CHAPTER XVII
HOW A WARSHIP IS BUILT
When it is decided to build a certain ship, the first thing to be done is to draw it on paper. The Admiralties of the world, and also the great shipbuilders, have each their own chief designer installed in a big, light, quiet office fitted with large strong, flat tables at which work a number of draughtsmen.
The naval authorities tell the "chief" in general terms what they want the ship to be capable of, and he determines its size and form. Then the draughtsmen work out his ideas on paper, themselves deciding upon the minor details, until they have produced exact representations of the ship which is to be. Some draughtsmen deal with the actual hull of the ship, while others design the various fittings and minor details, all working, of course, under the constant supervision of the chief.
In this connection one may perhaps allude to a matter which the general public often seems to misunderstand—the work and functions of a draughtsman. I have heard people say of a boy that he is good at drawing so they think of making a draughtsman of him. Now the point is that the actual drawing is perhaps the least important part of a draughts
man's work. He has to know what to draw. He is given just a rough idea of something and from that he has to produce a perfect design, bearing in mind that the thing to be made must well fulfil its purpose, must be easy and cheap to construct, must be strong enough yet not too heavy, must be made of the most suitable material and so on. He has to possess a good deal of the knowledge of the skilled workman, he has to be something of a scientist and a good mathematician in addition to his ability to make neat and accurate drawings. So, you see, these men whose minds conceive the details of our great ships are men of long training and experience, with far greater knowledge and skill than we sometimes give them credit for.
Anyway, there they stand, each at his own table, bending over his own drawing-board, each doing his own particular share towards producing the perfect ship.
But when all is said and done, there are limitations to the cleverness of the cleverest among us, so the next step, after the draughtsmen have done their best, is to test what they have done by experiment.
Years ago a certain Mr. William Froude interested himself in the question of the best shapes for ships, and he found that by making an exact model of a ship and then drawing that model through water it was possible to foretell just how that ship would behave. He built himself a tank for the purpose of these experiments at Torquay, where he lived, and by its aid he added a very important chapter to the science of shipbuilding.