Ships
From the earliest times, ships and boats were propelled by human power and wind power. In the nineteenth century very large and efficient sailing ships (many 70 to 100 m long) were transporting passengers and cargo to ports all over the world. In the Western world most of the cargoes were carried by sailing ships until the 1890s. By the middle of the nineteenth century, with the development of reliable steam engines, the designers of ships began to use coal-burning steam power plants to propel ships, using paddle wheels and then propellers. Other power plants were developed in the late nineteenth century and during the twentieth century, including steam turbines, spark-ignition engines, diesel engines, gas turbines, and nuclear power plants. These ship power plants were developed from their land-based counterparts to operate in the severe ocean environment. A relatively new power source, the fuel cell, is being developed to provide electrical power for underwater vessels and also is being evaluated for future applications in surface ships.
High-speed ships and large-displacement slower ships can have power requirements of 30,000 to 75,000 kW (approximately 40,000 to 100,000 hp) for propulsion. Some nuclear-powered aircraft carriers have power plants that develop 200,000 kW.
This page contains 201 words.
Ships article
Read the rest of this article.
This article contains 2,894 words
(approx. 10 pages at 300 words per page).
Order our Ship Article
