Søgning i bogen
Den bedste måde at søge i bogen er ved at downloade PDF'en og søge i den.
Derved får du fremhævet ordene visuelt direkte på billedet af siden.
Digitaliseret bog
Bogens tekst er maskinlæst, så der kan være en del fejl og mangler.
I20
THE SUBMARINE TORPEDO BOAT
been foreseen; they have simply shaken to pieces and
set up new difficulties which serve to accentuate the in-
herent troubles of the Diesel principle. All the later
boats were fitted with medium weight two stroke cycle en-
gines. Both the II and K boats, however, have had their
share of engine trouble as well. The main difficulties with
these engines seem to be in properly lubricating and cool-
ing the pistons, and considerable trouble has occurred in
the way of seized pistons and cracked cylinders. It is
hoped that in the newer boats many of these difficulties
will be overcome.
In view of all this then, is not the present reliability of
the gasoline engine to lie greatly preferred to the economy
of the Diesel engine? In time of war, the purpose for
which these boats are constructed, it seems to me that
efficiency is the required object to be attained no matter
what the cost. If the gasoline engine be attended with
other risks, are the dire possibilities of these risks any
greater than the unreliability of the Diesel engine? A
fair comparison of the two types of engines may be had
by considering for the moment the D class of boats, some
of the last to be fitted with the gas engine, and the per-
formance of any of the later boats. The ever readiness
and general efficiency of the D boats is to be favorably
compared with any of the larger and newer boats in our
own or any foreign navy.
Much comment has been made of late upon the gen-
erally considered remarkable performance of the German
submarines in the present war, and of the apparently
successful results shown by the Krupp and the German
M.A.N. Diesel engines with which many of these boats
are equipped. As a matter of fact these engines cannot be