Carrying Canadian Troops: The Story of RMS \u3cem\u3eOlympic\u3c/em\u3e as a First World War Troopship

In the long adventurous life of Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Olympic, the older sister of the ill-fated RMS Titanic, the time she spent as a troopship ferrying Canadian troops during the First World War is a notable but frequently overlooked part of her career. Olympic was cheered enthusiastically by Canadian troops who sailed aboard her, respected as the “Old Reliable,” praised for services rendered to other ships, and honoured for her own success in attacking an enemy submarine. Carrying more Canadian soldiers than any other troopship, Olympic was an important part of Canada’s war effort. Able to accommodate close to 6000 troops at a time, Olympic made ten round trips from Liverpool to Halifax between March and December 1916. On the return voyages she carried wounded soldiers and civilians back to Canada. For the next two years Olympic continued to ferry Canadian and American troops across the Atlantic, and in 1919, brought the victorious soldiers home. Although she was once a household name in Canada, Olympic’s wartime service has since slipped into obscurity. Most information on Olympic as a troopship is derived from the memoirs of the Olympic’s wartime Captain, Sir Bertram Hayes. Using Hayes’s account as a framework, this article helps to further illuminate Olympic’s wartime history with new material such as diaries, and other sources housed at the National Archives of Canada and at the hitherto largely untapped Archives of the Canadian War Museum. These sources provide interesting details of the experiences of sailing on the vessel and of life on board, including the difficulties of embarkation and disembarkation, the danger from submarines, and the general supply and handling of this large ship in frequently hazardous circumstances

The promise of eutectics for aircraft turbines

The current status of the first generation eutectics, gamma/gamma transition - delta and NiTaC-13, is described in detail. Several second generation systems, such as gamma/gamma transition - alpha and NiTaC 3-116A, gamma - beta, and COTAC 74 are also reviewed with particular emphasis on their critical physical and mechanical properties, future research directions, and potential applications. Results of recent cost-benefit analyses of eutectic turbine blades are discussed

A management model for selecting major subcontractors in the aerospace industry

Management model for selecting major subcontractors in aerospace industr

Hydrogen environment embrittlement

Hydrogen embrittlement is classified into three types: internal reversible hydrogen embrittlement, hydrogen reaction embrittlement, and hydrogen environment embrittlement. Characteristics of and materials embrittled by these types of hydrogen embrittlement are discussed. Hydrogen environment embrittlement is reviewed in detail. Factors involved in standardizing test methods for detecting the occurrence of and evaluating the severity of hydrogen environment embrittlement are considered. The effect of test technique, hydrogen pressure, purity, strain rate, stress concentration factor, and test temperature are discussed. Additional research is required to determine whether hydrogen environment embrittlement and internal reversible hydrogen embrittlement are similar or distinct types of embrittlement

Effect of exposure cycle on hot salt stress corrosion of a titanium alloy

The influence of exposure cycle on the hot-salt stress-corrosion cracking resistance of the Ti-8Al-1Mo-1V alloy was determined. Both temperature and stress were cycled simultaneously to simulate turbine-powered aircraft service cycles. Temperature and stress were also cycled independently to determine their individual effects. Substantial increases in crack threshold stresses were observed for cycles in which both temperature and stress or temperature alone were applied for 1 hour and removed for 3 hours. The crack threshold stresses for these cyclic exposures were twice those determined for continuous exposure for the same total time of 96 hours

P/M superalloys: A troubled adolescent?

The history of powder metallurgy P/M superalloy technology is reviewed with a comment on the state of the art, and speculates on the technology's future potential growth and maturity

Service users' expereinces of coercion and autonomy in inpatient mental health services

In forensic mental health services, the subject of autonomy is multi-faceted. Many service users in these settings have low motivation, therefore coercive practice may be used to aid recovery and prevent lengthy admissions. Restrictions can also be placed on service user autonomy to protect the welfare of the wider community. However, there is limited research regarding service users’ experiences of autonomy in forensic settings. This study employed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore eleven service users’ subjective experiences of autonomy whilst detained on low secure forensic mental health wards. Seven superordinate themes emerged; initial expectations of the ward, relationships with staff, perceived lack of autonomy, perceived sense of autonomy, compliance, motivators and changes over time. The findings suggest service users have varied experiences of perceived autonomy which can be influenced by their relationships with staff and perceptions of being provided with choice. In clinical practice, it could be helpful to consider how service user choice could be increased, such as providing options and ensuring service users feel listened to. It is particularly important to increase opportunities for autonomy as service users near discharge, to enable them to become more independent and break dependency on services

A contribution to the discussion on the safety of air weapons

Firearms legislation in the UK stems from the Firearms Act 1968 with its definition of a firearm as a lethal barrelled weapon of any description. The Act allows certain exceptions to be held without licence, most notably air weapons although these are limited by The Firearms (Dangerous Air Weapons) Rules 1969 and related regulations to below 12 ft lb (16.3 J) for air rifles and below 6 ft lb (8.1 J) for air pistols. Despite this there are occasional fatalities, typically 1 or 2 each year in the UK, from legally owned air weapons. In the USA there are over 20,000 visits each year to emergency departments due to injuries from air weapons and paintball guns. Despite this, limited research appears to have been carried out into the safety of air weapons and the present study tries to address this.Fresh samples of animal tissue were obtained from an abattoir or butcher and were embedded in ballistic gelatin. Pig heart, lung, liver and shoulder were used. By firing pellets into gelatin alone and into the combination of the gelatin and animal tissue it was possible to compare gelatin as a model for these tissues. The depth of penetration was similar but the residual track appeared to remain more open in the animal tissue. Pellets penetrated completely through the organ, with total penetration of gelatin and organ being typically around 10–15 cm.Samples of pig, cow and chicken skin were placed in contact with the gelatin or embedded in the gelatin to simulate the effect of skin on penetration into a body. Chicken skin had no effect, pig skin stopped the pellet and cow skin was perforated by the pellet. If cow skin was embedded in the gelatin there was little effect on the total amount of penetration, but cow skin on the front surface of the gelatin reduced penetration by about 30%.Computed tomography was used to examine the pellet track and to calculate the volume of damage produced. However, due to the similar densities of gelatin and organ a technique had to be developed to differentiate phases. A barium salt paste was applied to outer surfaces and iodine solution or barium nitrate solution containing red food colouring was injected into the pellet track to enhance the contrast of the track. The track through the gelatin tended to enclose itself whereas the track through the organ remained more open, presumably due to the inhomogeneity of the fibrous nature of the tissue.Pellets were also fired at construction materials (wood, plasterboard and brick) and computed tomography used to determine the volume of damage created. Pellets perforated single layers of wood and plasterboard and would embed in a second layer. However, if the two layers were in contact the pellet did not penetrate the first layer. An air rifle pellet could therefore perforate house construction materials, although the resultant kinetic energy would be low and further damage would be limited.Some of the possible physical parameters are discussed that might help predict the degree of damage caused, but from this study it is not possible to define a limit which could be proposed as safe

Advanced aircraft engine materials trends

Recent activities of the Lewis Research Center are reviewed which are directed toward developing materials for rotating hot section components for aircraft gas turbines. Turbine blade materials activities are directed at increasing metal temperatures approximately 100 C compared to current directionally solidified alloys by use of oxide dispersion strengthening or tungsten alloy wire reinforcement of nickel or iron base superalloys. The application of thermal barrier coatings offers a promise of increasing gas temperatures an additional 100 C with current cooling technology. For turbine disk alloys, activities are directed toward reducing the cost of turbine disks by 50 percent through near net shape fabrication of prealloyed powders as well as towards improved performance. In addition, advanced alloy concepts and fabrication methods for dual alloy disks are being studied as having potential for improving the life of future high performance disks and reducing the amount of strategic materials required in these components