[AT] Gas turbines

Mon May 21 11:10:58 PDT 2007

I don't know anything about gas turbines or their relative efficiency but I 
saw how effective they can be as ships power plants.

I was a Machinist's Mate aboard the USS Wainwright DLG-28.  While some MM's 
actually work with machine tools, most are assigned to the engine rooms, as 
I was.  Wainwright was state-of-the-art for a light cruiser in the US Navy 
in the late 1960's and early 1970's.  She was 547 feet long with a beam of 
55 feet, a draft of 28 feet, and a displacement of 7930 tons.

Typical of our ships, main power was 2 steam turbines running on superheated 
steam  - close to 1000 degrees and at 1200 PSI - producing 45,000 HP each. 
It took us about 3 hours to get underway from a cold start under normal 
conditions, though we could get some movement in about an hour and a half in 
an all-out emergency.  Most European Navies were already converting to gas 
turbines for main propulsion.  I know the British and Canadians could go 
from cold iron to full fighting power in less than 1/2 hour because I saw 
them do it.

In early 1973 we were assigned to the Sixth Fleet in the western 
Mediterranean.  We were always playing games with the Russians.  One evening 
I had just gone on duty in the forward engine room - "Main Control" for 
Engineering - on the 4-to-8 watch when we received engine orders to increase 
speed above our usual cruising speed of about 18 knots.  The orders kept 
coming until we were running at full speed, around 30 knots.  By the time we 
were relieved for evening chow at 5:30, we were at flank speed - all she 
had, full out.  That's a very dangerous condition where major problems occur 
very fast with steam engines.  We didn't do it often.  The phone talkers 
from the bridge were only telling us that it was more games with the 
Russians but there was a lot of strain in their voices.  Our reliefs just 
said to go out on the fantail.  As soon as we got out of the hole I grabbed 
a sandwich & went on deck.

About a hundred yards off our stern and directly in the center of our wake 
was a Russian destroyer.  Looking ahead, there was another one about the 
same distance off our bow & running directly ahead of us.    Three large 
warships running *very* close together, nose-to-tail at over 30 knots.  If 
the front Russian's engines had hiccupped we would have cut straight into 
him.  If our engines hiccupped we would have been rammed by the Russian 
behind us.  Knowing how close our engines were to that hiccup made it very 
frightening indeed.

The guys that had been on deck and saw this situation develop said the 
Russians just came up over the horizon and caught up to us "suddenly".  The 
one in front of us was able to get there and maintain his position with 
enough speed to counter any move we made and even zig-zag a bit.  After I 
had been on deck about 15 minutes, the Russians decided to call it off. 
They just cranked those gas turbines up a bit more and were gone over the 
horizon in front of us in another half-hour.  We figured they had to be 
doing close to 45 knots.

I loved the steam engines and I know they had a lot of strong points going 
for them.  For a warship, though, I also saw those very important benefits 
of the gas turbine: they can be almost instantly ready for full service and 
they can develop high
speeds with strong acceleration.

Bill Bruer
Murfreesboro, TN
bill_bru at bellsouth.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CEE VILL" <cvee60 at hotmail.com>
To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2007 8:59 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] Gas turbines

I do not know anything about gas turbine engines, but the note below caught
my eye.  A good friend sent me this link because his nephew will take
command of this destroyer this summer.

I have to wonder what the gallons per mile rating is.  I guess I am seeing
this as 25,000 HP per engine. In a tractor, that should haul an implement
around one mile wide, maybe ??

http://www.williams.navy.mil/
USS JAMES E. WILLIAMS "LEAD FROM THE FRONT"

4 LM2500 Marine Gas Turbine Engines (100,000 HP)

Charlie V. in WNY

>From: Mike Sloane <mikesloane at verizon.net>
>Reply-To: Antique tractor email discussion group
><at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>To: Antique tractor email discussion group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: Re: [AT] Gas turbines in tractors
>Date: Sat, 19 May 2007 12:28:07 -0400
>
>
>
>Here is a very detailed story about them:
><http://www.allpar.com/mopar/turbine.html>
>
>Mike
>
>

_________________________________________________________________
PC Magazine's 2007 editors' choice for best Web mail-award-winning Windows
Live Hotmail.
http://imagine-windowslive.com/hotmail/?locale=en-us&ocid=TXT_TAGHM_migration_HM_mini_pcmag_0507

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________
AT mailing list
http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/at