Super-Ships

Power, speed, all the more striking manifestations of FORCE are part of the great legend of Mussolinism which Il Duce daily bolsters up by fiery speeches and darting trips at the wheel of a racing car. Last week, as his own Minister of Marine, he prepared to carry the legend of super-power and superspeed into Italian shipping. Throughout the week he was closeted with designers who proposed two 40-knot an hour liners of 45,000 gross tons each. They would halve the time spent in reaching Rome from Manhattan. ...

Practicabilities. The-fastest liner in the world is the 30,704-ton Mauretania with a superlative speed of but 27 knots. Only frail, slender destroyers attain the proposed velocity of Signer Mussolini's liners, already christened by rumor the Duce and the Rex. Allegedly an Italian inventor has conceived the idea of supplementing the stern propellers with additional propulsive apparatus to be placed along the sides of the new ships. Reputedly Signor Mussolini is ready to sacrifice all cargo space to engines, subsidize the ships, and use them only for express passenger and mail service. At such a cost--and it would run into millions yearly--Italy could provide herself with two super-ships, presumably so designed as to be converted into warboats of great potency in time of need.