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_Influence on Ship Design Capt. W. L. Rodgers Contributes a Paper on the Influence of Naliou Policy on Ship' s Design APT...W. L. 'RODGERS 'con- C tributed a paper to the December meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers on "The Influence of National Policy on Ship's Design,' which was read by Capt. Robinson and abstracted as fol- lows: 1. This influence has been marked at all periods of history. 2. Historical examples: Actium, 31 BoC 2" Spanish Armada; "1571: As "D:; American Civil War, show that policy rules types of ships. 3. Lack of control of ship design by national policy in United States during period from civil war to Span- ish war led to unsuitable types. 4. Present arrangements in navy department. to insure that general military characteristics of ships shall be such as best to support national policies. 5. Example taken from history of German ship-building shows that for- eign powers build their navies with definite foreign policies in view. 6. Conclusion that naval architects must keep in close touch with the exponents of national policy. At the conclusion of the reading, Capt. Robinson said: "I happened to be for eight years at one end of the line that has to do with building ships at Washington, and while my view is, perhaps, some- what warped, I was not blinded. Capt. Rodgers refers to the fact that our lack -of ability resulted in the production of unsuitable types of ships. I-think there is something in what he says, but I do not think it is.any more true of our service than any, other service during the period of which he spoke. Somebody referred to the French navy as a collection of naval samples, so I suppose the same criticism as made here must have been applicable to that service. "Capt. Rodgers refers to Germany as apparently an example which should have been followed. I have never been of the opinion that we knew it all, or that we could not learn anything from Germany, but my experience with the navy depart- ment and the war college, where Capt. Rodgers was president, led me to be- lieve that Germany was largely held up as an example because it was probably the nation about which we knew the least. "The results are very good, but just why they do it, we do not know. They are very reticient about their reasons, and therefore they are supposed to have very ex- cellent reasons. "The General Board is referred to as having. a further duty, to ious types of ships which it recom- characteristics desirable in the var- study and report on the military -mends, following which is a defini- tion of military characteristics. I think I am correct in saying that at least three times while I was in the service I wrote and asked what a military characteristic was, but never had any definition before, but have it here. I remember several instances when the military characteristics were prescribed in the design of ships, while I was in the navy department, one of which stated that the vessel should be fitted with a No. 8 jewel- er's lathe, which did not seem to me to be a very broad feature. "It is quite the custom for the General Board to dictate the type of armor design and the shape of the back.°of ithe armor plate, and the shape of the bow of the-ship, particu- larly under water, etc.,--it: was very seldom made the way they dictated, but these features were almost always included in the military characteris- tics. Such features as the vertical echelon arrangement of turrets, and other things which are really based on technical considerations, were de- veloped in the technical side of the engineering department. I dare say that Mr. Linnard, Mr. Taylor, and possibly, Chief Constructor Admiral Bowles, probably remember many ether instances, both on one side or the other. "I do not want to be considered as objecting to the general principles as formulated in the paper, because I think they are very sound, but the manner in which they are sometimes carried out is not correct according to what might be considered good practice." Francis --T .Bowles:--This paper, I think, ought to be a gratification to the members of this society. I can recall times when officers in the line of the navy have been heard to com- plain of the methods of design, etc, that they were not what they ought -at-- Cristobal to be, and criticize the views of naval architects and marine engineers. This paper informs us, to our gratification, that the navy department has now a method of producing the. designs of vessels, which is suitable, and that the vessels produced are creditable, and I am very much pleased to hear it. -No doubt the members of the So- ciety are gratified. Coal Handling Mashinery in Canal Zone The Hunt Construction Co. of New York has been awarded contract by the Isthmian Canal Commission for the in- stallation of coal handling machinery and Balboa, canal zone. Four unloading towers will be installed on the Cristobal docks on the Atlantic side and two on the Balboa docks on the Pacific side. The total cost of the installation will be $1,833,127. The tow- ers will travel on rails and will deliver the coal from the vessels and deposit it in the hopper built in the tower, where it may be delivered through chutes to cars or into stores. The installation will also include stocking and _ reclaiming bridges. The Panama canal is practically completed and the ships enrolled in Oversea trade in the Pacific ocean flying the American flag-are the fol- lowing: Manchuria, Korea, Siberia, China and Mongolia,-of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co.'s fleet, 'and the Minnesota, of the Great Northern Steamship Co. Some marine. The Business Men's_ Association of Auburn, N. Y., believes that there is a good opportunity to build up a passenger and freight business on Cayuga Lake, a body of water 40 miles long and from 2 to 4 miles wide, with the city of Ithaca at its head. There is no regular public trafic on the lake at present. The Portland Shipbuilding Co., South Portland, Me., is building a steamer 110 ft. long, 24 ft. beam and 10 ft. deep for the Cape Breton Elec- tric Co., Sydney, C. B. The machin- ery will be furnished by the Burrell- Johnson Iron Works, Yarmouth, N.S. The J. W. Frazier Co., moved from Iluminating engineers, have Rockefeller building to building, Cleveland.