Probably, people will never stop dreaming of a time machine until they invent it. Why? Yes, because I really want to know how it was then. And not just find out, but also compare with how it is now. It has become better or worse, we have become richer or poorer, and, most importantly, if "yes", then in what exactly. And so far, such a "machine" really exists only in the imagination of science fiction writers, and ordinary citizens and historians are inventing a variety of ways to look into the past. Here at your service and cinema, and literature, and museum exhibitions, and archives, and also such an interesting source as … old newspapers and magazines. After all, one can not only draw "modern information" from them, but also see the manner in which materials are presented, the degree of intellectualization of society, and much, much more. For example, in the 30s of the last century there was no "Wikipedia" and people interested in technology had to wait for the release of magazines corresponding to their interests. One of such magazines in the USSR was the journal Science and Technology, published in Leningrad. And it is enough to randomly open almost any of them, as we will find in it a lot of interesting and, moreover, relevant even today! Well, for example, now there are disputes on the Internet regarding the speed and seaworthiness of the new American destroyer Zumwalt. Well, for example, in the same 1937, the ocean races for the "Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic" that took place in those years aroused great interest, to which France just joined at that time and … managed to take away the palm from the British. And this is how the magazine "Science and Technology" 39 for 1937 told its readers about this event …
Liner "Normandy"
“The history of the struggle for the“Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic Ocean”has now been replenished with an extremely interesting event. At the end of March this year, the French passenger steamer Normandy set a new world record for the speed of sailing from America to Europe and thus regained the speed prize. Until now, all ships, once deprived of the "Blue Ribbon", never later became its owners. The Normandy's record is all the more remarkable because it was set in winter in stormy weather with headwinds and snow.
The Normandy completed the entire ocean route of 2,978 nautical miles (5520 km) in 4 days 6 minutes and 23 seconds at an average speed of 30.99 knots (57.39 km / h). She broke Queen Mary's last record at 0.36 knots and her own previous record at 0.68 knots.
What explains such a seemingly unexpected success of the Normandy, which lost the Blue Ribbon last year in connection with the commissioning of a new British super-powerful steamer? What were the material resources of the Normandy to achieve such a high speed, if its turbo-electric mechanisms were significantly inferior in power to the Queen Mary turbines?
With the flights of the Normandy and Queen Mary, the newest stage in the development of the transatlantic express movement began. These steamers, with their speed, strictly correspond to the sailing conditions between the ports of the English Channel and New York. Many years of experience of transatlantic shipping companies have established that for correct weekly voyages across the ocean, it is necessary to have four ships at a speed of 23 knots, at a speed of 27 knots, the number of vessels required is reduced to three and, finally, at a speed of 30 knots for the same service, only two steamers. The construction of the "Normandy" and "Queen Mary" provided for just the choice of this last option, which is beneficial both in terms of cost of funds and in attracting passengers. In accordance with this, the second fast steamer King George V, the future partner of Queen Mary, is being built in England. The huge dimensions of both steamers are not at all excessive - it is only the necessary material base for the development of the indicated speed and for accommodating an economically advantageous number of passenger seats.
It should be noted that the practical implementation of the high speed of modern giant steamers has become possible, mainly due to the fall in oil prices. Over the past 10 years, the cost of this type of fuel has decreased by 30%. In addition to reducing the cost of fuel, of course, the successes of the marine engineering industry also played a large role, expressed in a decrease in the specific (by 1 hp) fuel consumption. At present, the cost of fuel for the Normandy does not exceed those of the Mauritania in the last years of its operation, despite the fact that the latter did not have even half the capacity of the mechanisms of the former. This fuel economy, however, does not yet speak of the commercial viability of building high-speed ocean-going express trains. Even the decisive preference of the passengers of these ships and the very intensive workload of the steamship line are not able to recoup the costs of their construction. Giant steamers are systematically built in capitalist Europe at the expense of government subsidies in the hope of improving the affairs of domestic industry and "to maintain the international prestige of the nation."
Former record holder - Italian liner "Rex"
The general similarity between the two ships is not surprising, since each of them was intended to operate on the same route, under the same sailing conditions. Nevertheless, they differ significantly from each other structurally - both in the shape of the body and in the type of their main mechanisms. As for the Normandy, it differs sharply not only from the Queen Mary, but also from any other modern ship. If we compare the hull of the Normandy with the hull of other transatlantic steamers, we will notice that its relative width is in all cases greater. This goes against the many basic formulas, according to which the resistance of the ship's hull increases in proportion to the increase in the area of the midship (largest cross-section). When designing the Normandy's hull, significant deviations were made from the usual shapes and proportions that have become firmly established in the practice of shipbuilding and the repetition of which would be clearly erroneous. The body of the Normandy, especially its front, has an original appearance thanks to the use of a special nose shape proposed by Ing. Yurkevich. Instead of a long, sharp bow, with a straight divergence of the sides of the bow, characteristic of all high-speed ships, the front part of the Normandy hull at some distance from the bow has a concave waterline, and the bow itself (stem), being sharp, at water level passes with depth into a drop-shaped thickening.
The depressions in the bow of the Normandy hull enable the water to flow smoothly around the sides, and they also completely exclude the formation of bow waves. Added to this are the lower height of the waves coming from the middle of the body, and the smaller angle of their divergence. As a result, a large reduction in the power of the mechanisms spent on wave formation is obtained.
Obviously, a ship of such size as the Normandy will never meet in the open ocean with waves that would have had the length of its hull (in the Atlantic Ocean, the maximum wavelength rarely exceeds 150 m), therefore, the lack of buoyancy in the bow and stern of the Normandy in relation to pitching is not terrible. On the contrary, the strong concavity of the sides towards the bow of the steamer only improves its seaworthiness. The Normandy cuts the wave through and throws it aside, leaving the upper deck dry even in rough weather. The speed of the "Normandy" is so high that the period of its pitching can never coincide with the period of the oncoming wave, due to which the amplitude of oscillations is extinguished.
"Mauritania" in the 30s of the twentieth century.
The efficient hull shape of the Normandy made it possible for her to overtake the Queen Mary. Thanks to this shape of the hull and careful selection of the shape of the propeller shaft outputs and the propellers themselves, it was possible to gain up to 15% reduction in drag compared to the normal shape of the hull. On the Normandy, the turbines are electrically transferred to the propellers in order to provide passengers with the greatest comfort: with the electrical system, hull shaking and noise are reduced to a minimum. If the mechanical transmission is more advantageous in terms of weight, volume occupied, as well as fuel consumption at full speed, then the electric transmission is more economical at medium speed and makes it possible to report full revolutions to the propellers in reverse. The only drawback of electric transmission is increased cavitation - a special harmful phenomenon that reduces the efficiency of the propulsion unit and quickly destroys the propellers of high-speed ships. This happens due to the high rotational speed of the screws, and the high rotational speed of the screws during electrical transmission is inevitable due to the impossibility of increasing the already huge electric motors. During a recent renovation, the Normandy received propellers of a new original shape, the oblique arrangement of the blades of which significantly improved the water supply to them. The new propellers are 4, 84 m in diameter and rotate at 230 rpm. Although this is a very high speed, however, thanks to a successful shape, their cavitation was reduced to a minimum.
Liner "Queen Mary"
The Queen Mary hull is very similar to the hull of its old predecessors - the famous Cunard steamers - Lusitania and Mauritania. For "Queen Mary" the normal shape of the hull was adopted, the contours of which were only slightly modified as a result of careful and numerous experiments. The mechanical transmission of the turbines to the propellers, carried out on the Queen Mary, greatly simplified the solution to the problem of combating cavitation, since there was no difficulty in reducing the rotational speed of the propellers by increasing their size. "Queen Mary" was built very solidly and thoroughly, as indicated by the insignificance of alterations on it after the first season of operation. On the contrary, the Normandy had to be removed from the line and rebuilt for a long time in order to destroy the strong vibrations that arose due to the insufficient rigidity of the stern structure. In general, we can say that the British showed great conservatism and caution in the design of their giant steamer and in this respect were the exact opposite of the French.
"Mauritania" during the war in camouflage.
"Queen Mary" reached a speed of 32, 82 knots at the factory tests at a measured mile, bringing the power of the mechanisms up to 214 thousand los. forces, while the "Normandy" showed in the same conditions 32, 12 knots with a capacity of only 179 thousand los. forces. Thus, the first with an overweight of 35 thousand horses. forces had an advantage of only 0.7 knots. This points to the remarkable merits of the Normandy's specially shaped hull. The main mechanisms of the "Normandy", apparently, were designed with a large reserve capacity, or were partially refurbished last winter, since there is every reason to assume that during the last record voyage, she developed at times 200 thousand. forces. If so, the Normandy, with its highly efficient propellers and an experienced engine crew, is now capable of up to 34 knots at a measured mile.
Normandy / Queen Mary
Length between perpendiculars 293.2 m / 294.1m
Breadth overall 35, 9 m / 35, 97 m
Depth under load 11.2 m / 11.8 m
Displacement 66 400 t / 77 400 t
Capacity in reg. tons 83400/81 300
Normal power in hp with. 160,000 / 180,000"
