boat propulsion - miniature computer-controlled steam plant?

A story I heard, don't know whether it is true or not, is that just before WW2 the British Government ordered Excel to make lots of BCAs. Excel (or whoever) then continued to pay design royalties to Boley/Leinen right through 1940. Ouch! Postwar, the design rights were considered to be spoils of war.

Peter Fairbrother

------------------------ The US paid the German manufacturer DWM $412,520 in 1928 to settle a patent dispute over features of the Springfield rifle taken from the 1893 Mauser.

I've read but can't find where that Britain and Germany both bought 20mm aircraft cannon from Oerlikon, all with barrels made from German steel.

I was watching a program the other day about the restoration of a Spitfire in the Shuttleworth collection IIRC and they mentioned it being fitted with a 20mm cannon to match what the Germans used and they mentioned it as Hispano Suiza, maybe this one

.

I was watching a program the other day about the restoration of a Spitfire in the Shuttleworth collection IIRC and they mentioned it being fitted with a 20mm cannon to match what the Germans used and they mentioned it as Hispano Suiza, maybe this one

.

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That's it, in several models and names from various manufacturers. German sources call the WW2 models "Becker". I like the exotic name "Oerlikon", along with other unusual Swiss-German words such as Eidgenossenschaft. I spent a while researching Schwartzenegger, which can be either Swiss or Austrian. English can be interesting to research too, like the pronunciation of Cholmondeley. Although it might be my ancestry I haven't dipped a toe into Cymraeg yet.

<snip>

Sets sail for the season soon🙂

=== LUDINGTON, MI – The S.S. Badger car ferry marked the 71st anniversary of its maiden voyage across Lake Michigan on Thursday, March 21, officials said... ===

There's a link in the article to another that has quite a few historic photos and a bit more info...

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That's quite a service record. Ocean liners on the North Atlantic run wore out in 20-30 years.

Waverley Excursions – The world's last Seagoing paddle steamer

(and yes, the Scottish scenery is as beautiful as it looks)

I ran away on her when I was about 7. The engineer allowed me to sit on the end of the crankshaft and the parallel motion bearings of the largest cylinders of her triple bank triple expansion steam engines when moving (slowly).

Then he bought me a whisky in the bar and sent me home.

Peter Fairbrother

25 years service life before scrapping for ocean-going ships: about equally dependent on at least these two dominating things

• seawater corrosion Seawater happens to be for steel the "pessimum" composition - if you add more salt it becomes less corrosive (?). Corrosion is ferocious.

• fatigue The ship going over ocean waves goes alternatively between "convex" and "concave" bending - wave peak in middle of ship; ship on waves at bow and stern.

Both of these are attacking all over the ship, likely in places you cannot easily see. Then yes machinery is coming up to needing refurb. - which could be done

- but isn't worth it when faced with the big two of corrosion + fatigue.

There are freighters on the Great Lakes at around 100 years old. Being on fresh water (vastly less corrosive) and without the coean waves (no fatigue) this can be so.

Also - apparently - the steam-turbine ships as very quiet and smooth - if as family of someone to do with the Company you get invited to be passengers on a voyage you go on a steam-turbine ship.

The bulkers used to be coming in and out of Cleveland when I was working there. Manouvring out in the Cuyahoga river, there was some heat-haze above the funnel (stack). Was hilarious sight on Friday nights when everyone partying by the riverside and pleasure boats around on the river while another 20,000 tonnes of cargo went on the move.

Love this story. Best wishes

Also - apparently - the steam-turbine ships as very quiet and smooth - if as family of someone to do with the Company you get invited to be passengers on a voyage you go on a steam-turbine ship.

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They are when properly balanced. Mauritania's weren't and when on a speed record run the stern cabins were uninhabitable.

Olympic's turbine was significantly worn in a decade.

Notice that the turbine produced more power than one recip although its steam entry pressure was below atmospheric, 9 PSIA / 188F, the condenser reduced it to 1 PSIA / 102F. The two compound engines reduced daily coal consumption to about 60% of the smaller, faster all-turbine Mauretania and Lusitania, which were intended to and did capture and own the speed record, while Olympic, Titanic and Britannic were optimized for economy at 22 instead of 26 knots.

Titanic wasn't quite at full steam pressure or speed and couldn't possibly break the speed record. The captain had diverted south of the ice reports and was following the standard practice of relying on lookouts plus the bridge watch (which did have binoculars) to see something large enough to damage the ship, which could turn almost as sharply at full as reduced speed, but a temperature inversion mirage due to the ice field intruding into the warm Gulf Stream -may- have hidden the berg until too late, and also caused their unusually inaccurate SOS report longitude. A mirage that raised the observed horizon and hid or distorted ships and the iceberg on it could explain many of the lingering questions.

Compare the size of the errors in longitude to latitude. The sinking location is that of the tight cluster of coal and boilers released at hull breakup. Carpathia's claim of great speed was based on assuming the lifeboats were at the incorrect position an hour further west. Mauretania burned 1000 tons per day on an early speed run, before improvements.

Intense interest in Titanic, especially after discovery revealed many wrong assumptions, has made much more detailed information on ship design, construction and operation of the time available than for other vessels with less dramatic and unexplained fates. Eyewitness accounts vary substantially for an event where unlike a crime most had nothing to hide.

Intense interest in Titanic, especially after discovery revealed many wrong assumptions, has made much more detailed information on ship design, construction and operation of the time available than for other vessels with less dramatic and unexplained fates. Eyewitness accounts vary substantially for an event where unlike a crime most had nothing to hide.

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This is an example of both the thorough degree of modern analysis and inconsistent witness testimony:

6th officer Moody's job was to see and report that helmsman (Quartermaster) Hitchens did as ordered, as Hitchens was in an enclosed booth that allowed him to have lighted instruments without disturbing the bridge watch officers' night vision. Murdoch was the watch officer and may have seen the iceberg before the lookouts since it would have extended above the horizon for him but not them. Much later another officer claimed that Hitchens had turned the wheel the wrong way at first. It's all a challenging puzzle.

The aft-most observed hull leak was slightly aft of the bulkhead halfway between the first and second funnels, though water rose a little faster than the pumps could manage in the next compartment aft.

Intense interest in Titanic, especially after discovery revealed many wrong assumptions, has made much more detailed information on ship design, construction and operation of the time available than for other vessels with less dramatic and unexplained fates. Eyewitness accounts vary substantially for an event where unlike a crime most had nothing to hide.

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

This is an example of both the thorough degree of modern analysis and inconsistent witness testimony:

6th officer Moody's job was to see and report that helmsman (Quartermaster) Hitchens did as ordered, as Hitchens was in a shuttered booth that allowed him to have lighted instruments without disturbing the bridge crews' night vision. Murdoch the watch officer may have seen the iceberg before the crow's nest lookouts (Fleet) since it would have extended above the horizon for him but not them. Much later another officer claimed that Hitchens had turned the wheel the wrong way at first. It's all a challenging puzzle.

The aft-most observed hull leak was slightly aft of the bulkhead halfway between the first and second funnels, though water rose a little faster than the pumps could manage in the next compartment aft.

Putting engines astern would include bypassing the turbine whose propeller washed over the rudder and boosted its effect. No engine room officers survived to testify, they struggled until the sudden breakup to keep the lights on.

The reference: