The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

466 MARINE REVIEW December, 1924 | U. S. Has Lagged1 in Use of Diesel Original Study of World Shipping Shows How Other Countries Have Taken Lead N ACCOUNT of the very na- O ture of the service required, de- pendability is by far the most important requirement for all mechani- cal appliances intended for use on board ship. This quality is nothing less than essential in all the mechanism that has to do with the propulsion and safe navigation of the ship. Simplicity in design and operation is a function of dependability as it reduces the possi- bilities of failure due to carelessness, lack of judgment or insufficient train- ing on the part of the personnel. Ma- chinery complicated in design, involved in principle and delicate in construc- tion, requiring the utmost care and attention and exceptional skill in op- By A. H. JANSSON tween steamship lines and shipbuilding and marine engineering companies abroad, no doubt accounts to a great degree for this condition. In the case of the adoption of the diesel type of power and electrification of auxiliaries, the United States has been so far, out- distanced by several of the countries in Europe. This apparent backwardness on the oart of the United States may be laid to the factors outlined above exerting more than ordinary influence because of the invention and early development of the diesel engine abroad. Another cause is the fact that about 80 per cent of the privately owned American merchant marine is engaged in trade Table I the importance and_ significance of adopting this economical type of pow- er if they are to keep up with the -trend in this direction on the part of the more progressive nations, and to meet competition on a basis of parity in fuel costs and carrying capacity. Such activity also indicates an_ in- creasing degree of confidence in the dependability of this type of power with the result that serious considera- tion is now given to the merits of its application in every new vessel pro- jected from tugs to ocean liners. The progress made in the adoption of this type of power for the Ameri- can merchant marine as indicated by recent examples of new vessels built, DIESEL ENGINED VESSELS IN MERCHANT MARINE OF EIGHT COUNTRIES THIS YEAR As of June 30, 1924 LAST YEAR As of June 30, 1923 TEN YEARS AGO As of June 30, 1914 Country Number Gross Tons Av. Size No Gross Tons Av.Size No. Gross Tons Av. Size Great Britain ...... 99 456,550 4612 79 348,516 4412 10 30,158 3,016 United States .....- 82 186,458 2274 69 151,540 2196 8 10,316 1,290 Norway 3 na. Se 73 193,903 2656 70 171,972 2457 2 2,878 1,439 Sweden 6 es 47 179,961 3829 42 150,268 3578 4 14,895 3,724 PD enmaticn.. ecw 39 167,439 4293 34 140,942 4145 10 49,249 4,925 Gentany soca e es a7 122,596 3313 26 82,044 3156 10 45,733 4,573 PIONONG eek a ese 29 58,996 2035 28 51,520 1840 6 14,097 2,350 Ta oe i ek es 28 78,365 2799 33 69,133 2095 2 Elis 557 eration is decidedly not suitable for marine installations. That the ship shall have every rea- sonable assurance of reaching her des- tination on time and safely is the first concern of the operator or owner. Un- der highly competitive conditions such as have existed for the past three years and now exist, to be successful a ship must be economical in operation as well as dependable. So the steamship owner is now most anxious to secure economy but he is still extremely con- servative and cannot afford to take any chances on dependability. This conservatism, this unwillingness to ac- cept any new device or type of motive power before such have been thorough- ly tried out time and time again in a practical way at sea appears to be more marked in the United States than in the leading maritime nations of Europe. The greater influence accorded the highly trained engineer and the closer co-operation and interdependence be- routes protected by the coastwise laws against foreign competition, and the re- maining 20 per cent are protected bv American influence in one way or an- other, for instance, where the ships are owned by large industrial concerns which find it to their best interest to operate them in certain trades even though at greater costs than foreign built and foreign flag ships could be-op- erated. There is no such thing at present as direct competition on a free- for-all basis by privately owned Ameri- can ships against foreign ships for the seagoing carrying trade of the world. Thus the same urgency in meeting competition has not existed in the United States as an impetus to the adoption of this type of drive. Recent activity in the application of diesel engines for main and auxiliary power on merchant ships in the United States, however, is an indication that American steamship men have at last awakened from their lethargy and are now becoming thoroughly aroused to and existing vessels converted, ought to convince every American steamship owner and operator that the use of diesel engines and electricity has come to stay and that a change from steam to diesel in many classes of vessels is inevitable. To ignore or attempt to oppose this irresistible search for econ- omy is. short-sighted and will only result in giving away an important advantage to other nations and _indi- viduals now fully alive to the favorable results to be attained. Though the United States has now next to Great Britain the largest number of diesel vessels, an analysis of the world’s merchant fleet equipped with this type of power shows that in average gross tonnage per vessel, this country ranks only seventh. The av- erage size of the American diesel ves- sel as compared with the average size of such vessels in the merchant fleets — of other nations is presented graphically - (Continued on Page 470)