Fishing vessels show the way
The Yokohama-MAN engine of the ‘world’s largest motor tanker’ – 1961-style
In the 1960s and before, The Motor Ship had a sizeable staff, and with large numbers of ships built in Britain, and others visiting UK ports, it was not difficult to view ships and write about them.
The British shipping and shipbuilding industry seemed willing to accommodate the press, so first-hand accounts were the norm. it seemed any type of vessel was worth a visit, and, true to form, the September 1961 edition of The Motor Ship carried a description and photographs of a Soviet trawler which had called at Tilbury to discharge an uncharacteristic cargo of bagged sugar. At 265ft length oa and an eight-cylinder 43cm-bore Prague trunk-piston main engine the Leon Paegle was probably large enough to merit the detailed coverage, despite being a mere ‘fishing boat’.
Trawlers featured strongly in the current issue 50 years ago, with a “unique trawler propulsion plant” receiving equal billing. This comprised twin four-cylinder Bristol Siddeley-Maybach 394bhp engines, running at a constant 1,400rpm, driving a single Hindmarch-Berg CP propeller. The constant speed output from the gearbox was harnessed to drive a 95kW generator to power the trawl winch. One feature of the arrangement was to provide low maintenance levels, taking into account the lack of qualified engineers – with routine maintenance limited to checking oil levels, cleaning filters and, after 10,000 hours, replacement in dock of both main engines with factory-reconditioned units.
Not all was fishing-related. The emerging Norwegian merchant fleet was described briefly, as was a new development by Blohm & Voss in what was to become the ro-ro market – “portable” – now better known as ‘hoistable’ vehicle decks, installed in a pioneering Hoegh Autoliner. And the launch of the “world’s largest motor tanker” – a 249m 92,000m3 behemoth from Mitsubishi in Japan, powered by a MAN-designed 12-cylinder 22,000bhp main engine.
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