Ke Alakai o Hawaii, Volume VI, Number 27, 2 November 1933 — LARGEST COMMERCIAL SHIP IS ALL ELECTRIC; 75,000 TONS [ARTICLE]

LARGEST COMMERCIAL SHIP IS ALL ELECTRIC; 75,000 TONS

Popular Sclen.ce Monthly When the 75,000-tcai French liner Normandie starts next' spring on her first voyage westward, electrlca! power equivalent to the cdmbmed steam powers of the Leviathan, the Majestic, and He de France, will whirl her giant prope!ler* Electrical machinery will haul hcr ropes, ralse her anrhors, gulde her helni. A thousund eleetric servants wlll watch Over every iiem of comfort and safety of her 3,500 passengers and crew. ; Not only wlll the Normandie be the rnoat eompletely electrlfled shLp In the world, bui s3vt \vi!l |be the ftrst electrically-driven shlp to pil her might agalnst*the directly steam-driven ship in lthe race for transat!antlc supremacy. ! The 110,000-horsepower turblnes of th& record'breaking Bremen and Europa, and the 120,000- ! horsepower turbines of the Rex, all of whieh are 1 cannected to the prope!lers through massive re- ! (tuetion gears, represent the most advances and most powerful pr6pelling machinery entered in the race as it stands today. i With no motive but to provide greater eomfort, maneuverability, and speed, the $30,000,000 Normandie is the first liner of the North Atlantic to chaJlenge this traūition. Instead of spinning her propellers directly, or through gearirig, her four mamoth turbines will drive great eieetric generators. The electricity from these, i n turn, will drive four huge motors coupled to h- r propeller shafts. With from 160,000 to 200,000 eiectric horsepower at the inatant command of her engineers, this largest ever built is expected to mak.e the croesing between Havre and New York faster thaja aay other merchant 3hip that ever sailed the aeas. The American General is provklifi£ the electrical equipment for this new fioating palaee. To drive this monster ship, four motors had to bo built, eaeh mpre than twice as powerfui as any motor /used for any purpose on and more Ihan sev,en times more powerful most powerful steam locomotive ever built, The generators th&t rurnish the current to the motora produce more electricity tharx the total pjroduced in the stat«s. of North Dakota, MiaaieeippA». Wyoming, Nevada and Deleware.. Ths probiems of lightiiig, heating, cooking, cooling, reīrigeration; running elevators, winehea, eapst&ns, Were ali solved with electricity. No modern hoWl on land, no community, ean boast of such Uitj?nsive electrifica"tion as wili.be Xowad this aew ship. For these auxHiary &seds, a total of 18,000 eleetrical horsepower wiH be generated.