Principles of naval engineering - Historic Naval Ships Association

Chapter 1-THE DEVELOPMENT OF NAVAL SHIPS9 (top); USSFigure 1-6. -The nuclear surface fleet, 1965: USS Long Beach ,CGNEnterprise, CVAN 65 (middle); and USS Bainbridge, DLGN 25 (bottom).147.6to develop an American diesel industry, and theU.S. Naval Engineering Experiment Station (nowthe Marine Engineering Laboratory) at Annapolisundertook the testing and evaluation of prototypediesel engines developed by American manufacturers.The success of this effort may be seenin the fact that by the end of World War II thediesel horsepower installed in naval vesselsexceeded the total horsepower of naval steamplants.Since World War II, the gas turbine enginehas come into increasing prominence as a possibleprime mover for naval ships. It is consideredlikely that the next few years will seeenormously increased application of the gasturbine engine for ship propulsion, either singlyor in combination with steam turbines or dieselengines.One of the most dramatic events in theentire history of naval ships is the applicationof nuclear power, first to submarines and thento surface ships. The first three ships of ournuclear surface fleet are shown in figure 1-6.The middle ship is the aircraft carrier USSEnterprise ,CVAN 65; on the flight deck, crewmembers are shown forming Einstein's famousequation which is the basis of controlled nuclearpower. The other two ships are (top) the guidedmissile cruiser USS Long Beach,CGN 9, and(bottom) the guided missile frigate USS Bain -bridge, DLGN 25. The fourth nuclear surfaceship to join the fleet was the USS Truxton,DLGN 35. A fifth nuclear surface ship soonto join the fleet is the USS Nimitz , CVAN 68,Although the full implications of nuclear propulsivepower may not yet be fully realized,11