Chapter 1-THE DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL SHIPS 



Oliver Evans, in the United States, and Richard 

 Trevethick, in England. The Evans engine, 

 which was built in 1804, had a vertical cylinder 

 and a double-acting piston. A boiler, made of 

 copper but reinforced with iron bands, provided 

 steam at pressures of several atmospheres. 

 The boiler was one of the first "fire-tube" 

 boilers; the "tubes" were actually flues which 

 were installed in such a way as to carry the 

 combustion gases several times through the 

 vessel in which the water was being heated. 

 This type of boiler, with many refinements and 

 variations, became the basic boiler design of the 

 19th century. Trevethick, using a similar type of 

 boiler, built a successful steam carriage in 

 1801; in 1804, he built what was probably the 

 first modern type of steam locomotive. 



Continuing efforts by many people led to 

 steady improvements in the steam engine and to 

 its eventual application as a prime mover for 

 ships. For many years, the major effort was to 

 improve the reciprocating steam engine. How- 

 ever, the latter half of the 19th century saw the 

 introduction of the first practicable steam tur- 

 bines. Sir Charles Parsons, in 1884, and Dr. 

 Gustaf de Laval, in 1889, made major contri- 

 butions to the development of the steam turbine. 

 The earliest application of a steam turbine for 

 ship propulsion was made in 1897, when a 100- 

 ton vessel was fitted with a steam turbine which 

 was directly coupled to the propeller shaft. After 

 the installation of the steam turbine, the vessel 

 broke all existing speed records for ships of any 

 size. In 1910, Parsons introduced the reduction 

 gear, which allowed both the steam turbine and 

 the screw propeller to operate at their most 

 efficient speeds— the turbineat very high speeds, 

 the propeller at much lower speeds. With this 

 improvement, the steam turbine became the most 

 significant development in steam engineering 

 since the development of the Watt engine. With 

 further refinements and improvements, the 

 steam turbine is today the primary device for 

 utilizing the motive power of steam. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF 

 MODERN NAVAL SURFACE SHIPS 



Fulton. The ship, which is shown in figure 1-2, 

 was built in the United States in 1815. The ship 

 had a displacement of 2475 tons. A paddle wheel 

 16 feet in diameter, was mounted in a trough or 

 tunnel inside the ship, for protection from gun- 

 fire. The paddle wheel was driven by a one- 

 cylinder steam engine with a 48-inch cylinder 

 and a 60- inch stroke. 



The next large steam-driven warship to be 

 built in the United States was the Fulton 2nd . 

 This ship was built in 1837 at the Brooklyn 

 Navy Yard. The Fulton 2nd , like the Fulton (or 

 Demologos) before it, was fitted with sails as 

 well as with a steam engine. The plant efficiency 

 of the Fulton 2nd has been calculated'^ to be about 

 3 percent. Its maximum speed was about 15 

 knots, with a shaft horsepower of approximately 

 625. 



The Fulton 2nd was rebuilt in 1852 and named 

 the Fulton 3rd . The Fulton 3rd had a somewhat 

 different kind of steam engine, and its operating 

 steam pressure was 30 psi, rather than the 11 

 psi of the Fulton 2nd . Several other significant 

 changes were incorporated in the Fulton 3rd — but 

 the ship still had sails as well as a steam engine. 

 The Navy was still a long ways away from 

 abandoning sails in favor of steam. 



The Mississippi and the Missouri , built in 

 1842, are sometimes regarded as marking the 

 beginning of the steam Navy— even though they, 

 too, still had sails. The two ships were very 

 much alike except for their engines. The Mis - 

 souri had two inclined engines. The Mississippi 

 had two side-lever engines of the type shown in 

 figure 1-3. Three copper boilers were used on 

 each ship. Operating steam pressures were 

 approximately 15 psi. 



The Michigan , which joined the steam Navy 

 about 1843, had iron boilers rather than copper 

 ones. These boilers lasted for 50 years. The 

 Michigan operated with a steam pressure of 29 

 psi. 



The Princeton , which joined the steam Navy 

 in 1844, was remarkable for a number of rea- 

 sons. It was the first warship in the world to use 

 screw propellers, although they had been tried 



The 19th century saw the application of 

 steam power to naval ships. The first steam- 

 driven warship in the world was the Demologos 

 (voice of the people) which was later renamed 

 the Fulton in honor of its builder, Robert 



7See Morris Welling, Gerald M. Boatwright, and 

 Maurice R. Hauschildt, "Naval Propulsion Machin- 

 ery," Naval Engineers Journal , May 1963, pp. 339- 



348. 



