Turbinia, the Ocean Greyhound

Charles Parsons realised the potential of his new turbine to power ships and in 1893 he, along with five associates, formed the Marine Steam Turbine Company. The company highlighted the advantages of the new propulsion system including:

• Improved maximum speed and acceleration over existing power units.

• A reduction in the vibration of the propellers.

• Less space taken up by machinery.

• A more efficient use of fuel.

Turbinia

It was decided that the first experimental vessel be named Turbinia. The vessel was 104 feet (37.8) in length but only had a beam (maximum width) of 9 feet (3.2m). Turbinia was built of very light steel by the firm of Brown and Hood, based at Wallsend-on-Tyne.

During the work on Turbinia, the director of naval construction at the British Admiralty, Sir William White, kept a keen eye on the new developments and visited the ship during a refit in 1897. This interest contradicts reports in the papers of the time that the first appearance of Turbinia was a complete surprise to the British naval establishment.

Turbinia was launched on 2nd August 1894 although, in the words of Christopher Leyland, who was later her captain:

"[The boat]...showed no anxiety to move on when we essayed to launch her and she had to be pushed off the slips. However, later on, she made amends for her unwillingness to take to the water".

Initially the vessel was powered by one radial flow turbine engine linked to a single shaft with a single propeller, but the boat only managed 20 knots, far below Charles's hopes for her. The very high speed of his turbines, compared to ordinary reciprocating steam engines, created difficulties designing the screw propellers. and Charles built a glass sided tank in which he was able to observe models of propellers as they rotated under similar conditions to the full scale screws. This enabled him to design his screw propellers for optimum efficiency and to minimise "cavitation", i.e. vacuum formed behind the propellers. He was later to say of the problem:

"The advent of the marine steam turbine was greatly delayed if almost frustrated at its very inception, by difficulties due to cavitation in its most aggravated form."

He also spent a great deal of time studying the waves formed by the motion of models of Turbinia and recording bow wave height and speeds, as well as details of the ship's wake, in an effort to predict how the full size ship would perform.

Charles later installed three axial flow turbines linked to three shafts, each shaft in turn driving three propellers. These turbines had a maximum power output of 2000 horsepower and the ship now featured high, intermediate and low pressure turbines. Eventually these improvements resulted in a top speed of over 34 knots, equivalent to 40 mph (64 kph).

Turbinia completed her high speed trials in the North Sea but the low low freeboard (distance from the deck to the waterline) made for frequent soaking for both passengers and crew. While Charles was in command of the engineroom, Christopher Leyland, also a director of the Marine Steam Turbine Company, was the captain of the vessel. Robert Bernard was the helmsman of the ship and helped in her design. Other vessels who reported on the high speed runs observed that all they saw of Turbinia:

"was a bow emerging from a huge wave and a flame from the funnel flickering into the air."

The narrow beam of the ship resulted in extremely cramped engine and stoking rooms. The boilers were fed by coal shovelled in by one man at a time into the boiler furnace. Robert Bernard told of the work of repainting the yellow funnel after each high speed trip:

"We do that after every run because the fire licks the paint off when we drive her fast with forced draught....[The flame from the funnel]...would wind that smokestack like a scarf around your neck".

Ken Smith, in his excellent book Turbinia, Charles Parsons and his Ocean Greyhound, vividly describes a typical high speed run by Turbinia:

"Crew members would row guests out to the vessel in a skiff. A tour of the boat would soon reveal the cramped conditions below the open deck. It is small wonder that there were only ten crewmen. Meals were eaten in the tiny saloon which contained a table and upholstered seating. A small lavatory was provided next to this area.

Visitors could stand in the little wheelhouse, positioned forward, where the steeersman would handle a 2 foot (0.7m) wooden wheel, view the seas ahead through little windows. On top of the wheelhouse was the lookout's platform with guard rails around it. The person on lookout, often Captain Leyland, passed information or instructions, who in turn would pass them to the steersman. The "man in the middle" was unlikely to hear the lookout when the vessel was running at high speeds. The noise of the machinery and the roar of the sea as it swept past them and over the decks was often deafening."

Parson's men were happy to extol the virtues of the turbine to any that would listen. They would learn that the boats propellers would turn about 2,500 revolutions per minute, with very little vibration, and that she was capable of a speed well in excess of 30 knots. The reciprocating engine, with its wasteful movement of rods and pistons, would be compared unfavourably to the new form of propulsion.

Guests going for a trip to the open sea were issued with oilskin raincoats and overalls. It was a mistake to turn down the offer of these and those who refused must have regretted their decision! Exposed city suits were definably not the order of the day aboard Turbinia. The crew wore warm caps, ganseys and sea boots.

As Turbinia steamed down the Tyne towards the piers those guests unfamiliar with the river's banks would have noted the coal staithes and shipyards of a great industrial river crowed with colliers as other merchant vessels. In the 1890s and early 1900s the Tyne was experiencing its heyday for shipbuilding and was one of Britain's busiest ports.

On reaching the North Sea, preparations began for trials. The doors of the stoke holes would be sealed. The steersman tightly gripped the wheel, the lookout ad his assistant held themselves in readiness. If any other vessel was seen sailing a little too close for comfort, the lookout sounded a warning by pulling on a rope which operated a whistle by the funnel."

"As Turbinia worked up speed, spray would have begun to come aboard and visitors got their first taste of what must have been an exhilarating but decidedly wet experience. At 25 knots they might retreat to the shelter of the wheelhouse, stokehold or Parson's cab. At nearly 30 knots, huge waves formed in the vessels wake and soon flames would leap from the funnel, twisting into flickering shapes of fiery orange. By the time the vessel had reached 32 knots the decks would be awash with the seas sweeping over it as if in a storm. At 34 knots, the passengers aboard would be convinced beyond all doubt Turbinia was Charles Parsons' winning North Sea greyhound."

Charles Parsons Turbinia had proved herself, now all her inventor had to do was sell his new idea to the British Admiralty and he had decided to obey his own dictum:

"If you believe in a principle, never damage it with a poor impression. You must go all the way."

In an audacious sales-pitch, he arrived uninvited at the Navy Review for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee at Spithead on June 26th, 1897. Among those present would be the Prince of Wales, representing the Queen, Lords of the Admiralty, as well as a complete cross section of the British establishment of the time. Also at the event would be foreign dignitaries and ambassadors. With its ability to reach speeds of 34 knots (60 kilometres per hour) Turbinia was so much faster than anything else on the water that she could not be caught. Charles hoisted a red pennant and took off in a high speed burst between two lines of large ships. The Royal Navy had set up patrol boats to keep ships in line and to prevent antics such as the Turbinia performed.

The patrol boats were completely unable to catch her. Parsons cut it very fine and came perilously close to some of the ships and patrol boats in the display. In one incident, Turbinia nearly collided with a French yacht and just managed to scrape past the bow of the yacht. The line on a small boat being towed by Turbinia parted and the boat hit the side of the French vessel. Turbinia had certainly made her presence felt as the fastest boat in the world. Charles Parsons had made his point, not only to the Admiralty but also to the foreign naval representatives present at the demonstration.

The Admiralty sent representatives to view further high speed trials off the Turbinia. Captain Leyland later wrote:

"Among those we took to sea off the Tyne was the then Chief Engineer of the Navy. It was rather rough at sea and after passing the piers I asked for instructions and was told to run her at high speed, which we did to northward. The Chief Engineer of the Navy was sitting on the after skylight. I went to him on several occasions and suggested that he should come into the wheelhouse, but was always received with a negative shake of the head, although he was being drenched. At last he said "If you stop her I will move, but not till then.".

Charles then formed the Parsons Marine Steam Company Limited and set up the Turbinia Works at Wallsend. In 1898 the Admiralty placed an order for a turbine powered torpedo boat to be known as the Viper. Always conservative, the Admiralty stipulated that Parson's company put down a deposit of £100,000 to be paid if the vessel did not perform to its specifications.

This tragedy greatly affected Charles Parsons for the rest of his life, although Admiralty investigations exonerated his firm from any blame. The Admiralty showed their confidence in his company by ordering in 1905 that all future Royal Navy vessels should be turbine powered.

In 1900, Turbinia and her crew, this time without Charles, endured a rough passage to Paris. In the words of Captain Leyland:

"All were seasick except my lucky self. For hours I combined the duties of commander, lookout and helmsman, hoping all the time that all of the stokers would not be ill at once, as to be unable to shovel on the fuel. The motion was so violent that the card of the liquid compass unshipped, the only time I ever saw such an accident. Fortunately for us all I then sighted the Tyne piers and I knew just where we were. We had a ticklish job to get her between the pier heads against a strong tide running out and meeting the sea. Our little boat was well down by the head, due to the large amount of water we had shipped and we had to bale her out with buckets. One of the men was so sick he would hardly part with the bucket."

On the crossing between Dover and Le Havre, the coal bunker caught fire but the crew managed to extinguish the blaze. They then displayed the ship's turn of speed to French officials at Le Havre and then steamed up the Seine to Paris and was displayed at the Paris Exhibition. On the return voyage Turbinia caught and then circled around the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry at over 30 knots (48 kph). As on the outward journey, rough seas delayed her return to her home port but after mechanical problems and fuel restocking, Turbinia made it back to the Tyne. In 1906 the first turbine powered battleship, HMS Dreadnought was launched at Portsmouth. Ominously, the first German turbine built battlecruiser, Von Der Tann, entered service in 1910.

The first turbine powered merchant vessel was the Firth of Clyde steamer King Edward in 1901. In 1905, the Allen Line ships Victorian and Virginian became the first turbine driven passenger liners to cross the Atlantic. In 1907, the 31,000 ton Cunard liners Mauretania and Luisitania commenced regular Atlantic service. Both of these vessel could travel at 25 to 26 knots (42 kph), previously almost impossible sustainable speeds for such large ships. Luisitania gained the coveted Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing a month after her maiden voyage. Mauretania held the Blue Riband for longer than any other liner, over twenty years. She had quadruple screw propellers powered by 73,000 horsepower engines.

Charles Parsons then concentrated on reducing fuel consumption by gearing down the speed of the turbine and tested out his new engine design on the cargo steamer Vespasian. This geared designed eventually became the standard, driving such vessels as the passenger liners Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary, the battleship HMS King George V and the battlecruiser HMS Hood.

On 11th January 1907, Turbinia was struck and nearly cut in two by the Crosby. She was repaired and steamed alongside Mauretania after the launch of the great liner. However mechanical problems prevented Turbinia from accompanying Mauretania down the river Tyne to the sea. The company decided to slow down the deterioration of Turbinia by lifting her out of the water and in 1926 the directors of the Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company offered the ship to the London Science Museum. Turbinia was cut in two and the aftersection complete with engines and propellers was put on display in the South Kensington museum in London, which did not have the space to accommodate the full ship. The fore section was presented in 1944 to Newcastle Corporation and placed on display in the city's Exhibition Park. In 1959, the Science Museum took the after section of Turbinia off display and by 1961, using a reconstructed centre section, Turbinia was once more complete and on display in the Newcastle Municipal Museum of Science and Industry. In 1983 a complete reconstruction was undertaken. On 30 October 1994, 100 years after her launch, Turbinia was moved in the Newcastle Discovery Museum and put on display to the public in March 1996.

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