Elvis Hargrove wrote in a message to Jim Dunmyer:
-> Do you have for-sure knowlege of this sort of driveline being used on
-> surface ships? My information says that most are driven by
-> mechanically-driven
 EH> Jim, I've only served on a few ships being something of a
 EH> landlocked sailor, but I was assigned to "Wiper" duty on two
 EH> of them, and they used Fuel oil -> boiler -> steam turbine
 EH> -> AC generator -> 3 Phase motor -> gearbox -> prop shaft ->
 EH> prop, type power transmission, and I believe that was
 EH> typical for ships of that era. Designed roughly 40-50 years
 EH> ago. Dunno what they're doing NOW, but we thought that was a
 EH> very flexible and adequately efficient drive train at the
 EH> time.
 EH> Another ship was Diesil -> AC generator -> multiphase AC
 EH> motor (Multi-pole switchable) -> propshaft -> propeller. 
 EH> One of those Diesil gensets would power a small town I was
 EH> told. The whole engine room, (Four gensets) could drive that
 EH> flatbottomed scow over twenty knots. (And the deckplates
 EH> vibrated like it was coming apart!) Normally only one genset
 EH> was ON-Line with another idling.
 EH> Such a system would make a HECK of a backup HOMEPWR setup! 
 EH> Ian could run his whole shop off the one idling.
Sorta makes you wonder what happens to that stuff when they scrap out one of 
those old ships,  doesn't it...?    :-)
Just how big was this stuff,  anyhow? 
email: roy.j.tellason%tanstaaf@frackit.com 
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