ELECTRIC DRIVE Electric propulsion at sea, the power in that case being gen erated by the internal combustion engine, was first tried by Nobels in the "Wandal" on the Caspian in 1903, a vessel that has already been mentioned as the first motor ship. The German Navy adopted it in the case of the submarine salvage vessel "Vulcan" in 1907 and it was also tried in 1913 in a Canadian Lake vessel, the "Tynemount," where the current was generated by two Diesel engines of 25o B.H.P. apiece. She was followed by the Swedish "Mjolner," in which the current was generated by two turbines of 450 S. H. P. each. The American Navy, which has since brought the system up to its highest pitch of perfection, first tried it in their steam collier "Jupiter" of 20,000 tons dis placement, in which the turbine generator was of the Curtiss type and where the results were so successful that the system has been adopted in their latest and biggest battleships. The "Jupiter" is now the aircraft carrier "Langley." For cruisers and destroyers,
however, the United States Naval authorities have found that mechanical gearing is better.
Since the war there has been a growing tendency to favour electric propulsion for merchant ships, particularly in America, and with the benefit of the experience gained in the American Navy it has been possible to install large powers with perfect success. The most striking case is the Panama-Pacific Liner "California," employed on the intercoastal trade between New York and California. She is a ship of 20,325 tons built in 1928, her electric machinery generated by turbines giving her a speed of 18 knots. She is being followed by two sister ships. A similar installation has been chosen for the Peninsular and Oriental Liner "Viceroy of India," launched on the Clyde in 1928, and apparently for the new i,000-foot White Star Liner under construction at Belfast.