Why "Normandy" won "Queen Mary"

31
Probably, people will never stop dreaming about a time machine, until it is invented. Why? Yes, because I really want to know, and how it was then. And not just to learn, but also to compare with how it is now. It became better or worse, we became richer or poorer and, most importantly, if “yes”, then in what. And so far, such a “machine” really exists only in the imagination of science fiction writers, and ordinary citizens and historians invent various ways to look into the past. Here you will find cinema, literature, museum exhibitions, archives, and also such an interesting source as ... old newspapers and magazines. After all, one can not only draw on “modern information” from them, but also see the manner of presenting materials, the degree of intellectualization of society, and much, much more. For example, in the 30-s of the last century there was no “Wikipedia” and people who were interested in technology had to wait for the release of magazines corresponding to their interests. One of these magazines in the USSR was the journal Science and Technology, published in Leningrad. And it is enough to open virtually any of them at random, as we will find in it a lot of interesting and - indeed, actual even today! Well, for example, now on the Internet there are disputes regarding the speed and seaworthiness of the new American destroyer Zumvalt. Well, for example, in the same 1937 year, the ocean races for the Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic, which took place in those years, attracted great interest, to which France joined at that time and ... managed to take away the palm from the British. And this is how 39 Science and Technology magazine for 1937 told the reader about this event ...


Liner "Normandy"

«History 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 ship Normandy set a new world record for sailing speed from America to Europe and thus regained the speed prize. Until now, all ships, once deprived of the Blue Ribbon, never became its owners any later. The record of “Normandy” is all the more remarkable because it was staged in winter in stormy weather with head wind and snowfall.

“Normandy” completed the entire ocean route with a length of 2 978 nautical miles (5520 km) on the 4 day 6 minutes and 23 seconds with an average speed of 30,99 knot (57,39 km / h). She broke the last Queen Mary record on the 0,36 node and her own previous record on the 0,68 node.

What explains this seemingly unexpected success of the Normandy, which lost the Blue Ribbon last year, due to the launch of the new English super-powered 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 “Normandy” and “Queen Mary” flights, the latest stage of development of the transatlantic express movement began. These steamers their speed strictly correspond to the conditions of navigation between the ports of the English Channel and New York. Long-term experience of transatlantic shipping companies found that correct weekly flights across the ocean require four ships at a speed of 23 knots, with speed of 27 knots the number of vessels required reduces to three, and finally, at a speed of 30 knots for the same service two steamers. The construction of the "Normandy" and "Queen Mary" provided for the choice of this last option, which is advantageous both in terms of expenditure of funds and in attracting passengers. In accordance with this, the second high-speed steamer “King George V”, the future partner of Queen Mary, is being built in England. The enormous dimensions of both steamers are not at all excessive - this is only the necessary material basis for the development of this speed and for the placement of an economically advantageous number of passenger seats.

It should be noted that the practical implementation of the high speed of modern giant ships has been possible mainly due to the fall in oil prices. Over the past 10 years, the cost of this kind of fuel has decreased by 30%. In addition to cheaper fuel, of course, a great role was also played by the success of marine engineering, expressed in a decrease in the specific (by 1 hp) fuel consumption. Currently, the cost of fuel for the "Normandy" does not exceed those in the "Mauritania" in the last years of its operation, despite the fact that the latter did not have half the power of the mechanisms of the first. This fuel economy, however, does not yet indicate the commercial viability of building high-speed ocean express trains. Even the strong preference of the passengers of these ships and the very intensive workload of the shipping line is not able to recoup the cost of their construction. Giant steamships are systematically constructed in capitalist Europe at the expense of state subsidies in the hope of improving the affairs of the domestic industry and “supporting the international prestige of the nation.”


Former record holder - Italian liner "Rex"

The general similarity between the two steamers is not surprising, since each of them was intended for operation on the same route, under the same sailing conditions. However, they differ significantly from each other constructively - both in the shape of the hull and in the type of their main mechanisms. As for the "Normandy", it is very different 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 can see that its relative width is larger in all cases. This goes against the numerous basic formulas, according to which the resistance of the ship hull increases in proportion to the increase in the midsection area (the largest cross-section). When designing the Normandy corps, significant deviations from the usual forms and proportions were made, which were firmly established in the practice of shipbuilding and whose repetition would be clearly erroneous. The body of the Normandy, especially its front part, has an original appearance through the use of a special nose shape, proposed by Ing. Yurkevich. Instead of a long, sharp, with a direct divergence of the sides of the nose, characteristic of all high-speed vessels, the front part of the Normandy hull at some distance from the nose has a concave waterline, and the nose (stem), being sharp, at the water level passes into the droplet-shaped thickening.

The hollows in the bow of the Normandy hull make it possible for the water to flow smoothly around the sides, and they also completely exclude the formation of nasal waves. To this is added the smaller height of the waves going 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 was obtained.

Obviously, a ship of such size as the Normandy will never meet in the open ocean with waves that would have its hull length (in the Atlantic Ocean, the longest wavelength rarely exceeds 150 m), so 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 to the bow of the steamer only improves its seaworthiness. "Normandy" cuts a wave through and throws it to the sides, leaving the upper deck dry even in stormy weather. The speed of the "Normandy" is so great that the period of its pitching motion can never coincide with the period of the oncoming wave, due to which the amplitude of oscillations is quenched.


"Mauritania" in the 30-s of the twentieth century.

The effective form of the corps "Normandy" and gave her the opportunity to overtake the "Queen Mary". Thanks to this shape of the hull and careful selection of the shape of the outlets of the propeller shafts and the propellers themselves, it was possible to win up to 15% reduction in resistance compared to the normal shape of the hull. At the Normandy, the turbines were transferred electrically to the propellers in order to provide passengers with the greatest comfort: with the electric system, hull shaking and noise are minimized. If mechanical transmission is more profitable in terms of weight, volume occupied, and fuel consumption at full speed, electric transmission is more economical at medium speed and makes it possible to report full revolutions to the screws during reverse. The only drawback of electrical transmission is increased cavitation — a particularly harmful phenomenon that lowers the efficiency of propulsion and quickly destroys propellers of high-speed ships. This is due to the high speed of rotation of the screws, and the high speed of rotation of the screws during electrical transmission is inevitable due to the inability to increase the already huge electric motors. During the recent repair, 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 screws have a diameter of 4,84 m and rotate at a speed of 230 revolutions per minute. Although this is a very high speed, however, thanks to the successful form of their cavitation was able to reduce to a minimum.


Liner "Queen Mary"

The "Queen Mary" hull is very similar to the hull of its old predecessors - the famous steamers Cunard - "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 transfer of turbine work to the propellers, carried out at Queen Mary, greatly simplified the solution to the problem of fighting cavitation, since it was not difficult to reduce the speed of rotation of the screws by increasing their size. "Queen Mary" is 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 for a long time and rebuilt in order to eliminate the strong vibrations that arose due to the insufficient rigidity of the stern design. In general, it can be said that the British showed great conservatism and caution in designing their giant ship and in this respect were the exact opposite of the French.

Why "Normandy" won "Queen Mary"

"Mauritania" during the war in camouflage.

"Queen Mary" reached the factory tests on the measured mile speed in the 32,82 node while bringing the power of mechanisms to 214 thousand horses. forces, while the "Normandy" showed in the same conditions 32,12 node with power only in 179 thousand horses. forces Thus, the first in preponderance in 35 ths. Horses. Forces had an advantage only in the 0,7 node. This points to the remarkable advantages of the special form of the Normandy corps. The main mechanisms of the "Normandy", apparently, were designed to provide a large reserve capacity, or partially undergone some re-equipment last winter, as there is every reason to assume that during the last record voyage, it developed 200 times thousand horses at times. forces If this is the case, then at present Normandy, having high-performance screws and an experienced machine crew, can develop speed on the measuring mile to 34 nodes.

"Normandy" / "Queen Mary"
The length between the perpendiculars 293,2 m / 294,1m
Maximum width 35,9 m / 35,97 m
Recess under load 11,2 m / 11,8 m
Displacement 66 400 t / 77 400 t
Capacity in reg. tons of 83400 / 81 300
Normal power in l. with. 160 000 / 180 000 »
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  1. +6
    26 January 2016 07: 40
    All this is described in sufficient detail in Belkin's book "The Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic", in full detail and accessible.
    1. +5
      26 January 2016 10: 17
      in general, it would be nice to recall all the Normandy developers on this tour ...
      One of the serious difficulties in creating a ship of such power as the Normandy was the manufacture of propellers. The real disaster for shipbuilders when switching to high-speed propellers was the phenomenon of cavitation, which led to premature failure of the propellers. On the recommendation of Yurkevich, another representative of the Russian scientific school of applied mechanics, A.N. Kharkevich, was involved in solving this problem, who had extensive experience in creating propellers. Engines of the V.P. Arshaulov system were installed on the “Normandy”, the salons were masterfully painted by Russian artist Alexander Yakovlev.
    2. xan
      +2
      26 January 2016 13: 49
      There is a very beautiful film about that time, conveying the atmosphere of sea voyages from Europe to America, "The Legend of the Pianist". There will be no such migration of peoples. Millions strove to America for a better life.
      I watched it about 10 years ago, and since then I have been dreaming of a cruise on a liner around Europe, everything fails due to family problems.
      1. +5
        26 January 2016 15: 38
        I remember reading a book called "The Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic" as a child, it was very interesting.
      2. +3
        26 January 2016 18: 23
        I had an article - it will be necessary to place it here - about how immigrants of the 3 class moved to the States at the end of the 19-beginning of the 20 century. Oh, this is something. As soon as they were not cast out. And they met their poster: beautiful Colombia in white clothes is standing off the coast of America, and crowds of savages with a mustache, beards in underwear, berets with knives in their hands and suitcases with the inscription dynamite are torn! But she keeps three dogs on a leash and they growl at them! Good, sincere such a poster!
        1. 0
          27 January 2016 05: 23
          Quote: kalibr
          I had an article - it will be necessary to place it here - about how immigrants of the 3 class moved to the States at the end of the 19-beginning of the 20 century. Oh, this is something. As soon as they were not cast out. And they met their poster: beautiful Colombia in white clothes is standing off the coast of America, and crowds of savages with a mustache, beards in underwear, berets with knives in their hands and suitcases with the inscription dynamite are torn! But she keeps three dogs on a leash and they growl at them! Good, sincere such a poster!

          Let's! I look forward to hi
  2. +8
    26 January 2016 07: 55
    Good article! Author plus. The author still missed the most important thing. The creator of Normandy was the Russian shipbuilder Vladimir Yurkevich. He was the creator of the hulls of Russian cruisers, and those unfinished after the Civil War. "there was an article about the fire on the Normandy liner in 1942, when the liner was being converted into a military transport in the United States, and how Yurkevich tried to restore the Normandy after the fire. And the author, apparently, considered it unimportant that Yurkevich offered his services to the company "Cunard Line" to create "Queens", but the British refused his services.
    1. +4
      26 January 2016 08: 59
      You read inattentively, however, this is the misfortune of many who come here. This is not the author considered insignificant ... "And this is how the magazine" Science and Technology "39 for 1937 told its readers about this event ..."
      This was considered insignificant by the Soviet magazine "Science and Technology" number 39 for 37 years. And it is clear that in the 37th he could not write about the events of the 42nd ...
      1. +2
        26 January 2016 11: 50
        Quote: kalibr
        This was considered insignificant by the Soviet magazine "Science and Technology" number 39 for 37 years. And it is clear that in the 37th he could not write about the events of the 42nd ...

        Either you misunderstood me or I expressed myself inaccurately. It's not about 1942, but about the beginning of the 1930s. I wrote that the Cunard Line company refused the services of V. Yurkevich when creating "Queen Mary." I read the author's books and they I like it very much, here is just a clarification. But the fact that they remember the creations of RUSSIANS abroad of our country, so for this the authors of this column, including many thanks to you.
        1. +1
          26 January 2016 13: 37
          The answer, most likely, is that in the USSR in the 30s they did not really like to write about the achievements and merits of emigrants abroad. Therefore, so little and in passing has been written about the participation of the Russians in the creation of "Normandy".
          1. 0
            26 January 2016 14: 45
            Quote: spravochnik
            The answer, most likely, is that in the USSR in the 30s they did not really like to write about the achievements and merits of emigrants abroad. Therefore, so little and in passing has been written about the participation of the Russians in the creation of "Normandy".

            Here on this I completely agree with you. And not only in the 30s, but probably before the perestroika itself. I don’t know how much it’s true, but at the level of rumors it was flashed in the publications that the products of the company "Republic" during the war, as and Sikorsky's seaplanes were banned from Lend-Lease supplies, because they are products of Russian emigrants. But I repeat that I read this in the yellow press.
            1. +1
              26 January 2016 18: 31
              Well, "Thunderbolt" was supplied, and who created it? Constructors of Russian and Georgian origin A. N. Seversky and A. M. Kartveli.
        2. 0
          26 January 2016 18: 26
          Well, I didn't understand that. It's just that the article that I dug up about Ing. Yurkevich is, but who he is ... not a word. By the way, to the questions of the painters who Sikorsky is, was it not the one who did "Muromets", they should have answered, no, not that one. He died. This is an emigrant Pole!
  3. +3
    26 January 2016 08: 05
    About the History of the struggle for the "Blue Ribbon" of the Atlantic Ocean, a good series of articles was in the Inventor and the Rationalizer ... they also told about the creator of Normandy Vladimir Yurkevich ..
    Thank you, Vyacheslav, a wonderful article and photo materials for it
  4. +5
    26 January 2016 08: 23
    Quote: inkass_98
    All this is described in sufficient detail in Belkin's book "The Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic", in full detail and accessible.

    There is one in my personal library. But once again, boast this wonderful vessel, it is useful.
  5. kig
    +5
    26 January 2016 09: 56
    December 12, 1941 "Normandy" was accepted (with the promised compensation) to serve in the US Navy. On Christmas Eve, Normandy was renamed Lafayette. It was decided that the Normandy should be transformed into a transport ship. In the absence of a sufficiently large dry dock, re-equipment began right at the pier. On February 9, 1942, a disaster occurred. At the Grand Salon, a team of workers was busy cutting the bulkheads with gas burners. Not noticing sparks, one worker accidentally set fire to a pile of life jackets. There were no firefighters on board then, and the fire extinguishing system was turned off. After 12 minutes, New York firefighters arrived at the scene, but could not get inside due to workers escaping from a burning ship. After an hour of chaos and confusion, firefighters finally began to extinguish the fire. Water poured onto the Normandy's boat deck began to accumulate on one side, causing a dangerous roll to starboard. The designer of the Normandy Vladimir Yurkevich arrived at the scene of the accident and said that there was a chance to save the ship by not letting it roll over if you open the kingstones and let the ship go to the bottom of the Hudson. But they didn’t even want to listen to him.

    At night, the roll increased. The fire went out. At about 2:45 a.m. on February 10, the Normandy slowly capsized to the port side and remained lying at the pier at an angle of 79 °.

    Twelve days after the fire, it was decided that all rooms would be pumped with air to restore buoyancy. But this meant that all pipes, masts and superstructure would be cut. Floating cranes were placed around the vessel to cut off all superstructures, pipes and masts. Divers sealed all the premises of the vessel.

    In 1943, the ship was leveled and on November 3, with a roll of 2 °, the Normandy hull was towed down the Hudson, where he would wait for his fate. Many suggestions were made regarding the fate of the ship. Some wanted to convert the Normandy into an aircraft carrier, but this idea was abandoned because of the cost — it was cheaper to build new ones. President Roosevelt asked William Francis Gibbs, one of the country's best naval designers, whether Normandy could be converted into a passenger liner. After discussing the plans and cost, it was decided to let the ship’s skeleton into scrap.

    In October 1946, Normandy was sold to Lipsett Inc for $ 160.
  6. The comment was deleted.
  7. +3
    26 January 2016 10: 12
    At Queen Mary, Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft mounts were mounted on deck to repel aerial attacks.
  8. +4
    26 January 2016 10: 20
    Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, the authors of One-Story America, crossed the Atlantic on the Normandy. They presented their impressions in the first chapter of the book.
  9. +2
    26 January 2016 12: 38
    The story of the winners is not complete, in 1938 Queen Mary took away the Blue Ribbon from Normandy. And the last winner in 1952 was United States with 240 hp and an average speed of 000 knots.
  10. +2
    26 January 2016 12: 46
    The liner is mentioned in the book by O. Berezhnykh "The largest ships". As a child, I reread it five times.
  11. +2
    26 January 2016 13: 30
    The Titanic also raced at full steam towards the "Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic"
    1. +2
      26 January 2016 13: 40
      Well, the Normandy wasn't in danger. On it, for the first time on a civilian ship, a navigation radar was installed.
  12. +1
    26 January 2016 16: 59
    It was an interesting time, records were set on water, land and in the air, now the ardor has died down.
  13. +2
    26 January 2016 17: 09
    Why did the fire on the Normandy get into the TM "Anthology of Mysterious Cases"? Because according to the proud words of the owners of the "Normandy" there were two wooden things on the ship: a piano and a cutting board. By the way, not the least role in the higher speed, with the lower power of the mechanisms, was played simply by the noticeably better air streamlining of the Normandy in comparison with the "sisters".
    1. 0
      26 January 2016 19: 46
      Quote: blizart
      Because according to the proud words of the owners of "Normandy" there were two wooden things on the ship: a piano and a board for cutting meat.

      This is not you confused with the "United States"? It was there that Gibbs asked Steinway to make an aluminum grand piano. And it was on this ship that the piano was the only wooden thing.
    2. 0
      26 January 2016 23: 02
      Thanks, I remembered. Also in TM?
  14. +2
    26 January 2016 18: 04
    But I still purely outwardly like Rex most of all. The Italians then came out stunningly beautiful ships and ships. Some light cruisers were worth what, like a heavy Bolzano.
    But the Rex itself is also very outwardly impressive ... although the displacement is thinner

    Displacement - 51062 tons;
    Length - 268,2 m;
    Width - 29,2 m;
    Draught - 8,5 m;
    Power plant - 136000 hp steam turbines;
    Speed ​​- 28 nodes;
    Passenger capacity - 604 people of the 1st class, 378 people - of the 2nd class, 410 people - of the 3rd class;

  15. aba
    +2
    26 January 2016 19: 15
    Great article! Thank you!
    And "Technology of Youth" was my favorite publication in my school years.
  16. +3
    26 January 2016 20: 03
    By the way, Rex found a similar bulbous influx, and the collapse of the nasal cheekbones is very interesting.



    Original video

  17. +1
    26 January 2016 20: 25
    I read about Normandy in Lev Skryagin's book "Secrets of Sea Disasters" !!!
  18. 0
    26 January 2016 23: 04
    Thank you for the article.
  19. +1
    27 January 2016 05: 14
    Was the "Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic" book published by different publishers? In my youth, the cover was black. Who will shed the light?
    The topic is very interesting. Thanks to the author! Well, tragedy / curiosity - how to look. 02/10/1942 the giant Queen Mary, carrying the Allied division, ran into the escorting British cruiser Curacao. Killed 338 people and, in fact, the light cruiser itself. The cap's directives forbade stopping along the route and prescribed a speed of 25 knots with the constant execution of the anti-torpedo zigzag.
    The film was recently interesting on one of the popular science channels (translated).

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