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Steamship: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Steamship
The first iron steamship to go to sea was the 116-ton Aaron Manby, built in 1821 by Aaron Manby at the Horseley Ironworks, and became the first iron-built vessel to put to sea when she crossed the English Channel in 1822, arriving in Paris on the 22nd of June. This vessel carried passengers and freight to Paris in 1822 at an average speed of 8 miles per hour, marking a pivotal moment in maritime history. Before this, ships were limited by the constraints of wood and sail, but the Aaron Manby demonstrated that iron could be used to build a vessel capable of crossing open water. The success of the Aaron Manby paved the way for future innovations in shipbuilding, leading to the development of larger and more powerful steamships. The transition from wood to iron was not just a change in material, but a fundamental shift in the way ships were designed and built. The iron hulls were much stronger and more durable than wooden hulls, allowing for larger ships that could carry more cargo and passengers. The Aaron Manby was a testament to the ingenuity of the engineers and builders of the time, who were able to overcome the challenges of building a ship out of iron. The success of the Aaron Manby also demonstrated the potential of steam power to revolutionize maritime transport, leading to the development of the steamship as a major mode of transportation in the 19th and 20th centuries.
From Paddle Wheels To Screw Propellers
The key innovation that made ocean-going steamers viable was the change from the paddle-wheel to the screw-propeller as the mechanism of propulsion. These steamships quickly became more popular, because the propeller's efficiency was consistent regardless of the depth at which it operated. Being smaller in size and mass and being completely submerged, it was also far less prone to damage. James Watt of Scotland is widely given credit for applying the first screw propeller to an engine at his Birmingham works, an early steam engine, beginning the use of a hydrodynamic screw for propulsion. The development of screw propulsion relied on the following technological innovations. Steam engines had to be designed with the power delivered at the bottom of the machinery, to give direct drive to the propeller shaft. A paddle steamer's engines drive a shaft that is positioned above the waterline, with the cylinders positioned below the shaft. Used chain drive to transmit power from a paddler's engine to the propeller shaft , the result of a late design change to propeller propulsion. An effective stern tube and associated bearings were required. The stern tube contains the propeller shaft where it passes through the hull structure. It should provide an unrestricted delivery of power by the propeller shaft. The combination of hull and stern tube must avoid any flexing that will bend the shaft or cause uneven wear. The inboard end has a stuffing box that prevents water from entering the hull along the tube. Some early stern tubes were made of brass and operated as a water lubricated bearing along the entire length. In other instances a long bush of soft metal was fitted in the after end of the stern tube. Had this arrangement fail on her first transatlantic voyage, with very large amounts of uneven wear. The problem was solved with a lignum vitae water-lubricated bearing, patented in 1858. This became standard practice and is in use today. Since the motive power of screw propulsion is delivered along the shaft, a thrust bearing is needed to transfer that load to the hull without excessive friction. Had a 2 ft diameter gunmetal plate on the forward end of the shaft which bore against a steel plate attached to the engine beds. Water at 200 psi was injected between these two surfaces to lubricate and separate them. This arrangement was not sufficient for higher engine powers and oil lubricated collar thrust bearings became standard from the early 1850s. This was superseded at the beginning of the 20th century by floating pad bearing which automatically built up wedges of oil which could withstand bearing pressures of 500 psi or more.
What was the first iron steamship to go to sea and when did it cross the English Channel?
The first iron steamship to go to sea was the 116-ton Aaron Manby, which crossed the English Channel in 1822 and arrived in Paris on the 22nd of June. This vessel carried passengers and freight to Paris at an average speed of 8 miles per hour, marking a pivotal moment in maritime history.
When was the SS Great Britain launched and what innovations did it combine?
The SS Great Britain was launched in 1843 and became the first iron-hulled screw-driven ship to cross the Atlantic. It was the first ship to combine iron hulls with screw propulsion, making it by far the largest vessel afloat at the time.
Which ship was the first to use triple expansion engines and when was it launched?
The first ship fitted with triple expansion engines was the Propontis, which was launched in 1874. It was later followed by the SS Aberdeen, which went into service on the route from Britain to Australia with improved boilers running at 150 psi.
When was the SS Titanic launched and what happened to it?
The SS Titanic was the largest steamship in the world when it sank in 1912. A subsequent major sinking of a steamer was that of the RMS Lusitania, which occurred as an act of World War I.
When was the Queen Elizabeth 2 launched and when was it converted to diesels?
The Queen Elizabeth 2 was launched in 1969 and was the last passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a scheduled liner voyage before it was converted to diesels in 1986.
When were the newest class of Steam Turbine ships built and by which company?
As of August 2017 the newest class of Steam Turbine ships are the Seri Camellia-class LNG carriers built by Hyundai Heavy Industries starting in 2016. These ships comprise five units and represent the current state of steam turbine technology in the commercial market.
In 1845 the revolutionary SS Great Britain, also built by Brunel, became the first iron-hulled screw-driven ship to cross the Atlantic. SS Great Britain was the first ship to combine these two innovations. After the initial success of its first liner, SS Great Western of 1838, the Great Western Steamship Company assembled the same engineering team that had collaborated so successfully before. This time however, Brunel, whose reputation was at its height, came to assert overall control over design of the ship, a state of affairs that would have far-reaching consequences for the company. Construction was carried out in a specially adapted dry dock in Bristol, England. Brunel was given a chance to inspect John Laird's Rainbow, the English channel packet ship, the largest iron-hulled ship then in service, in 1838, and was soon converted to iron-hulled technology. He scrapped his plans to build a wooden ship and persuaded the company directors to build an iron-hulled ship. Iron's advantages included being much cheaper than wood, not being subject to dry rot or woodworm, and its much greater structural strength. The practical limit on the length of a wooden-hulled ship is about 300 feet, after which hogging, the flexing of the hull as waves pass beneath it, becomes too great. Iron hulls are far less subject to hogging, so that the potential size of an iron-hulled ship is much greater. In the spring of 1840 Brunel also had the opportunity to inspect SS Archimedes, the first screw-propelled steamship, completed only a few months before by F. P. Smith's Propeller Steamship Company. Brunel had been looking into methods of improving the performance of Great Britains paddlewheels, and took an immediate interest in the new technology, and Smith, sensing a prestigious new customer for his own company, agreed to lend Archimedes to Brunel for extended tests. Over several months, Smith and Brunel tested a number of different propellers on Archimedes in order to find the most efficient design, a four-bladed model submitted by Smith. When launched in 1843, Great Britain was by far the largest vessel afloat.
The Triple Expansion Engine Revolution
Throughout the 1870s, compound-engined steamships and sailing vessels coexisted in an economic equilibrium: the operating costs of steamships were still too high in certain trades, so sail was the only commercial option in many situations. The compound engine, where steam was expanded twice in two separate cylinders, still had inefficiencies. The solution was the triple expansion engine, in which steam was successively expanded in a high pressure, intermediate pressure and a low pressure cylinder. The theory of this was established in the 1850s by John Elder, but it was clear that triple expansion engines needed steam at, by the standards of the day, very high pressures. The existing boiler technology could not deliver this. Wrought iron could not provide the strength for the higher pressures. Steel became available in larger quantities in the 1870s, but the quality was variable. The overall design of boilers was improved in the early 1860s, with the Scotch-type boilers , but at that date these still ran at the lower pressures that were then current. The first ship fitted with triple expansion engines was Propontis, launched in 1874. She was fitted with boilers that operated at 100 psi , but these had technical problems and had to be replaced with ones that ran at 150 psi. This substantially degraded performance. There were a few further experiments until SS Aberdeen went into service on the route from Britain to Australia. Her triple expansion engine was designed by Dr A C Kirk, the engineer who had developed the machinery for Propontis. The difference was the use of two double ended Scotch type steel boilers, running at 150 psi. These boilers had patent corrugated furnaces that overcame the competing problems of heat transfer and sufficient strength to deal with the boiler pressure. Aberdeen was a marked success, achieving in trials, at 1,800 indicated horsepower, a fuel consumption of 1.5 pounds of coal per indicated horsepower. This was a reduction in fuel consumption of about 60%, compared to a typical steamer built ten years earlier. In service, this translated into less than 40 tons of coal a day when travelling at 12 knots. Her maiden outward voyage to Melbourne took 42 days, with one coaling stop, carrying 4,000 tons of cargo. Other similar ships were rapidly brought into service over the next few years. By 1885 the usual boiler pressure was 150 psi and virtually all ocean-going steamships being built were ordered with triple expansion engines. Within a few years, new installations were running at 200 psi. The tramp steamers that operated at the end of the 1880s could sail at 12 knots with a fuel consumption of 1.5 pounds of coal per ton mile travelled. This level of efficiency meant that steamships could now operate as the primary method of maritime transport in the vast majority of commercial situations. In 1890, steamers constituted 57% of world's tonnage, and by World War I their share raised to 93%.
The Golden Age Of Ocean Liners
By 1870 a number of inventions such as the screw propeller, the compound engine, and the triple-expansion engine made trans-oceanic shipping on a large scale economically viable. In 1870 the White Star Line's SS Oceanic set a new standard for ocean travel by having its first-class cabins amidships, with the added amenity of large portholes, electricity and running water. The size of ocean liners increased from 1880 to meet the needs of the human migration to the United States and Australia. SS Lucania and her sister ship SS Campania were the last two Cunard liners of the period to be fitted with auxiliary sails. Both ships were built by John Elder & Co. of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1884. They were record breakers by the standards of the time, and were the largest liners then in service, plying the Liverpool to New York route. After the demonstration by British engineer Charles Parsons of his steam turbine-driven yacht, Turbinia, in 1897, the use of steam turbines for propulsion quickly spread. The Cunard RMS Mauretania, built in 1906 was one of the first ocean liners to use the steam turbine (with a late design change shortly before her keel was laid down) and was soon followed by all subsequent liners. SS Titanic was the largest steamship in the world when she sank in 1912; a subsequent major sinking of a steamer was that of the RMS Lusitania, as an act of World War I. Launched in 1938, SS Normandie was the largest passenger steamship ever built. Launched in 1969, Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was the last passenger steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a scheduled liner voyage before she was converted to diesels in 1986. The last major passenger ship built with steam turbines was the Fairsky, launched in 1984, later Atlantic Star, reportedly sold to Turkish shipbreakers in 2013. Most luxury yachts at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries were steam driven (see luxury yacht; also Cox & King yachts). Thomas Assheton Smith was an English aristocrat who forwarded the design of the steam yacht in conjunction with the Scottish marine engineer Robert Napier.
The Decline And Legacy Of Steam
By World War II, steamers still constituted 73% of world's tonnage, and similar percentage remained in early 1950s. The decline of the steamship began soon thereafter. Many had been lost in the war, and marine diesel engines had finally matured as an economical and viable alternative to steam power. The diesel engine had far better thermal efficiency than the reciprocating steam engine, and was far easier to control. Diesel engines also required far less supervision and maintenance than steam engines, and as an internal combustion engine it did not need boilers or a water supply, therefore was more space efficient and cheaper to build. The Liberty ships were the last major steamship class equipped with reciprocating engines. The last Victory ships had already been equipped with marine diesels, and diesel engines superseded both steamers and windjammers soon after World War Two. Most steamers were used up to their maximum economical life span, and no commercial ocean-going steamers with reciprocating engines have been built since the 1960s. Most larger warships of the world's navies were propelled by steam turbines burning bunker fuel in both World Wars, apart from obsolete ships with reciprocating machines from the turn of the century, and rare cases of usage of diesel engines in larger warships. Steam turbines burning fuel remained in warship construction until the end of the Cold War (e.g. Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov), because of needs of high power and speed, although from 1970s they were mostly replaced by gas turbines. Large naval vessels and submarines continue to be operated with steam turbines, using nuclear reactors to boil the water. NS Savannah, was the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, and was built in the late 1950s as a demonstration project for the potential use of nuclear energy. Thousands of Liberty Ships (powered by steam piston engines) and Victory Ships (powered by steam turbine engines) were built in World War II. A few of these survive as floating museums and sail occasionally, including SS Jeremiah O'Brien, SS John W. Brown, SS William P. Hobby, SS Lane Victory, and SS American Victory. A steam turbine ship can be either direct propulsion (the turbines, equipped with a reduction gear, rotate directly the propellers), or turboelectric (the turbines rotate electric generators, which in turn feed electric motors operating the propellers). While steam turbine-driven merchant ships such as the Algol-class cargo ships (1972, 1973), ALP Pacesetter-class container ships (1973, 1974) and very large crude carriers were built until the 1970s, the use of steam for marine propulsion in the commercial market has declined dramatically due to the development of more efficient diesel engines. One notable exception are LNG carriers which use boil-off gas from the cargo tanks as fuel. However, even there the development of dual-fuel engines has pushed steam turbines into a niche market with about 10% market share in newbuildings in 2013. Lately, there has been some development in hybrid power plants where the steam turbine is used together with gas engines. Is there still a commercial future for marine steam turbines? Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery, the 30th of March 2016. As of August 2017 the newest class of Steam Turbine ships are the Seri Camellia-class LNG carriers built by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) starting in 2016 and comprising five units.