Turbinia

[FSH 210 Sport]

Came across this video about the Turbinia.. It would be fair to say, this radical advancement in steam propulsion from design>prototype>demonstrator>universal in 7 years has never been equaled. The steam turbine also revolutionized electrical power generation.

This guy is an interesting fellow no doubt but packs a lot of info into a short vid. Of note to jet boaters, Parsons discovered cavitation, through experimentation he came up with several propellers one of which will look familiar to anyone who has taken their jet pumps apart.

This ship was the top fuel dragster of its day.

 

[zipper]

Must be something about the YouTube news feed. Here is a scaled down version.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Pretty amazing what Parsons was able to achieve with a 200 psi boiler. My Dad was in WWII and served on a merchant marine tanker hauling aviation fuel and bunker oil from Richmond Ca to the US base in the Aleutian’s, his tanker utilized a triple expansion steam engine. If memory serves it cruised at 12 knots. The triple expansion engines were easier to build and were used in all the Liberty ships as well. Steam turbines were used in the warships, such as the Iowa class battle ships which were capable of 38 knots, and were the only ships that could keep pace with the aircraft carriers of the day, back then aircraft carriers did not have catapults and relied solely on the carriers speed to be able to launch aircraft. Today I think the aircraft carriers are far and away the fastest ships on the sea capable of roughly 70 mph. I don’t think even the Aegis class frigates with their gas turbine / electric propulsion are capable those speeds. And unlike the Aegis frigates, in theory, the aircraft carriers can maintain that speed for 20 years without refueling using their nuclear powered steam turbines.

 

[Jim_in_Delaware]

Thanks for posting the videos!

It's amazing how well preserved the Turbinia is, especially for a boat that is almost 119 years old. Thankfully, Parsons had the foresight to keep her intact.

Jim