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THE BRITANNIC WATERBORNE AS THE BRITANNIC LOOKED IMMEDIATELY AFTER HER LAUNCHING N THE March issue the launching | of the White Star liner Britannic was chronicled, the largest vessel so far constructed in the British Isles. Additional particulars are now obtain- able through the courtesy of the Ship Builder, New-Castel-on-Tyne. The lead- ing particulars of the vessel are as fol- lows: Eength: "over all' about..4%.. aw: 900 ft. 0 in. Breadth extreme, about.........- 94 ft. Oin Depth: :-molded' eee 64 ft. 3 in Gross: .tonnage,. about... 7 50,000 isgad> sdratight'? wud os ee 34 ft. 7 in Displacement at load draught over, POMS Siege boas hee eee ae soe eS 53,000 I. H. P. of reciprocating engine... 32,000 So HPs ole turbine 1-6) eee 18,000 Passenger accommodation for over 2,500 Grew. accommodation: 2.2.02 = as Each successive Atlantic © liner launched at the Belfast. works of Messrs. Harland & Wolff has marked a distinct step, not only in size, but in strength and in those provisions necessary to insure comfort to the passengers and the greatest degree of safety consistent with the elemental and other forces of nature. Indeed, it may be said that each vessel has typi- fied in turn the highest achievement of her day in the practice of ship build- ing and marine engineering. The Britannic, the latest 'of the ships, is in every respect an example of this periodic standard of progress; but' as she is only of slightly greater tonnage than the Olympic, being about the same length but rather more beam, it would seem that the owners--than whom no one has a better conception of the requirements of the Atlantic passenger trade--have come to the con- clusion that for the present the travel- ing public are completely satisfied with the Olympic type of ship. Nor is any attempt to be made to increase the speed; the schedule time will be main- tained with precision by propelling machinery sufficiently powerful to en- able the average service speed of 21 knots to be maintained on any voyage, ir- greatest respective of the most adverse weather which may be met with either for a part or for the whole of the time the vessel is on the Atlantic. This latter condition has been aimed at and fulfilled in all the White Star ships. Advance in Sige Hitherto the advance in size has been considerable in the case of each of the successive large ships destined 'for the Atlantic service of the White Star Line. Thus, in the Oceanic, com- pleted in 1899, the length was 685 ft. and the displacement 31,600 tons at 35 ft. Zin. draught. - The Cedric; bunt in 1903, had a length slightly less; but owing to her greater beam, an _ in- creased displacement--37,900 tons at a draught of 36 ft..8 in. The Baltic, of the following year, had a length of 708 ft. and a displacement of 40,700 tons at a draught of 37 ft. 3 in. The Adriatic, completed in 1906, was the next not- able ship, and in her case the length was over 725 ft. and the displacement 40,800 tons. The Olympic, completed in 1911, marked a still further increase in length, to 882 ft. 9 in. with a dis- placement of 50,000 tons at 34 ft. 6 in. draught. Now comes the Britannic, with slightly increased beam, the result being that the displacement is over 53,000 tons at 34 ft. 7 in. draught. These successive increases in size, it will be seen, have been confined within 'reasonable limits, and the aim underlying the design has been at all times not only to insure a dividend- earning ship, but to make certain that the vessels would stand up to the of Atlantic gales, and in other respects would conduce to the comfort of passengers on board. Messrs. Harland & Wolff have prob- ably had greater experience than any single ship building firm in the design of the structural details of modern Atlantic liners, and the Britannic em- bodies every lesson of accumulative experience. Her double bottom, which is over 5 ft. deep increased to over 6 ft. through the machinery space, has on each side of the center line six longitudinal girders, which, with trans- verse plating, divide the double bot- tom into a very large number of cellu- lar spaces. This double system of construction is carried up the sides for the greater portion of the ship's length -to a- considerable distance above the load water line, and here again the space between the two skins is divided, not only by vertical parti- tion walls, but by heavy steel hori- zontal watertight plating; so that in the double skin, as well as in the dou- - ble bottom, there is a great number of small compartments. The advan- tage of this system of construction as compared with the introduction of side coal bunkers--which to some ex- tent serve the same end by providing a double skin--is that there is never during the voyage an open door in the inner wall of the double sides, as with coal bunkers. ; The framing of the ship throughout is exceptionally heavy, and extends to the shelter deck, a height of 66 ft. - Moreover, hydraulic riveting has been introduced to a larger extent than for- merly, and where extra stress is likely to be set up there is quadruple rivet- This applies particularly to the ing. top shell plating, which, as in all ships, is subjected to the greatest stress when the vessel is borne for- ward and aft on the crest of waves or when she is carried only amidships, the bow and stern being over the wave troughs. Again, there extends right fore and aft, at the level of every deck, four lines of heavy girders; and at frequent intervals, extending from the bottom of the ship right to the shelter