The New Cunarder Described - Daily Telegraph September 30, 1937

[guernseyguy]

The British Library has an exhibition on Newspapers running, amd among the free facsimiles is one for the Daily Telegraph for September 30, 1937. Although the article is quite long, I thought it worthwhile reproducing it as its rare to get close to such primary sources.

 

The front page has ads for 'Shipping & Mails', with P&O and CUNARD WHITE STAR heading the two columns. Cunard has the tandem service of AQUITANIA (6 days) and QUEEN MARY (5 days), departing Oct 6 & 20 (AQUITANIA) and QUEEN MARY (Oct 13 & 27).

 

On Page 17 is the following article:

 

IMPROVEMENTS IN GIANT NEW CUNARDER

 

BIG SAVING OF WEIGHT & SPACE

 

MORE ROOM FOR PASSENGERS

 

SECRETS IN DESIGN TO STOP ROLLING

 

From Hector C Bywater

 

Clydebank

 

Many new features will be incorporated in the new Cunard-White Star liner no.552, the Queen Mary's sister ship, which, it is hoped, will be named Queen Elizabeth.

 

As a result of the experience gained with the Queen Mary, hundreds of tons of weight and thousands of cubic feet of space are being saved.

 

Although the gross tonnage of the new ship will be greater than that of her predecessor, her total weight, or displacement may be less. This fact, coupled with her marked superiority in engine power, should make her without question the fastest and largest passenger ship in the world.

 

There has been some delay in the delivery of certain materials, but the builders, John Brown andCo., are confident that the ship will be ready for launching early October, 1938.

 

When I went onboard the ship this morning 3,000 men were swarming over her colossal structure. So deafening was the noise of riveting and the blast of welding machines that conversation was impossible, and all orders had to be conveyed by means of sign.

 

DIFFERENCE IN HULL

 

Even at first glance the difference between this future Atlantic greyhound and the Queen Mary leaps to the eye. The lines of the hull differ radically from those of her sister ship, the bows being much more raked, while the fore part of the ship below the water line resembles a hollow-ground razor instead of the plane of a knife.

 

It appeared to me as if the forward end of the ship will be more completely water-borne than is the case with the Queen Mary.

 

Massive web frames which are being fitted near the shaft and propellors should reduce vibration to vanishing point.

 

In her design no attempt has been made to imitate the stream-line principle favoured by continental builders. Strength, solidity and safety are the keynotes of the construction.

 

Secret elements of the design relate to the virtual elimination of rolling by an ingenious arrangement of ballast tanks and specially deep bilge keels.

 

Whereas the general conception of the Queen Mary was largely based on such prototypes as the Aquitania, that of no.552 is in many respects unique. Numerous surprises are promised with regard to the arrangement of the passenger accommodation and the decoration of public rooms.

 

With an overall length of 1,032ft, the new ship will be 14ft longer than her predecessor, but the beam at 188ft will be the same. Her gross tonnage is estimated at 85,000, an increase of more than 3,000 tons, and she will have machinery for a contract output of 180,000 hp., giving a speed of 29 to 30 knots.

 

In appearance the liner will recall the record-breaking Campania of the 'nineties, multiplied six or seven-fold in size. The hull is flush-deck- the top-gallant forecastle of the Queen Mary having been abandonned. There will be two enormous rake funnels 45 to 5oft in diameter rising to a great height and two pole masts.

 

A radical change is being made in engine room ventillation. Gone are the enormous deck ventillators of the first ship, which occupied much valuable space on the sports deck. In their place will be invisible airshafts carried through the ship's superstructure, and fitted with high efficiency torpedo fans.

 

FOURTEEN DECKS

 

Altogether there will be fourteen decks, including a sports deck, sun deck, and boat deck, promenade and main decks.

 

The layout of the machinery spaces is quite different from that of the Queen Mary, for instead of 24 main boilers there are to be only 12.

 

Thanks to the reduced space taken up by boilers and machinery in general, it will be possible to make a considerable increase in passenger accommodation, especially in the tourist and third-class categories.

 

The no.552 will be essentially a riveted ship, as electric welding is being employed on a very limited scale and only in internal structures.

 

The cost of the no.552 is unofficially returned as £5,750,000 an advance of £750,000 on that of her predecessor.

 

The liner is die to run her trials early in 1940 and should be ready to take up her duties in the spring of that year, thus inaugurating the weekly two-ship shuttle between Sounthampton and New York which has long been the ambition of the Cunard-White Star management.

 

__________________________________________________________________

 

Several things strike me about this - speed was obviously still a major concern as the Normandie had recently just won back both the Easterly and Westerly Blue Ribands - the Queen Mary would regain them the following year, and the Queen Elizabeth would never attempt it, with post-war marketing selling the pair as 'fastest' and 'largest' - wouldn't really do to have one with both claims. Also vibration and rolling were on everyones minds, with promises to 'reduce vibration to vanishing point' and 'virtual elimination of rolling' ('practically unsinkable', anyone?). Finally, love the dig at 'Continental builders', who by inference don't go in for 'strength, solidity and safety'!

 

Peter

[CruiseCallisto]

Excellent work - a very interesting article indeed. Thanks for sharing!

[travel-to-go]

The hull is flush-deck- the top-gallant forecastle of the Queen Mary having been abandonned. There will be two enormous rake funnels 45 to 5oft in diameter rising to a great height and two pole masts.Peter

 

Okay, allow me to show my ignorance (and thank you, Peter, for posting this! That must have been finger numbing work typing it all in! Go have a drink!)

 

Okay, what is meant by "flush-deck" and Top-Gallant Foc'sl?

 

To me, Top Gallant (I think) refers to a sail (topmost square sail? I am just starting to learn all of those sails, and I can't remember off the top of my head. Then again, maybe I'm totally off and Top gallant is a dance step or breed of cat!)

 

Thanks,

Karie,

who is ignorant on many ship-design terms

[patwell]

Peter....thank you so much for the huge effort it took to share this wonderful information with all of us. It's so interesting to read the details of the planned improvements back then and relate it to what is being done today. So did their innovative plan cure the dreaded roll?

 

I'm with Karie in my lack of knowledge about some of the terms but it's enough for me to get the essense of what was obviously planned to be an innovative style of ship. I treasure a couple of old books I found that are quite descriptive in the building and details of all the ships of the old Norwegian Amerika Line. Reading one of them is a slow go as it's in Norwegian and while i am able to read it, albeit it slowly, the nautical terms throw me completely off. But again, it's the essense of the information and the remembrance of those wonderful ships that matters. We'll never see their like again sadly. Thanks, Peter. Cheers, Penny

[guernseyguy]

Okay, what is meant by "flush-deck" and Top-Gallant Foc'sl?

I think it means that the deck in front of the superstructure, over the bow - is flat - all at one level, unlike the Queen Marys which had a well deck before the superstructure. The theory was that the well deck would help protect the superstructure in heavy seas - Titanic had one too, but Mauretania did not - and after experience on the Queen Mary they decided that they could go without.

 

Peter

[guernseyguy]

So did their innovative plan cure the dreaded roll?

 

It may have helped a bit - the Queen Mary was a notorious roller - and the Queen Elizabeth does not seem to have had such a poor reputation - but it was only really with the fitting of stabilisers in the '50s that they sorted out the roll - and of course, on any liner then as now, nothing to do with pitch, heave, yaw or sway!

 

Peter

[patwell]

Quote Guernseyguy "and of course, on any liner then as now, nothing to do with pitch, heave, yaw or sway!" :eek:

 

Excuse me...I'll be right back...after I take my bonine, put on my sea bands, eat a green apple, swallow a couple of ginger tablets with a glass of ginger ale and press on a few acupressure points!! Did I miss anything? :p

 

Cheers, Penny...who saw a picture of the original Queen Mary's roll and decided that none of the above would probably have helped many people!! :rolleyes:

[guernseyguy]

Did I miss anything? :p

 

Oh, I find three Dry Martinis tend to resolve things one way or the other......;)

 

Peter

[pb82]

nothing to do with pitch, heave, yaw or sway!

Peter

Pardon my ignorance, I understand "roll, pitch, and yaw" (motion about each 3-D axis), but what are "heave" and "sway"? I'm especially concerned about "heave", which just sounds like requiring more whisky and ginger than I can take at once.

 

Paul

[guernseyguy]

Pardon my ignorance, I understand "roll, pitch, and yaw" (motion about each 3-D axis), but what are "heave" and "sway"? I'm especially concerned about "heave", which just sounds like requiring more whisky and ginger than I can take at once.

 

Paul

 

AFAIK they are the two remaining degress of freedom in a ships movement - Heave about the vertical axis, (along with pitch) - i.e. 'up and down' (vs 'fore & aft = pitch) and 'sway' about the lateral axis (along with roll and yaw) - i.e. 'side to side' (vs port <>starboard = roll). Though I suspect any ship heaving & swaying is also doing the others, so it might be impossible to tell them apart! I also suspect heave has other, non-marine engineering connotations!

 

Peter

[travel-to-go]

AFAIK they are the two remaining degress of freedom in a ships movement - Heave about the vertical axis, (along with pitch) - i.e. 'up and down' (vs 'fore & aft = pitch) and 'sway' about the lateral axis (along with roll and yaw) - i.e. 'side to side' (vs port <>starboard = roll). Though I suspect any ship heaving & swaying is also doing the others, so it might be impossible to tell them apart! I also suspect heave has other, non-marine engineering connotations!

 

Peter

I would have guessed heave to be more of a surging motion- Like a ship under power might do when full into the current or waves,while sway would indicate a lateral motion, not around a central axis, but with the entire structure moving side to side.

 

Karie,

"Yo, ho, heave, ho" (Song of the Volga Boat Man)

[PRINSENDAM]

 

Karie,

"Yo, ho, heave, ho" (Song of the Volga Boat Man)

 

 

 

And also sung by the chorus in the Mikado.... "A Wandering Minstrel I "

 

Stephen