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Welding for Ship Construction Saves Weight, Reduces Cost—Germans Revolutionize Naval Building— Study Stress Behavior—Procedure Control Eliminates Faulty Work REAT progress has been made G during the past three years in the application of welding to ship construction, according to James W. Owens, director of welding for the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va., and winner of the $10,000 Lincoln prize for his international paper on arc welding, in a talk before the Phila- delphia section of the American Weld- ing society, May 20. Chagrin was expressed in an em- phatic manner by Mr. Owens, how- ever, over the fact that Germany is far in advance of the United States in welding of naval ships. He went into some detail about the ERSATZ PREUSSEN, the new 9000-ton cruiser which has caused a furore in in- ternational naval circles. Although limited to a 9000-ton ship, Germany was able to achieve remarkable re- sults as compared with the 10,000-ton cruisers of the other powers. By welding the cruiser throughout, by using alloy steels, and by installing an engine weighing 17% pounds per horsepower, the German builders were able to cut the total weight of the vessel by 550 tons. As a result, the cruiser was equipped with 11-inch guns, whereas under the Washington treaty, limits we must equip a 10,- 000-ton cruiser with 8-inch guns. Navy Should Take Lead This German accomplishment has a distinct bearing on the future of naval and merchant ship construction. Welding of vessels throughout not only cuts their weight and gives them greater carrying capacity or greater speed, but it makes them safer and reduces the cost of upkeep. He men- tioned one all-welded freighter which went aground. The hull was deformed by the collision but there was no leak and the cargo remained intact. He expressed the opinion that a similar mishap with a riveted ship would have caused at least the loss of some of the cargo. © Leadership in developing all-welded ship construction in this country should devolve upon our navy department, said Mr. Owens. He strongly advo- cated that congress authorize the navy This is a report of an address by James W. Owens, director of welding at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., before the Philadelphia section. of the American Welding Society on May 20, 1929. By E.G. Kreutzberg to weld one of the 15 new cruisers; if not a cruiser, then a destroyer, a submarine or some other boat. An all- welded submarine, he said, would mean a greatly improved submarine. Saving of weight would permit more ef- fective handling of these boats. Welded submarines would permit of designs that would give the crews more comfortable quarters, and they would be oil as well as_ water- tight, and would not give off the oily streak that rises to the surface from a riveted submarine and gives the enemy a fine indication of where to drop depth bombs. Private yards cannot expect to take the lead in the construction of all- welded vessels, said Mr. Owens. When a boat is constructed in a private yard, the personnel of the yard, the archi- tects and engineers and the owners all are involved, and there are too many unknown factors at present to justify profitably all-welded construc- tion for private yards. A considerable amount of experimentation is neces- sary. For instance, it is known in a general way that welding of the hull plates moves the sides in and raises the bow and stern, whereas precise, specific data are needed. Experi- mental and investigational work will be costly, and it is only fair to look to congress to make the necessary appropriations, because the results ob- tained from such studies by the navy department would be passed on and would be of assistance to all Ameri- can shipbuilders and operators of boats under the American flag. Mr. Owens showed several views of ships that have been welded in Germany. One of them was a 46-foot vessel which the Germans welded in order to gather their preliminary data on the effects of welding stresses. The photograph plainly showed how, dur- ing the longitudinal welding of the hull, the bow and stern rose from the keel-blocks. Other photographs showed German bulkheads which had _ been welded with a 47 per cent saving in weight. That portion of Mr. Owens’ re- marks dealing with the progress in this country showed that welding al- ready has won a permanent place in ship construction here, even though it has not yet gotten as far as the hull and strength joints. In fact, the MARINE REVIEW—June, 1929 progress already made has been very effective in reducing the weight of new ships. He showed photographs of a great many different welds in ship construction. One particularly interesting job was the welding of a high pressure cyl- inder for an 11,000-ton vessel. This was a very complicated job. Valve ports in this cylinder had failed and to get at them from the interior, it was necessary to cut a hole in the cylin- der. Mr. Owens said it was very much like a surgeon puncturing a human anatomy in order to get at the in- ternal organs. This job was welded several years ago. This high pres- sure cylinder since has been in con- tinuous operation with satisfaction. Practical Welds Illustrated Photographs were shown of a great many welded jobs in connection with ship construction. Welding has been adopted as the standard practice at the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. in connection with many of the following items which he showed on the screen: Pipe flanges, pipe fit- tings and expansion joints; engine foundations, condensers, fresh-water tanks, ventilators and ducts, stern- frames, manhole coamings and covers, rudders, bilge keels, decks, bulkheads, bulkhead floors, ete., partitions for staterooms, shower baths, etc. One photograph showed the New- port News standard method of welding where a ship angle or channel passes through bulkheads. Such jobs result in absolutely watertight welds. Pipes are welded to the bulkhead walls, the pipe being bent first to the required shape and then welded permanently in place. Photographs were shown of a floating target which was_ welded throughout. The welded construction, effected a saving of 25 per cent in the cost and 11 per cent in the weight, as compared with riveted construction. He declared that he could not em- phasize too strongly the necessity for studying stress behavior in welding. It is necessary to have a knowledge of the stresses of different types of joints in order to be able to design welded joints properly. He recalled that early in his experience it was not unusual for buttwelds to fail with a cannon- like report hours after they had been (Continued on Page 66) 35