SHIPBUILDING AND SHIPPING;
RECORD
May 25, 1939
The “ Koningin Emma “
First of two fast motor ships for the passenger and mail service
between Harwich and
And below the
second “Prinses Beatrix” added by Peter Lee
SHIPBUILDING AND SHIPPING; RECORD May 25, 1939
The “ Koningin Emma “
First of two
fast motor ships for the passenger and mail service between Harwich and
The Zeeland Steamship Company,
When the two new motor ships Koningin Emma and Prinses Beatrix enter service shortly, the remaining two steamers will be
put into reserve for the
The first fleet of the company was
for a night service and consisted of three paddle steamers, Stadt Breda, Stadt Middelburg and Stadt Vlissingen. The
first was a 604-ton steamer, which had been built for the Isle of Man Steam
Packet Company as the Snae Fell, but sold for running the American
blockade. The other two were built in
1865, and were comparatively large ships, being of 1,622 gross tons. They also were intended as blockade-runners,
and had diagonal oscillating steam engines.
They were not ideal ships for the
The company’s losses during the war
were very considerable and immediately after it they approached the
Fairfield Company to build two new ships.
At that
The Koningin
Emma which will be first of
the two new motor ships to enter service, and will be followed by the sister
ship Prinses Beatrix, has been built specially to cater for new conditions arising
from the abandonment of the night service for which the older ships were
designed and, consequently, the deck passenger space has been the subject of
very considerable study. Notwithstanding
this, the company has been able to provide a large number of cabins. There is also ample accommodation for those
who wish to retire during the crossing.
The company is also developing an interesting type of excursion traffic
for which these arrangements are especially suitable. They run a series of two-day excursions for
those who like to make a trip across the
Passenger arrangement
First-class passengers will have every reason to appreciate the large
and superbly decorated public rooms, the much greater deck space, both covered
and open-air, than they had in the other three ships, and the attention which
has been paid to innumerable details which have been suggested as a result of
the long experience which the company has had in this crossing of the North
Sea.
If, however, the first-class passenger is agreeably surprised when he
steps on board, those who have been- used to traveling second class in this or
any other ship must be astounded at the provision which as been made for their
comfort and convenience and no doubt will be agreeably surprised that, instead
of being cramped on the poop or given a meagre allocation at the stern of the ship,
they have nearly a third of the whole vessel, and the public rooms, such as the
smoking room and the dining room, appear to be nearly as large7and as
tastefully decorated as those of the first class.
Both ships have been built under the supervision of Lloyd’s Register and
the Dutch Board of Trade. The general
arrangement plans on pages show the distribution of the passenger space. The capacity of the oil tanks is about 100
tons. This is enough for normal purposes
but when the vessels are on long excursions or cruises, arrangements have been
made for another 70 tons in a reserve bunker.
The double bottom extending the full length of the engine room can take
enough water ballast to ensure sufficient meta-centric height when such
abnormal conditions prevail. Similarly,
the normal supply\of fresh water, 20 tons, can be brought up to 100 tons.
Another
interesting point which a to be considered, and which
had not arisen when the steamships were originally designed, was the
development of motor-car traffic and so particular attention has been paid to
arranging for the transport of cars and of heavy road vehicles. Consequently, electric winches of T. B. Thrige make, with a lifting capacity of 2 1/2 tons, have
been arranged, and by doubling the tackle, loads up to 5 tons weight can be
taken on board. There is a garage aft
under the main deck. This will hold
about 25 cars of average size and a cargo trunk-way with large doors on each
side of the ship gives access to this garage.
For-ward there is a large hold reserved for mail, which forms an
important part of the traffic handled by the company, and this hold is also
arranged so that it can be used for motorcars if necessary.
The principal dimensions of the Koningin Emma are: -
Length, o.a.:
380 ft.
Length, b.p.: 351 ft.
Beam, moulded: 47 ft.
Depth to upper strength deck: 28
ft.
Maximum draught: 13 ft. 6 in.
Gross tonnage: 4,135 tons.
Net: 2,100 tons.
Number of decks: 5
Number of w.t. bulkheads: 9
Maximum number of passengers: 1,800
Passenger cabins: 52
Retiring rooms: 4
Total number of seats in
saloons about: 400
Total crew: 58
Total water ballast
capacity: 380 tons
Total hold capacity, inclusive of motor garage
and mail room about: 79.800 cu. ft.
Deadweight at maximum
draught about 750tons.
Speed at 13 ft 0 ¼ " draught: 23 knots.
Shaft H.P. of the two Schelde-Sulzer engines: 12.700 S. H. P.
So far as the passenger accommodation is concerned, the designers have endeavoured
to make the
There are two cabins deluxe with full toilet conveniences on this deck
and they are arranged with inter-communicating doors so that, if necessary,
they can be converted into one suite deluxe
At the
after end of the dining saloon is a pantry with full
serving arrangements to both first- and second-class dining saloons, which are
both on the same deck, the second-class, of course, being aft of the service
compartment. The kitchen is below and is connected by means of electric lifts with
this service pantry, and with the bars in the various saloons in first and
second-class. There is thus an easy
central service.
In designing the ship,
special attention has been paid to placing the saloons in those parts where
least discomfort would be experienced when the vessel is pitching in rough
weather. Many passengers consider that
this pitching movement is more uncomfortable than rolling and the designers
have therefore made these saloons as central as possible.
Above the first-class dining saloon is a large smoking room or general
lounge. The main entrance to it is from
a wide stairway with heavy-plate-glass doors and plate-glass screens framed in
ornamental bronze. The easy chairs and settees are very
comfortable and an interesting feature, to which travelers in these latitudes
are not accustomed, is the fact that the furniture is not screwed down to the deck but can be freely, moved about as is the case on the
largest liners. There is a thick pile
carpet and any tendency to slipping is checked by the fitting of substantial
India-rubber castors. This saloon is 9
ft. high and passengers have excellent views through large plate-glass
windows. There is a large cocktail bar
at one end.
Above
this is a sun deck with a veranda open at the back and
a number of deck seats are arranged and there is considerable shelter
space. On this deck, passengers are at a
considerable height and obtain excellent views.
To reach these various decks, there is an imposing central staircase and
a number of supplementary smaller stairways from deck to deck at convenient
points in the ship.
The second-class dining room, to
which reference has already been made, has, above it, a lounge on lines
somewhat similar to the first class, with ingenious arrangements of folding
windscreens which can be extended aft about 26 ft. on each side, thereby
affording considerable shelter against a keen wind. These are in the form of heavy steel doors
with substantial hinges and they can be folded to provide supplementary enclosed
accommodation during the wintry weather.
The decoration of the rooms was
designed by Mr. W. Vreeda of
Special pains were taken in the
design to construct a ship, which would be as free as possible from
vibration. For that reason, the engines
and propellers had to be carefully- balanced and as much clearance as possible
between the propellers and shell plating has been allowed. During the last few days, a series of trials
has been carried out with a view to finding at what speed and propeller
revolutions the maximum comfort can be provided and, of course, thereby
overcoming those awkward critical speeds which everyone understands who has
much to deal with ships. Prof. C. Zwikker, of
In
view of the high speed of the ship, extensive tests were carried out in the Wageningen Tank.
Special attention was also
given to the above-water form. In view of the wind resistance of the considerable superstructure
at high speed. In order to obtain
minimum resistance as much as possible of the
above-water part enclosed
contributing at the same
Further, the separate deckhouses and the
funnel have been streamlined.
Resistance
tests made in the wind tunnel of the National Aero Laboratory at
Embarking and disembarking takes
place by means of high and wide
doors in the ship's side, below the main deck.
Through doors there is access to spacious entrances, one for first-class
passengers, the other in the after-part for second
class. Between these entrances are four
retiring rooms, two of which are for the higher and two for the lower
class. The beds are gratuitously put at
the disposal of passengers during the short crossing.
There are eight lifeboats, able to take 440 persons. For the foremost three boats on each side, a
special type of Schat davit has been designed, which
enables the fully loaded boats to be put quickly and safely outwards for
lowering. These lifeboats are placed on
sloping sides of the boat-deck, as shown in the illustration on the following
pages. This arrangement has been designed
specially to embark rapidly a large number of persons while the boats are still
resting on their supports. For the two
aftermost lifeboats, the
more conservative arrangement and normal turning-out davit type has been used.
It was impossible to increase the
number of lifeboats and so supplementary lifesaving devices have been fitted. These include 20 or 30 life rafts, each of
them suitable for keeping afloat some 20 persons.
Both the bower-anchors and cables
are worked by a Thrige electric windlass. For mooring and warping, four electric
capstans by the same makers are fitted, three of which have a lift of 5 tons
and one of 10 tons. The steering gear is
of John Hastie manufacture.
The electric installation, carried
out by N.V. Van Rietschoten & Houwens,
Rotterdam, is particularly complete and includes extensive illumination, while
all auxiliary machinery for pumps, etc., in the engine room, the cargo winches,
boat winches, windlass, ventilation fans, steering gear, the galley and pantry
apparatus are electrically operated.
For communication between the
members of the staff an automatic telephone installation is available, which
has been so made that as soon as the vessel is moored the installation can be
connected to the town's telephone circuit.
In addition, a loud-speaking installation has been installed for
communication to the passengers.
Apart from the main-installation
there is also an emergency power station, which is on the promenade deck,
consisting of a 32-kW. dynamo and a storage battery of
large capacity. In the event of a
disturbance of the main power station, the emergency\- installation
automatically comes into operation.
The propelling machinery consists of
two sets of Schelde Sulzer
two-stroke diesel engines developing a total of 12,500 S.H.P. Consideration of
the machinery requirements, both as regards economy and
manoeuvring qualities
and the satisfactory performance of the Belgian cross channel passenger
vessels, Prins Baudouin and Prins A1bert, fitted
with diesel engines, led to the decision in favour of diesel machinery-.
The engines, which have similar main
dimensions to the engines of the Belgian cross-channel
motor ships, were built
by the De Schelde Company, which has had considerable
experience in building Sulzer high-speed diesel
engines.
Each
engine, which is rated at 6,250 S.H.P. at 250 r.p.m. has 10 cylinders, 580
mm. bore and
840mm. stroke, the mean effective pressure being 72.5 lb. per sq. in.
The bedplate and engine framing are
of cast steel. Cylinders, which are of
cast iron, have loose cast-iron, have loose cast iron liners and covers of cast
steel. At the lower end of the cylinder,
distance pieces are provided to isolate the cylinders from the engine
framing. Cooling of the cylinders and
covers of the main engines, auxiliary engines and compressors are effected by fresh water.
The pistons of the main engines are cooled by
lubricating oil. At the forward end of the engines,
two scavenging pumps and a lubricating-oil cooling pump are fitted, driven by
the main engine crankshaft.
The fuel pumps, one for each
cylinder, are driven by one symmetrical cam, serving for ahead as well as for
astern direction. As usual with the Sulzer design, there is a long pipe between the fuel pump
and the fuel valve, which gives the desired
On test-bed trials, during which the
engines ran at full load for 12, hours, the fuel consumption was 170 grammes per S.H.P. per hour (0-371 lb.). At
normal service load, this will be reduced to 167 - 5 grammes.
Electric current is supplied by
three diesel-driven generators each rated at 145 kW. 220 volts D.C., the
generators being supplied by Smit, of Slikkerveer, while the 6-cvlinder diesel engines are of Sulzer manufacture.
The generators are arranged forward of the main engines, thus making it
possible to have a lower deck height at the side and allowing for a better
arrangement of auxiliaries.
For the @supply of starting air
there is, in addition to the electrically operated air compressor a
diesel-driven compressor of the 'Junkers opposed-piston type. In a recess at the forward end of the
engine-room a small Schelde-Yarrow boiler is
arranged. Automatic oil-firing plant for
the boiler was, supplied by Laidlaw
Drew & Co. Ltd.,
The scavenging pumps have their
suction in the engine room through a Burgess silencer; the suction noise of the
piston-type air pumps is thus practically eliminated. Exhaust Pipes of all diesel engines are
provided, with Schelde-Burgess silencers, and the
walls and the top of the engine-room casing are provided with Burgess acoustic
pads, which have a remarkable damping effect in the engine room.
The Prinses Beatrix will follow about four weeks
after the Koningin Emma, which is scheduled to sail on her maiden voyage from
