Professor John West: designer of SS Canberra
Michael Rhodes
Hoodude
Rhodes) wrote:
>Professor John West, designer of SS Canberra, died 4 November, 2003.
Please post a citation for this obituary. I can find no reference to
it through a Google news search nor in relation to the SS Canberra.
The SS Canberra is apparently the passenger ship; not the US Navy
heavy cruiser USS Canberra CA 70 <http://www.usscanberra.com/>.
Michael Rhodes
> On 9 Nov 2003 04:17:44 -0800, mig73alle...@yahoo.co.uk (Michael
> Rhodes) wrote:
>
> >Professor John West, designer of SS Canberra, died 4 November, 2003.
>
> Please post a citation for this obituary. I can find no reference to
> it through a Google news search nor in relation to the SS Canberra.
It hasn't appeared as an obituary anywhere - YET!
Michael Rhodes
> Rhodes) wrote:
>
> >Professor John West, designer of SS Canberra, died 4 November, 2003.
>
> Please post a citation for this obituary. I can find no reference to
> it through a Google news search nor in relation to the SS Canberra.
It hasn't appeared as an obituary anywhere - YET!
Hoodude
Rhodes) wrote:
>> >Professor John West, designer of SS Canberra, died 4 November, 2003.
>> Please post a citation for this obituary. I can find no reference to
>> it through a Google news search nor in relation to the SS Canberra.
>It hasn't appeared as an obituary anywhere - YET!
Okay
Michael Rhodes
> Professor John West, designer of SS Canberra, died 4 November, 2003.
From The Times, November 20, 2003:-
<John West>
<Chief designer of the Canberra who later concentrated on visionary
schemes for transport and recycling>.
Although he became senior designer of one of the great cruise ships of
the 20th century, John West had a working-class upbringing in
Newcastle, one of the worst places to live during the Depression. He
won a scholarship to the grammar school in Jarrow, and it was thanks
to the shipbuilding traditions of the town that he developed his love
of ships and the sea. He went on to study naval architecture at King's
College, Durham.
At 25 he joined the shipping line P&O, and by the time he was 27 he
was assistant manager in charge of technical and design work. It was
this that led to the chance of a lifetime. P&O wanted a modern cruise
liner to rival Cunard's ageing ships the Queen Mary and the Queen
Elizabeth, and in 1955 West was appointed head of the basic design
team. While working on the project he was to be promoted again and
again, until he was in overall charge of the design and supervision of
the building.
As well as his flair for science and design, West had another, and in
his opinion more important aspect to his life: he was a committed
Christian who sought to put his faith and the morality that went with
it at the forefront of his business dealings. One of his superiors
criticised him several times for taking a Christian stand in the
workplace, suggesting that he would never get on in business without
compromising it. West didn't compromise, and three years later he was
the fellow 's boss.
Several British shipbuilders were asked to tender for the contract for
what was to be P&O's largest ship (with a beam of 103ft and a length
of 814ft). The order was won by Harland & Wolff, and the initi- ally
unnamed vessel was built in its Belfast yard. It was known simply as
Yard No 1,621 until eventually she was named Canberra, which in the
Aboriginal means "Meeting place by the water".
The design was full of innovations. At 45,000 tons she was half the
weight of the old "Queens", yet she could accommodate more passengers:
the engines and funnels were aft, which allowed more passenger space
and reduced engine noise to a minimum while ensuring that unpleasant
fumes were left behind in the ship's wake.
The Canberra had the biggest all-welded superstructure of any ship
then built. The extensive use of aluminium reduced the ship's weight,
and so allowed an extra 200 cabins to be incorporated in the design.
Many of these could be miraculously transformed in minutes:
accommodating a family of four on the outward voyage to Australia, for
instance, and converting to two-berth cabins with private shower and
toilet for the return journey.
West was involved in every aspect of the design, from the engineering
to the spoons. He commissioned the interiors of public rooms from Hugh
Casson, and commissioned canvasses for them from a young artist called
David Hockney.
The Canberra's maiden voyage took place in June 1961, the fruition of
seven years of intense work. After twenty years of luxury cruising,
she was requisitioned in 1982 as a troop ship to serve in the
Falklands campaign. She was swiftly modified to be capable of handling
helicopters, and then spent 94 days at sea, steaming more than 25,000
miles with near-faultless efficiency.
Although Canberra was the apogee of West's career as a naval
architect, he went on to design, develop and supervise the building of
a tanker fleet for P&O which became known as Trident Tankers. He also
became Visiting Professor in Principles of Engineering Design at the
Royal Academy of Engineering and Visiting Professor with special
responsibilities in Environmental Engineering at Leeds University.
His Christian commitment never dimmed. He was a lay preacher and ran
bible study classes for teenagers at his church. He also worked as
chairman of the Movement for World Evangelisation, and the Filey
Christian Holiday Crusade. In the 1960s and 1970s Filey attracted
preachers from across the globe. It took place each September and was
attended by 3,000-4,000 people, who stayed for the week-long event in
unheated chalets and attended a wide variety of events from Bible
studies to concerts.
Although West developed a general cargo fleet for the National
Shipping Corporation of Pakistan, now working in private practice, he
recognised that it was unlikely that another vessel such as the
Canberra would be needed in the foreseeable future. So he looked to
nonmarine ventures. Among many other things, he designed swimming
pools for John Lennon and George Harrison, but his most notable
project was the Skyship, a means of transporting huge loads of cargo
and passengers, albeit relatively slowly, to inaccessible places. It
would be economical and environmentally friendly and a great help to
the developing world.
A Skyship model was produced, resembling the science-fiction image of
a flying saucer. This prototype was only 30ft long, but if produced,
the Skyship would have been as large as a 14-storey building. The
model flew successfully at Cardington in 1975, but funding for
development could not be found.
West was devoted to the developing world. He frequently visited
Africa, seeking to establish small industries and agricultural
projects that could be sustained by villages. He had similar interests
in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, where he took a particularly close
interest in waste-processing, with schemes for turning paper and
cardboard into clean fuel pellets, and converting plastics into a
hardwood substitute. By recycling of this sort, he argued, poor
countries could actually make money out of their waste. Reclaimed
rubbish could be worth something.
Proselytising for greener options, West vividly described landfill as
"burying five-pound notes until they became rotten". Ideas of his were
adopted in Germany and Japan. Meanwhile he became director general of
the Rural Village Development Foundation working in Ghana. Its
projects included soap manufacture, bee-keeping and the extraction of
palm oil by a hand process. In Tanzania his work included the
repairing of small engines, maize mills and water pumps, and the
training of local operatives.
In 1962, at just 35, West became the first person to receive the
Prince Philip Medal for Special Scientific Achievement. He went on to
chair the Fellowship of Prince Philip Medallists.
John West was a very private man, modest and even unprepossessing, but
he had a vision of a better future, a strong Christian faith, and
great integrity. He is survived by his wife, Margaret, whom he married
in 1953, and their daughter.
John West, naval architect and designer, was born on August 13, 1927.
He died on November 4, 2003, aged 76.