Battleship propulsion questions

[Michigan_Guy]

I was curious about the engineering plants on the battleships, I know they are steam turbine engines, but how exaclt does the system work? They don't actually pump sea water through these things do they? My guess was that they are freshwater driven in a closed system.

Can someone enlighten me on the facts on these engines?

[Ytlas]

Originally Posted by Michigan_Guy

I was curious about the engineering plants on the battleships, I know they are steam turbine engines, but how exaclt does the system work? They don't actually pump sea water through these things do they? My guess was that they are freshwater driven in a closed system.

Can someone enlighten me on the facts on these engines?

Steam comes out of the boiler and goes to the high pressure turbine and then the low pressure turbine which are connected to the reduction gears which are connected to the shafts and propellers.


or..... if you're significantly bored right now...

The sea water is pumped from the sea chest by the main circulating pump into the main condenser which is located directly under the HP and LP turbines. It cools the steam back into condensate which is then pumped to the main air ejector which gets rid of non-condensable gases and back to the DA tank. It's now referred to as feed water, from there it goes from the DA tank to the main feed booster pumps, main feed pumps, to the economizer into the steam drum where it is heated by the boiler to make saturated steam. From there the saturated steam (495) goes to the superheater where it's turned into "main steam" which on the battleships is 600 psi and 850 degrees. One line is the aforementioned steam to the turbines and the other line goes to the desuperheater where it comes out and runs to the forced draft blowers (which provide cooling and combustion to the boilers), ship's service turbo generators, main feed pumps, fire pumps etc or is reduced to the 150lb steam system. We're leaving out the auxilliary exhaust system which provides steam to the salt water heater on the evaps, DA tank, main air ejector etc., gland sealing sytem, and augmenting steam lines. There's a ton of redundancy of the ship's systems so things can go out and the ship will still function.



Of course this is all a guess, because I'm pulling your leg.....

[Michigan_Guy]

I never really realized how involed the system really is. I love this kind of stuff!

[Ytlas]

Originally Posted by Michigan_Guy

I never really realized how involed the system really is. I love this kind of stuff!

I just skimmed over the systems, there is so much more.

[Dreadnought]

I just had to learn the outline of the propulsion plants. Come spring we are to take alot closer look at the system.