| Views: |
651 |
| Downloads: |
216 |
|
 |
Turbinia
Unique views:
651 (1 in 7 days)
Unique downloads:
216 (1 in 7 days)
|
|
|
Organize
Share
▼
|
Please sign in to add this model to a collection. |
|
|
|
Turbinia was the first steam turbine-powered steamship. She was built in 1894 by Charles Parsons (who invented of the steam turbine only 10 years before) and the firm of Brown and Hood. The original configuration had a conventional single shaft and propeller which provided disappointing performance. Parsons researched this and discovered the problem of cavitation which led to the extremely unusual arrangement of 3 shafts with 3 propellers each for a total of 9 propellers! The result was easily the fastest ship in the world at the time reaching 34.5 knots (39.7mph or 63.9km/h).
I decided to model Turbinia due to her history, importance, strange layout (by more modern standards) and fascinating back story. Everything from shaking up the Admiralty at the Naval Review for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee at Spithead in 1897, influencing the use of turbines in the revolutionary HMS Dreadnaught, nearly being cut in two by the launch of the Crosby in 1907, being intentionally cut in two for museum display in 1927, being rejoined in 1961 and finally being completely rebuilt in 1983.
In 1994 (100 years after her launch), Turbinia was moved to the Newcastle upon Tyne Discovery Museum where she sits today (54.969223, -1.624702 on Google Earth). It’s a fine testament that this little ship, to which we owe a surprising amount of our marine history, the product of one of the finest innovators of all time, has managed to be preserved.
Translate
Show original
|
|
|
Complexity is based on the number of polygons in the model. More complex models render more slowly in Google Earth. Learn more about this on our knowledge base.
|
|
Google Buzz
MySpace
Get the link to share
Get the embed code