HC Deb 01 March 1900 vol 79 cc1423-4
SIR FORTESCUE FLANNERY () Yorkshire, Shipley

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty if he can see his way to state the longest time that the water-tube boilers of any of Her Majesty's ships have been under continuous working at full power at sea without developing defects, and the consumption of coal per horse power developed during such working.

THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMLRALTY (Mr. GOSCHEN, St. George's.) Hanover Square

The longest run under continuous sea-going full power is that of the "Diadem" in December, 1898, when she was under weigh for sixty-nine hours for a distance of 1,330 knots at an average indicated horse-power of 14,268 and an average speed of 19.27 knots an hour. The coal consumption for all purposes was 2.16 1b. per indicated horse-power. No defects to speak of were developed during the run, and these did not affect the steaming, the power and speed being maintained up to the end. I may add that the "Powerful," which left for the China Station in 1897, has in the course of her commission gone through speed trials which, though of shorter relative duration, are of equal interest. In a run from Hong Kong to Manila in March, 1899, she steamed for twenty-seven hours a distance of 540 knots, at an average speed of 20.2 knots an hour, and an indicated horse-power of 19,600. Her coal consumption was 2.6 1b. per indicated horse-power for all purposes. No defects were developed. In the previous year she had gone through a similar trial run with equally good results. In regard to the four hours full speed trial, the captain wrote— We averaged over 23,000 horse-power, and were well over 24,000 horse-power one hour, and the average number of revolutions for the four hours was just over 110 per minute, which in smooth water would give over 21.5 knots an hour. Engines and boilers worked perfectly. Now, surely, in the name of all the gods of common sense, this result ought to be considered absolutely satisfactory. Remember we had not got hand-picked coal, and that practically we are in the tropics—thermometer in my large airy cabin 88. So, proportionately, our trial is at least as good as the contractor's 25,000 horse-power one, with hand-picked coal and a temperate climate.