|
''City of Lowell'' was a twin screw passenger steamer launched on 21 November 1893 by Bath Iron Works and delivered in July 1894 for the Norwich & New York Transportation Company for use on Long Island Sound. The Norwich Line, operated by the New York and New England Railroad, placed the steamer on the overnight service between New York and New London, Connecticut. Passengers connected by rail at New London for Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts. The ship was in commercial operation until 1939 when apparently laid up awaiting scrapping. At the outbreak of World War II ''City of Lowell'' was acquired by the War Shipping Administration with eventual transfer of title to the War Department for use as an Army troop transport. The ship was sold to Potomac Shipwrecking Company of Washington, D.C. November 1946 for scrapping. ==Construction and design== ''City of Lowell'' was intended for operation in Long Island Sound and inshore waters served by the The Norwich Line in passenger service between New York and New London, Connecticut. The ship was designed by A. Cory Smith, a New York naval architect, and began as Bath Iron Works' eighth hull and first steel commercial vessel. ''City of Lowell'' was launched on 21 November 1893 and delivered 2 July 1894. The ship was steel hulled with five decks: lower, main, saloon, gallery and hurricane. The lower deck was devoted to the machinery spaces, 63 crew berths and "free berths" for passengers, 90 berths forward and 102 aft of the machinery space. The main deck was divided fore and aft by dedicated and entirely separate midships cargo space, about in length and capacity. Forward of the cargo space were engine room crew accommodations and machinery while aft was a social hall, officers state rooms and lastly a "ladies cabin" with six double berth state rooms, 27 "free berths" and toilets. The saloon deck, devoted to first class passengers, had 82 double berth staterooms and 24 "bridal chambers" with brass beds with a midships section arranged with a view into the engine room. Officers quarters, dining room, kitchen, café and 36 double berth state rooms were on the gallery deck. The two four-bladed bronze propellers, im diameter with a pitch of , were driven by triple expansion steam engines fed by six single ended Scotch boilers long and in diameter which each had three in diameter furnaces. Three boilers were placed on each side of the boiler room with engines, boilers and 90 tons of coal, enough for a round trip, taking up of the ship's midships length. Accumulated ash was washed overboard using Horace See's patented hydraulic ash ejector. Total power was 4,650 (IHP) at 125 revolutions per minute. The main engines drove two 70 horsepower electric dynamos located aft by means of a belt with each unit capable of lighting the 700 electric lamps and searchlight. The ship underwent no official speed trials, but outpaced all other vessels she encountered in initial runs and gained the nickname "Greyhound of the Sound" as a result. In a race with the steamship ''Priscilla'' she averaged . The use of twin screw steamers using this type of power had become popular over the six years before ''City of Lowell'' was launched and the ship was outfitted with instruments for performance measurements during regular operations to gather information about the new propulsion. On 29 May 1895 the ship's slowest service speed, 107 revolutions, was measured for indicated engine power, water consumption and boiler economy over a measured course with four boilers. On 30 May the same factors and speed were measured at 126.86 revolutions and six boilers for a "still water speed" of . The tests indicated high efficiency, estimated at 64%, for screw propulsion aided by the ships efficient hull design. 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「SS City of Lowell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|