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King George V Graving Dock, also known as No. 7 Dry Dock, is a former dry dock situated in Southampton's Western Docks. It was designed by F.E. Wentworth-Shields and constructed by John Mowlem & Company and Edmund Nuttall Sons & Company. It was formally opened by HM King George V and Queen Mary on 26 July 1933 although the final construction work was only complete the following year. At the time of construction it was the largest graving dock in the world, a status it retained for nearly thirty years. ==Construction and design== The dock was built as part of the westward expansion of Southampton Docks, then owned by the Southern Railway. There had previously been several dry docks in the port, each larger than its predecessor, but a larger dock was needed to accommodate the new passenger liners which were coming into service, including RMS ''Queen Mary'' () and RMS ''Queen Elizabeth'' (). The new dock cost more than £2,000,000 to construct.〔 The design of dry docks had evolved to mirror developments in ship design. Until the end of the 19th century, most ships had curved hulls, so dry docks were built with curved or semi-circular cross-sections, with steps (known as "altars") built in to support the wooden props which held the hull of the vessel in place. By the 1930s, ships were built with near-vertical sides; this was reflected in the design of the new dock which has steep sides with a restricted number of stepped altars, at the base of the walls. High-level altars were not required as the large ships could dock on three lines of blocks without the need for shoring.〔 The new dock was designed by F.E. Wentworth-Shields and constructed by John Mowlem & Company and Edmund Nuttall Sons & Company.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.bamnuttall.co.uk/history.html )〕 The dock took two years to build and required the removal of two million tons of earth. The dock was built virtually entirely of concrete, with granite dressings for the sills and caisson stops, the flights of steps leading to the floor and the coping of the walls at the entrance. The dock is long, wide and over deep and was capable of holding of water. The floor of the dock is thick at the centre line, tapering to thick at the sides.〔 The dock was provided with bollards at regular intervals on either side with others set into the dock walls. The caisson door, which weighed ,〔 slid sideways into a chamber at the right (east) of the entrance from the River Test. At intervals, there are vertical buttresses projecting from the sides of the dock; these prevented the bilge keels of vessels striking the base of the walls. The faces of the piers were protected to a depth of below the top with elm fenders.〔 The adjacent pump house held four pumps which could empty the dock in just over four hours.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「King George V Graving Dock」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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