be practically useless to attend on the various squadrons, on account of their slow-steaming qualities; many, too, probably falling into the hands of the enemy. : ' The necessity, therefore, remains for fast colliers for our navy. The number of such vessels that would be required must be decided by those who make the organizing of naval campaigns their special care and study.' However, eight of such vessels might first be tried, that is, two to each of our. four most important squadrons. They should be located in pairs of larger groups at the principal coaling stations, so that whilst one of each pair is taking in coal in port, the other may be giving coal to the vessels of the squadron at a distance. They should be able to steam 17 knots easily and continuously, and 18 knots in cases of emergency, and in order to maintain a high speed in rough weather and carry a large quantity of coal (say 10,000 tons, besides coal for their own use) they must be of considerable size. The various re- quirements could be met by vessels of approximately the following dimensions: Length, 550 ft.; beam, 66 ft.; draught of water, 27 ft.; with 10,000 tons -of' coal on board, so as to be able to go through the Suez canal with full coal. On a greater draught, when there was no question of passing through the canal, a greater quantity of coal could be carried; the amount would, however, be naturally limited by the cubic capacity of the holds. One, or perhaps two, deep water ballast tanks should be provided for use when in the light condition. The horse power necessary for 17 knots at sea would be about 12,000. The machinery would be of the most economical tvpe, with quadruple-expansion engines and cylindrical boilers, with Howden's system of forced draft. They would consume less than 114 ths of coal per indicated horse power per hour, so that at full speed the collier could go 1,000 miles from the coaling station and back on 800 tons of coal, carrying 10,000 tons of coal to the fleet--that is, enough to coal five of our largest battleships or cruisers fully, or ten to the extent of half-full bunkers, or a larger number of smaller warships. : Any one of the large cruisers or armor-clads would take four or five days to go the 2,000 miles, would use at least 1,000 tons of coal, and would have been steaming hard all the time, arriving with dirty boilers and a tired complement of stokers, etc., and a great part of her coal already burnt. Possibly 1,000 miles from a coaling station is a long way to assume, but the same thing 1s true for a shorter distance, only not to such a marked extent. The coal for the collier's own use could be carried in wing bunkers, so disposed as to give good protection to the engines and boilers as long as the coal lasted. In ordinary peace time the colliers could be used with economy for taking coal to the coaling stations, and at the naval maneuvers they could attend on the fleets as 12 war time. They would be made as little conspicuous as-possible, so aS not to attract the notice of the enemy. . The cost of each of these colliers, fully equipped with Tem- perley transporters and all the necessaries for quick coaling, would be about £270,000, so that four or five could be had for the cost of one first-class armor-clad or cruiser, and the four could be kept In commission for about the cost of keeping an armor-clad. In time of war-each would be an asset equal to several additional warships, as they would enable so many 'warships to remain at sea, Saving them the time of going to and fro for coal, and giving them time to clean their boilers, do minor repairs to the engines, etc:, besides resting the whole crew, officers and men. It would, no doubt, be possible to make such colliers suitable for carrying troops, fresh water, and consumable stores, provisions, etc., other than coal, but to attempt this would, to some extent, spoil them as colliers,