Turbinia
Turbinia was the first
steam turbine powered
steamship, built as an experimental vessel in
1894 and demonstrated dramatically at the Spithead Navy Review in
1897, setting the standard for the next generation of steamships. The vessel can still be seen, at the
Discovery Museum in
Newcastle upon Tyne,
England.
Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine in
1884, and having foreseen its potential to power ships he set up the
Marine Steam Turbine Company with five associates in
1893. To develop this he had the experimental vessel
Turbinia built of very light steel by the firm of Brown and Hood, based at
Wallsend on Tyne.
The
Admiralty were kept informed of developments, and
Turbinia was launched on
2 August 1894. Despite the success of the turbine engine, initial trials with one propeller were disappointing. After researching the problem of
cavitation and constructing the first
cavitation tunnel, Parsons fitted three axial flow turbines to three shafts, each shaft in turn driving three propellers. In trials this achieved a top speed of over 34 knots (63 km/h), so that
"the passengers aboard would be convinced beyond all doubt Turbinia was Charles Parsons' winning North Sea greyhound".
As an audacious publicity stunt Parsons brought the ship uninvited to the Navy Review for
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee at
Spithead on
26 June 1897 and in front of the
Prince of Wales,
Lords of the Admiralty and foreign dignitaries the
Turbinia, much faster than any other ships, raced between the two lines of large ships and easily evaded the Navy's patrol boats.
After further high speed trials attended by the Admiralty, Parsons set up the
Turbinia Works at Wallsend which then constructed two turbine powered torpedo boats for the Navy,
HMS Viper and
HMS Cobra which were launched in
1899. Although both these vessels tragically came to grief, the Admiralty was convinced. In
1900 the
Turbinia steamed to
Paris and was shown to French officials then displayed at the Paris Exhibition.
The first turbine powered merchant vessel, the
Clyde steamer TS King Edward, followed in
1901. (Her successor, the
TS Queen Mary of
1932, is now a floating restaurant on the
River Thames in
London) The Admiralty confirmed in
1905 that all future Royal Navy vessels were to be turbine powered, and in
1906 the first turbine powered battleship,
HMS Dreadnought was launched.
In 2000, the yacht was the focal point of a year long £10.7M redevelopment programme at Newcastle's Discovery Museum, where she has been since being re-united with her aft section in the early 1960s, after being cut in two in 1927.
The gallery around Turbinia was the first area to be refurbished with the main part of the work involving raising the roof by one storey to create viewing galleries on three levels.
* Displacement: 44.5 tons
* Length (overall): 103 ft 9 in (31.6 m)
* Beam: 9 ft (2.7 m)
* Depth of hull: 7 ft (2.1 m)
* Draught: 3 ft (0.9 m)
* Maximum speed: 34.5 knots (64 km/h)
* Powerplant: Three-stage axial-flow Parsons steam turbine driving two 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m) outer shafts, each with three 18 in (457 mm) diameter, 24 in (610 mm) pitch propellers, and one inner shaft with three propellers.
* Maximum power: 2,000 hp (1.5 MW) three-drum water-tube coal fired boiler with double ended 1,100 ft² (102 m²) heating surface.
* Working pressure: 200 lbf/in² (1.4 MPa), 170 lbf/in² (1.2 MPa) at the turbine
* Water req'd at 31 knots (57 km/h): 27,000 lb/h (3.4 L/s)
*
Turbinia profile*
Profile of Charles Parsons*
Discovery Museum - About Us*
E-book: "The Steam Turbine and Other Inventions of Sir Charles Parsons"*
Parsons and Turbinia*
Article from Institute of Marine Engineers "Bulletin"
