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Absorbs Trans WY y) A YD SS WO ort SI ips Thirteen Vessels Planned for the War Emergency Have Been Redesigned to Carry Freight and Passengers--Largest Vessels Now Being Built N May 24, the largest vessel () ever built for the shipping board, was launched at the Camden, N. J., yard of the New York Shipbuilding Corp. The vessel is the WENATCHEE, and is the first of a fleet of 13 similar ships originally designed for transporting troops to France. The coming of the armistice brought about a change in the plans. The vessels, as finally approved by the engineers of the Emergency Fleet corporation and the New York Ship- building Corp., are combination pas- senger and cargo steamers having a deadweight tonnage of 13,000. The New York company will furnish nine of these vessels, two will be built at the Sparrows Point, Md., yard of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., and two by the Newport News Shipbuild- ing & Dry Dock Co. The details which follow are the first to be published describing the new design of these ships. The re- vised plans call for combination pas- senger and cargo boats, 535 feet long, 72 feet beam, and 50 feet deep. The original plans called for transverse framing, and the revised plans call for longitudinal framing. When com- pleted, they will be capable of carry- ing 243 first-class, and 224 second- class passengers. The crew will num- ber 193, of which 39 are seamen. The engine room and fire room crew number 40 while 114 are under the steward <The length of the ves- sel, according to Lloyds measure- ment, will be 518 feet. The depth to A shade deck is 50 feet, to B shelter deck 41 feet, and to C upper deck is 32 feet. The de- signed draft is 30 feet, and corre- sponding displace- ment 20,800 tons. The vessel, equip- ped with 4500- horsepower en- gines will log 16 'knots, and when equipped with 6000 - horsepower engines will make 17% knots. The vessels are designed to carry a total deadweight cargo of 10,000 tons in addition to about 2600 tons of fuel, fresh water, stores, etc., on a mean draft of 30 feet and to maintain a sea speed of 16 knots, with reserve power to obtain a speed of about 17% knots when light loaded or in ballast. The description of this type of vessel, as carried in the buildecs' specifications, follows: The vessel will be a steel, twin screw, shelter deck type (with full shade deck) steamship with a straight stem and cruiser stern. There will be four complete steel decks to the hull consisting of A deck, B deck, C deck and D deck, and a double tier of steel deckhouses amidships. The top of both deckhouses will be car- ried out to the sides of the vessel to form promenade and boat decks. On the boat deck there will be a wood wheelhouse, and chart room forward and a similar house for wireless will be located aft. A flying bridge will be fitted at the level of these houses at each end of the superstructure. There will be a double bottom extend- ing from the fore peak to the after end of the shaft tunnels and divided transversely into 12 compartments, the compartment under *the engine- room arranged to carry boiler feed water only and all other compartments S.8. WENATCHEE ORIGINALLY DESIGNED FOR TRANSPORT DUTY BUT WHEN LAUNCHED RECENTLY BY THE NEW YORK SHIPBUILDING CORP. REFITTED TO CARRY PASSENGERS AND FREIGHT 327 arranged to carry fuel or water bal- last. The vessel will be subdivided by 13 transverse watertight bulkheads all extending up to the A deck. This subdivision will give five cargo holds forward and four aft of the machinery, which will be located amidships in three compartments, two for boilers and one for engines. Wing bulkheads will be fitted up to the C deck throughout the boiler compartments to form side tanks for fuel oil. Wing bulkheads will also be fitted well out- board in the engine room. All accom- modations for officers and crew will be located in the deckhouses. The compartments abreast the boiler casings on the C deck, and abreast engine and boiler casings on the B deck will be insulated and arranged for carrying refrigerated cargo and ship's stores. One hatch will be fitted on each side of the vessel to each of these compartments and each hatch will be served by a hatch crane at the side of the vessel. Each of the regular cargo holds will have one large hatch in all decks and each hatch will be served by two cargo booms located at derrick masts, the latter arranged to hinge down. Two single-drum, single-geared winches will be provided at each hatch, each of which will handle one boom. There will be no masts of the stand- ard type, but a light steel mast with housing top- mast will be fitted at the side or arranged to tele- scope into the smokestack to. carry wireless antennae and the headlight, The propelling ma- chinery will con- sist of two sets of geared tur- -bines and eight water-tube boil- ers. The boilers will be divided into two sets of four each located in separate water- tight compart- partments, but all connected to one stack. The hull will be bossed for twin screw shafts.