Squat new armed cargo ship is powered by 16 auto motors
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Title (Dublin Core)
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Squat new armed cargo ship is powered by 16 auto motors
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Article Title and/or Image Caption (Dublin Core)
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Title: Squat new armed cargo ship is powered by 16 auto motors
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extracted text (Extract Text)
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CALLED “Sea Otters” because they
suggest an animal swimming with
only its head out of water, armed
cargo ships of unprecedented design are
planned for mass production in U. S. yards,
to carry lease-lend aid abroad. Each 270-
foot vessel draws only 10 feet of water and
its decks are awash in all but the calmest
sea, making it the worst possible target for
torpedoes and gunfire. Under way, it sounds
like a fleet of motorboats, for it is driven by
16 automobile engines totaling 1,700 horse-
power.
The ship will trail no telltale smoke. A
crew of only 12 men operates it from a
structure resembling a
conning tower, which is
surmounted by a gun
for protection against
airplanes and small
surface raiders. Below
decks, capacious holds
forward and aft accom-
modate 1,500 tons of
cargo. Government officials estimate that a
Sea Otter can be built in less than two
months, and their shallow draft permits the
use of inland shipyards.
The designers sliced months from plan-
ning of the ships by selecting gasoline en-
gines available from automobile production
lines to power them. The motors are ar-
ranged in groups of four, each of these
groups being coupled through gears and
shafts to one of the four six-foot propellers,
mounted amidships instead of astern. Read-
ily available materials, employed through-
out, include stacks of inflated automobile
tires for the propeller-shaft bearings.
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Language (Dublin Core)
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Eng
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Date Issued (Dublin Core)
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1942-01
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pages (Bibliographic Ontology)
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111-112
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Rights (Dublin Core)
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Public domain
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Archived by (Dublin Core)
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Sami Akbiyik
Popular Science Monthly, v. 140, n. 1, 1942
