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Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology EN009I-404 July 6, 2001
John B. Woodward
University of Michigan
I. Introduction
II. Required Marine Engine Characteristics
III. Characteristics of Major Engine Types
IV. Reversing the Marine Engine
V. Combined Engine Powering
VI. Dynamic Interaction between Engine and Hull
GLOSSARY
Controllable pitch propeller Propeller in which blades
may be rotated on their axes to change the propeller
pitch.
Cross compound Cross implies that the two elements are
mounted side by side so that their individual outputs
must be combined by a transmission element (usually
mechanical gearing). Compound implies that the work-
ing fluid of the engine in question passes in series from
a high-pressure element to a low-pressure element.
Efficiency Ratio of energy supplied to the propulsion
shaft to that present as heating value of the fuel.
Feed water Water supplied to a steam boiler.
Heaving Vertical translational motion of a ship.
Inboard profile Longitudinal sectional drawing of a ship.
Load profile Map of engine power as a function of time.
Maximum continuous power Maximum power that can
be maintained continuously without unacceptable en-
gine wear.
Mean effective pressure Mean pressure in an engine
cylinder. A measure of the power produced per piston
cycle.
19:53
Marine Engines
Tor Erik Andersen
Det Norske Veritas
Pitching Rotational motion of a ship about a transverse
axis.
Propeller law Propulsive power proportional to the cube
of shaft rotational speed.
Quadruple expansion Refers to a reciprocating engine
in which the working fluid passes in series through four
cylinders.
Rolling Rotational motion of a ship about a longitudinal
axis.
Ship service (SS) Machinery that “serves the ship” (e.g.,
provides power for lighting).
Stroke length Distance of piston travel in a reciprocating
engine.
Triple expansion Refers to a reciprocating engine in
which the working fluid passes in series through three
cylinders.
MARINE ENGINE denotes the engine used as the propul-
sive prime mover of a ship. The term may be extended to
include the propulsive engines of small watercraft and en-
gines that are used for shipboard auxiliary services such
as the generation of electric power.
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I. INTRODUCTION
The designers of ships and of their propulsive machinery
rarely design the engine. Common practice is to purchase
stock model machinery that has been adapted to marine
use from prime movers in other fields. A widespread ex-
ample of this practice is the use of aircraft jet engines,
modified to produce shaft torque instead of jet thrust, for
propulsion of naval combat vessels. In the U.S. Navy, the
General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engine, a modifi-
cation of the CF-6 commercial turbo-fan aircraft engine,
became the most widely used propulsion engine for sur-
face combat ships, beginning about 1970. In the marine
version, the aircraft fan-drive turbine has been adapted to
drive the propulsion shafting.
In the high speed craft (HSC) market, gas turbines com-
bined with water-jets as thruster units are now dominant,
at least for large crafts of 90–120 m. General Electric
(http://www.geae.net/) and ABB-Stal, Sweden, have sup-
plied some HSC with their gas turbines.
The fundamental requirement of a propulsion engine is
that it meet the torque requirements of its load. It must do
so within the constraints appropriate to the application—
the restrictive weight and space requirements, the dynamic
environment (motion of the ship, vibration, shock), de-
mands of the service for endurance, economy, and relia-
bility, and the special problems of a marine environment.
Powered ship propulsion began in the early nineteenth
century with primitive reciprocating steam engines. For
about 100 years the weight and bulk of propulsion ma-
chinery meant that it would dominate the design of many
classes of ships, and during this interval marine engines
were a unique type of machine, with their development
driven by the need to relieve ship design of the burden
of monstrously heavy and inefficient propulsive machin-
ery. The inboard profiles of the many great passenger
liners built in the first decade of the twentieth century,
for example, show the propulsion machinery extending
through the hull for almost its entire length. In effect, the
hull was an envelope stretched to enclose this rather mas-
sive array of machinery. The engines of those ships were
most often triple-expansion or quadruple-expansion recip-
rocating engines (steam turbine engines were beginning
to appear about this time as well) that had been devel-
oped by marine engineers for ship propulsion and built by
shipyards.
Early steam turbines, diesel engines, and spark ignition
engines were also applied to ship and boat propulsion in
attempts to remedy some of the deficiences of recipro-
cating steam (weight and bulk, in particular). However,
a rapidly expanding technical culture ashore provided its
incentives for engine development, and eventually a much
larger market to engine builders. At the time of the final
Marine Engines
discard of reciprocating steam (ca. 1940), the steam tur-
bine was principally a producer of central station electric
power, and the internal combustion engines were built in
the millions per annum for shore-side transportation and
stationary power. At about this time the gas turbine en-
gine appeared in the form of the aircraft gas turbine, and
continued to develop under the pressures of the aircraft
market. Marine engineers found it feasible and economi-
cal to abandon the design and building of their own unique
machines in favor of adapting engines from these several
ready sources, especially since the adapted machinery had
reached a stage of development where it would not demand
a hull stretched to fit around it.
This article is therefore devoted principally to the appli-
cation of varied engines in ship propulsion; their design
and problems not unique to the marine application are
properly reserved to the particular engine types.
There are indeed some exceptions to the story of adapta-
tion from shore technology. One that is significant enough
to deserve attention in a short treatise such as this is the de-
velopment of the pressurized water nuclear reactor. It was
developed in the 1950s as a source of steam for subma-
rine propulsion, and subsequently for naval surface vessel
propulsion as well. The central station pressurized water
nuclear plants built in the United States are largely adap-
tations of the naval designs.
II. REQUIRED MARINE ENGINE
CHARACTERISTICS
A. Torque or Power versus Speed
The propulsion engine is a device for producing the torque
required by the propulsor that converts the torque into
thrust. Almost universally, the propulsor is a screw pro-
peller. The torque characteristic of the engine must there-
fore coordinate with that of a propeller. Since the torque is
transmitted by a rotating shaft, this last statement implies
that the torque–revolutions per minute (rpm) character-
istic of the propeller determines the acceptability of the
torque–rpm characteristic of the engine. In other words,
the power–rpm characteristic must be acceptable, and this
conveys equivalent information, since power is the product
of torque and rpm. Power–rpm is used in the subsequent
discussion.
Figures 1 and 2 show typical power–rpm curves for a
propeller and a diesel engine (Fig. 1) or a turbine engine
(Fig. 2). (Both propeller and engine curves are somewhat
idealized, but serve well for discussion.) In both instances,
the engine power equals that of the propeller at what is pre-
sumably rated power and rpm for both the engine and its
load. Since the engine power clearly exceeds the required
propeller power at rpm below rated, the engine in both
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Marine Engines 123

(maximum feasible thrust per unit of propeller disk area),

coupled with limits of acceptable angle of attack of blades
with respect to water, dictate a limited range of speeds over
which the propeller will be acceptably efficient. While re-
ciprocating engines can be designed with matching speed,
acceptably efficient turbine designs lie between one and
two orders of magnitude in speed above efficient propeller
speed. Fortunately, mechanical gearing is readily adapted
to match diverse engine and propeller speeds. If the gear-
ing can be thought of as part of the engine, then it is
indeed correct to speak of the two speeds as if they were
one.

B. Load Profile
The load profile to be encountered in marine propulsive
service depends on the type and service of the ship. The
number and variety of such profiles approaches the innu-
merable, but a mere three somewhat simplified ones can
serve as the framework of discussion here.

1. A profile dominated by long periods of continuous

FIGURE 1 Matched characteristics of diesel engine and marine operation at maximum continuous engine rating, with only
propeller. brief and infrequent periods of low power.
2. A profile consisting of frequent short periods of op-
eration at maximum continuous power, separated by in-
instances is able to accelerate the propeller from rest to tervals of low-power operation.
the rated condition.
Both Figs. 1 and 2 show a family of propeller curves
to indicate a range within which the characteristic of a
particular propeller may fall. The change from one curve
to another of the family occurs because of a change in
propeller pitch, or if the pitch is fixed, from any factor that
changes the resistance characteristic of the ship. The point
illustrated is that the engine characteristic must be suitable
for the family, and not just for a single propeller charac-
teristic. The curves demonstrate that a shift of propeller
curve to the left (increase in pitch or increase in resis-
tance) without a compensating shift upward of the engine
curve—which may not be possible without overloading
the engine—must cause the engine power and rpm both
to decrease. The turbine suffers a much smaller decrease
than the diesel. The advantage this conveys to turbine
propulsion is a minor one, however, and both types of en-
gines match the marine propulsive load characteristic quite
well.
The discussion of power versus speed, including the la-
beling of Figs. 1 and 2, has implied that rotational speeds
of propeller and engine are the same. However, this im-
plication is true only for low-speed diesel engines, en-
gines whose piston stroke is long enough that rpm is in
a range suitable for an efficient propeller. Propeller speed FIGURE 2 Matched characteristics of turbine engine and marine
must be accommodated because limits of thrust loading propeller.
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3. A profile dominated by at least a few long periods of
continuous moderate power (one-quarter maximum con-
tinuous, for example), with occasional short periods of
maximum power.
The first of these profiles is typical of a commercial
ship serving a long trade route such as Australia–Europe.
The engine might be expected to run reliably without
interruption for about 500 h, and for a total of at least
10,000 h at maximum continuous power without need for
overhaul.
The second of these is typical of a ship on a short voy-
age involving a scheduled service. A ferry linking Great
Britain with points on the European continent is a possible
example. The ability to run reliably for long intervals is of
less importance than in the preceding instance, and fuel
economy may be of less importance also, because this ship
will burn much less fuel per annum. If there is the need
to meet a strict schedule, a reserve of power to overcome
delays is a likely requirement.
The third load profile is typical of a naval combat vessel.
Its long ocean passages are likely to be at a fraction (say,
one quarter) of its maximum power because that maxi-
mum is high enough to make the resulting fuel consump-
tion rate too high for long endurance. Best efficiency is
to be desired at the passage-making power, a requirement
that runs counter to the usual engine characteristic of best
efficiency at its rated (usually maximum) power.
C. Economic Factors
Acquisition cost, fuel cost, maintenance cost, and other
items usually of lesser magnitude, are as significant for
marine engines as for engines in any service. There are,
nonetheless, economic factors unique to the marine appli-
cation, mainly based on the relationship of engine to hull
size, cost, and payload. Weight and volume of machinery
compete with weight and volume of payload, and thereby
affect the earning capacity of commercial vessels. Alter-
natively, for a fixed payload these factors affect the size,
and hence the building cost, of the hull.
Fuel cost is of obvious significance, but this signifi-
cance varies, especially as a function of the load profile.
In the first profile described—long passages by commer-
cial ships—fuel cost almost alone dictates the choice of
engine toward the one of best fuel economy. For the long-
passage commercial ship operating in the early 1980s, fuel
cost was often as high as 60% of total operating costs.
The naval vessel, operating on the third profile just de-
scribed, may expend comparatively little money on fuel.
Nonetheless, its efficiency of propulsion may be of prime
importance because it determines the distance traveled per
unit weight of fuel, and thus its operating range.
Marine Engines
D. Consequences of the Shipboard
Environment
The shipboard environment has the virtue of having the sea
as a most convenient heat sink, but the sea is also a medium
whose corrosiveness must be accommodated. The sea air
is also corrosive, since spray from the sea surface produces
a mist and fine suspended salt solids in the air that must
support combustion and serve as the working fluid for in-
ternal combustion engines. The motions (rolling, pitching,
heaving, etc.) of the ship hull, its static inclinations (heel
or list, trim, etc.), its distortions under load, and its high-
frequency dynamic aspects (vibration, shock) can also be
classed as significant factors in the shipboard environment
that are in some ways unique to the application. For in-
stance, a marine propeller must operate in a flow field that
is distorted by the presence of the nearby ship hull. In con-
sequence, the angle of attack on a propeller blade changes
as the propeller rotates, causing hydrodynamic forces and
moments on the blade to change. In turn, the consequence
is vibratory excitation of the power transmission system.
The underwater environment of a submarine, with its
isolation from the atmosphere, is unquestionably unique
among power production environments.
III. CHARACTERISTICS OF MAJOR
ENGINE TYPES
The following engine types are those used in ship propul-
sion:
1. low-speed diesel,
2. medium-speed diesel,
3. high-speed diesel,
4. steam turbine with oil- or coal-fired boiler,
5. steam turbine with pressurized water nuclear heat
source, and
6. gas turbine.
Regarding steam turbine, today oil- and coal-fired boil-
ers for steam turbine propulsion plants are seldom in-
stalled in new vessels due to the higher operational costs
compared to the modern slow speed diesel engines. How-
ever, in tankers carrying LNG (liquefied natural gas) gas-
fired or combined gas/oil-fired boilers producing steam for
propulsion is feasible when utilizing the “boil off” from
the cargo.
The major thrust of this section is to discuss how these
alternatives meet the requirements that are sketched in the
preceding section, coupled with brief descriptions of the
engines in their marine manifestations. The power-versus-
speed characteristic of the two classes of engines (diesel
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Marine Engines
and turbine) has already been covered and shown to be
satisfactory; this discussion will not be repeated.
A. Low-Speed Diesel
The performance of any reciprocating engine is dominated
by the formula
power = P L Z B 2 N ,
where P is the cylinder mean effective pressure, L is the
piston stroke length, Z is the number of cylinders, B is the
cylinder bore (diameter), and N is the number of power
strokes per unit time. The mean effective pressure is pro-
portional to the amount of energy released in the cylinder
per power stroke per unit volume, and its maximum value
is about the same for all engines of a given type, such as all
two-stroke turbocharged diesels, for example. (“State of
the art” is involved, however; maximum P has increased
steadily with improvements in diesel technology.) At this
time, the maximum cylinder effective pressure is about
18–20 bar. The product of stroke length and speed (pro-
portional to N ) is proportional to the average linear speed
of the piston, and also has a maximum that is about the
same for engines of a given type. The ratio of bore to
stroke likewise is of necessity about the same for engines
of a given type. The product LZB2 is the cylinder dis-
placement; total engine volume and weight are roughly
proportional to displacement.
From the formula and the auxiliary principles, it is easy
to deduce that an engine designed for a desired power
at low speed must have a long piston stroke, and con-
sequently have large overall dimension and weight. The
rated speeds of the engines spoken of here have typically
been in the range 75–150 rpm, making them suitable for di-
rect connection (i.e., without intervening speed-reducing
gears) to the propulsion shafting of a ship. The engines are
massive; a specific mass of 35 kg/kW is typical. Figure 3
is the profile of the engine room of a commercial ship,
showing a propulsion engine of this type.
Although size and its consequent weight may be a neg-
ative characteristic of this engine type, it is not disbarring
except in applications where height or exceptionally high
powers per unit weight are important. A vehicle-carrying
ship usually requires a continuous deck so that the ve-
hicles can be driven throughout the cargo space from a
single access point; the height of a low-speed engine of-
ten comes in conflict with this requirement, and leads to
the choice of a different engine. The need for an armored
deck over the propulsion machinery may likewise rule out
a low-speed engine in a combat naval vessel, as will the
need for high-unit powers in this ship type.
On the other hand, the large cylinder size and low speed
are of advantage to the combustion process. Combus-
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125
(1)
FIGURE 3 Engine room profile showing low-speed diesel propul-
sion engine and prominent auxiliary components. [Courtesy
Sulzer Brothers.]
tion efficiency and the ability to burn fuel of low quality
(“heavy oil,” consisting mainly of refinery residuum) are
enhanced, and in consequence, thermal efficiency of the
low-speed diesel is superior to that of any competitor. The
specific fuel consumption of some low-speed engines has
now reached 160–170 kg/kWh. Given the heating value of
the fuel used in attaining this figure, the efficiency of the
engine is about 50%.
As a consequence of high efficiency, coupled with fuel
prices much higher than traditional, the low-speed diesel
engine captured the major part of the commercial ship
propulsion market in the 1970s and 1980s.
The characteristics of a typical low-speed diesel are
displayed by Fig. 4. These are the plots of several engine
parameters as functions of power output as the engine
interacts with a marine propeller load (i.e., changes speed
and power along one of the propeller curves of Fig. 1).
Marine engines of this type invariably operate on the
two-stroke cycle and are turbocharged.
B. Medium-Speed Diesel
Equation (1) can be rewritten in the form
power = P(NL)(B 2 L)/L (2)
to illustrate that if—as asserted in the preceding section—
mean effective pressure (P) and piston speed (NL) are ef-
fectively constants, and that (B 2 L) is a measure of engine
size, then unit power (power per unit of volume or weight)
is inversely proportional to stroke length. The rather long
stroke length of the low-speed engine, if shortened, al-
lows an engine of smaller size and mass for a specified
power. However, the constancy of the NL product shows
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FIGURE 4 Typical low-speed marine diesel engine characteris-
tics. [Courtesy Sulzer Brothers.]
that speed increases correspondingly, and the constancy of
the bore/stroke ratio demands that B decrease, with Z in-
creasing to compensate. The overall result is an engine of
higher rotational speed, of smaller dimension and weight,
and of a larger number of cylinders. For example, whereas
a low-speed engine rated at a maximum continuous power
of 14,000 kW at 110 rpm might weigh 450 × 103 kg, be
13 m in height, and consist of 8 cylinders (in line), a com-
peting medium-speed propulsion plant might consist of
two V engines of 16 cylinders each, turning at 500 rpm,
weighing 60–80 × 103 kg, and be 3.5 m in height. An en-
gine speed of 500 rpm is usually much too high for a ship
propeller, and hence a reduction gear is nearly always an
adjunct of a medium-speed engine. The lesser weight, and
especially lesser height, may be important in some appli-
cations, and thereby lead to choice of medium speed over
low speed. The efficiency is likely to be slightly less, espe-
cially since the higher speed and smaller cylinders make
efficient combustion more difficult, the fuel quality may
have to be somewhat higher for the same reason, and the
greater number of cylinders may add to the maintenance
burden. The first cost of the medium-speed engine is usu-
ally less than that of a low-speed engine having the same
power rating.
These comparisons favor the low-speed alternative
when weight or dimensions are important, and where the
first cost of the engine is of greater importance than its cost
of fuel. The ship operating on the second of the load pro-
files described earlier is likely to be powered by a medium-
speed engine, or by multiple medium-speed engines.
Marine Engines
Two medium-speed engines geared to the same pro-
peller shaft, and provided with disconnecting clutches, is
a common installation. Where a ship must have a signif-
icant reserve power capacity to ensure maintenance of a
schedule, as in the second load profile, one engine of the
pair may normally carry the propulsive load with the other
declutched. Higher power demand is met by running both
engines.
Figures 5a and 5b are the profile and plan, respectively,
of a ship machinery space in which the propulsion en-
gine is a medium-speed diesel. Figure 6 is a set of engine
characteristics plotted at a constant rotational speed.
Medium-speed engines usually operate on the four-
stroke cycle and are turbocharged. Two-stroke engines are
found, however.
When the rated speed of a marine engine is above the
neighborhood of 1000 rpm, the engine is usually spoken
of as a high-speed engine. A typical rated speed range for
such an engine is 1000–1800 rpm, and the engine is likely
to be the adaptation of a highway truck engine. Just as the
medium-speed engine is smaller than a low-speed engine
of equal power, and has more cylinders, the high-speed
engine is yet smaller, and must supply more cylinders to
produce equal power. For total powers above the vicinity
of 1000 kW, and for the typical 1800- to 2000-rpm range,
the number of cylinders may become extreme, even though
divided among several (or many) engines, and the use
of this class of engine becomes impractical. High-speed
engines are therefore confined to vessels of small size and
power.
Such arrangements as diesel–electric propulsion using
medium-speed diesel engines to produce electric power
and an electric motor driving the propulsor (thrusters,
podded propulsor, or conventional propellers) are becom-
ing more utilized due to the flexibility and different use
of high electric power. Typical applications are cruising
vessels, shuttle tankers, and other vessels for specialized
operation.
C. Steam Turbine Engines
The steam-turbine-was the engine universally applied to
American-built ships from the time it replaced the recipro-
cating engine in the early twentieth century until the high
fuel prices post-1973 gave the efficiency advantage of the
diesel engine an overwhelming importance. Meanwhile,
the high specific power of the gas turbine gave it pre-
eminence for a wide range of naval combat vessels. On
the other hand, the feasibility of generating steam from
almost any source of heat gives steam turbine power an
apparently unassailable citadel from which it may expand
again if the specialized hydrocarbon fuels used by inter-
nal combustion engines become too dear. Major surface
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Marine Engines 127

FIGURE 5 (a) Engine room profile showing medium-speed diesel engines. (b) Engine room plan view showing
medium-speed diesel engines. [From Mar. Engrs. Rev., p. 16, December 1984.]
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FIGURE 6 Typical medium-speed marine diesel engine charac-
teristics. The propeller law is shown by the solid curve and the
constant speed by the dashed curve. [Courtesy Sulzer Brothers.]
combatant ships of the U.S. and Russian navies, and sub-
marines of those and of several western European navies,
are most usually built with steam turbine power, the steam
being generated by one or more pressurized water nuclear
reactors. A few commercial ships built in the 1970s and
1980s are powered by coal-fired steam, a development
that may presage a challenge to diesel preeminence in
later years. (Although the coal-fired machinery does not
offer efficiency close to that of diesel, the favorable price
of coal tends to offset the diesel advantage.)
The goals of best possible efficiency and compact size
demand that turbines turn at high speed; speeds in the
3000- to 6000-rpm range at rated power are typical in
the steam-ship propulsion application. Use of a mechani-
cal gear set (or electrical transmission in an occasional in
stance) to reduce speed to the neighborhood of 100 rpm
at the propeller shaft is universal practice. Efficiency also
requires that the turbines be built in multiple stages, with
about 20 being typical. Since each of the many stages
may have its unique optimal speed, each stage would—if
efficiency were the only criterion—be connected to the
propeller shaft via its own gear ratio. The usual compro-
mise with mechanical practicality is two groups of stages,
each at the best speed for the group as a whole, each with
its own gear ratio to the propeller. The stages are in series
from the standpoint of steam flow, but in parallel mechan-
ically. The arrangement is known as “cross compound.”
The “tanden compound” arrangement, or groups of stages,
on a common shaft, found in power station practice is not
used in the marine application.
Marine Engines
The marine steam turbine is typically of the impulse
type, though with reaction blading in the lower pressure
stages.
The steam generation equipment is the essential “other
half” of a steam power plant. Like the turbine itself, the
fired boiler and pressurized water nuclear steam generator
are similar to their land-based counterparts, though more
compact. The nuclear alternative, although surely a com-
plex device from a higher level of technology than a fired
boiler, is simpler overall in that it produces only saturated
steam, and contains no regenerative efficiency-enhancing
features. The fired steam generator always includes a su-
perheater, and usually a desuper-heater to supply cooled
steam for auxiliary purposes. It commonly is fitted with
regenerative heat exchangers to recover heat from the ex-
haust gas, either an economizer to preheat incoming water
or an air heater to preheat incoming combustion air (rarely
both).
The commercial marine steam propulsion plant is usu-
ally provided with regenerative feedwater heating (i.e.,
preheating of boiler feedwater by steam extracted from the
propulsion turbine), a measure to enhance efficiency. Be-
cause of the many choices possible in selecting the number
of stages of feedwater heating, because of the alternatives
in the choice of regenerative measures in the boiler, be-
cause of the usual use of some of the steam for varied
auxiliary purposes, and because of the range of choices
possible in steam pressure and temperature, steam propul-
sion plants tend to be much more varied in major features
than diesel or gas and turbine plants, and the efficiency
falls within a wider range. Figure 7 is a block diagram
showing the major components of a possible commercial
FIGURE 7 Block diagram showing major components of a steam
propulsion plant. B, boiler; C, condenser; COH, combustion air
heater; CP, condensate pump; D, distiller; E, economizer; FOH,
fuel oil heater; FP, feed pump; HTRI, surface feedwater heater;
HTR2, direct contact feedwater heater; R, recirculation; TF, feed
pump turbine; TG, turbogenerator; TP, propulsion turbine.
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Marine Engines
ship steam plant; features mentioned previously are evi-
dent. If such a power plant were sized for power in the
range 15,000–20,000 kW, the fuel consumption of resid-
ual oil might be 275 kg/kWh.
If it were not for the competition of the diesel, steam
turbine propulsion would be suitable for all of the three
load profiles discussed earlier, though it would be at its
best in the first one (long passage at steady high power),
and especially if in a ship of high power, this last because
the largest steam plants tend to be those of the highest
efficiency. A turbine tends to lose efficiency at part loads
to a greater degree than does a diesel, so that it suffers
some handicap in the third profile (long passages at re-
duced power). A remedy sometimes used in traditional
naval practice is a separate “cruising turbine” geared to
the propeller shaft in parallel with the main turbines. This
unit would be designed for the cruising power, and hence
would be at its highest efficiency at that power. It would
serve as the sole propulsion engine in the cruise mode.
D. Gas Turbine Engines
Gas turbine engines fall into two broad classifications: the
aircraft jet engine and the industrial (or “heavy duty”) en-
gine. The latter type is designed without great emphasis on
lightness, and consequently has advantages over the air-
craft type, such as the ability to burn fuel of lower quality.
It was adapted to commercial ship propulsion in the early
1970s, but the subsequent escalation of fuel prices gave
the diesel such an advantage that the industrial gas tur-
bine was shut out. The U.S. Navy, and many other navies,
gave total favor to the much lighter aircraft type, making
the industrial type, in sum, a trivial contributor to ship
propulsion. The discussions here will therefore treat only
the aircraft type.
The aircraft jet engine produces thrust directly by
reaction to the rearward acceleration of its exhaust. This
thrust could, of course, propel a ship, but efficient propul-
sion by change in momentum of a fluid requires that fluid
jet speed exceed ship speed by only a small margin. Given
that momentum is the product of mass and speed, the ship
requirement is for a mass rate of fluid much greater than
that in an aircraft exhaust, and a jet speed much less than
that of aircraft exhaust. This requirement can be satisfied
by the combination of a high-speed power turbine extract-
ing energy from the exhaust and supplying torque to a
much larger turbo element at a much reduced speed to
convert that torque back to thrust. The “turbo element”
is the conventional marine propeller, driven through con-
ventional marine speed reduction gears. the power turbine
may be an add-on to the jet engine exhaust, or in the case
of a turbo-fan engine, it is likely to be the fan drive tur-
bine adapted to a different duty. Unlike the multistage
129
steam turbine. the gas power turbine extracts energy from
its working fluid with good efficiency in relatively few
stages. The power turbine therefore does not add greatly
to the physical dimensions of the parent aircraft engine.
In the adapted marine power plant, the original jet en-
gine remains essentially intact and unchanged (a fan jet
engine will have lost its fan), and becomes the “gas gen-
erator” of the marine plant. As in aircraft practice, major
engine maintenance is usually to be accomplished off-
vehicle in a maintenance shop. The machinery spaces of
a ship must therefore be arranged to facilitate frequent re-
moval of the gas generators without major disruptions of
structure and other machinery. A widely used design tactic
is to arrange the engine’s air intake trunk with clearance
sufficient for the engine to be hoisted through it.
Although the gas generator may be a virtually un-
changed aircraft jet engine, external features are likely
to have qualities and magnitudes unique to the marine
application. As has been stated, the marine environment
challenges this engine more severely than the other types.
Great care must be taken to exclude corrosive compounds
from the sea. These contaminants can enter with either
the fuel or the combustion air, demanding great care in the
design of both fuel system and air intake system.
Unique features are most evident in the air intake. A
duct to the exterior must be provided, and the duct de-
signed to exclude airborne sea salts as far as practicable.
Filtration must be provided against particles that do enter.
In addition to enhancing combustion air cleanliness, the
intake ducting must not cause uneven flow distribution at
the compressor inlet (to avoid excitation of destructive vi-
bration), nor offer any possibility of any foreign object (a
loose rivet, a dropped flashlight) entering the engine.
Unacceptable sound levels are a feature of the gas tur-
bine engine. Although it shares with the diesel a need
for sound absorbers (“mufflers”) in its exhaust, the higher
pitch of the sound and the larger ducting for a given power
(from higher mass flow rates, lower duct velocities, higher
exhaust temperatures) exacerbate the gas turbine exhaust
noise problem. Within the ship machinery room, sound
levels are unacceptably high for human exposure. If the
room is to be manned, the engines must be within sound-
absorbing enclosures. Sond absorption in intake ducting
is also a necessity.
Figure 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the General
Electric LM 2500 marine engine, showing its sound en-
closure and engine base. Figure 9 is a schematic view of
LM 2500 engines in an arrangement typical of U.S. Navy
twin-screw combat vessels.
Since we speak here only of naval application, it is im-
plied that the aircraft-adapted gas turbine engine is suited
for the third load profile described earlier. Actually it is not,
unless special measures are taken, because the part-load
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130 Marine Engines

FIGURE 8 General Electric LM 2500 marine gas turbine engine, showing its enclosure and base. [Courtesy General
Electric.]

performance of the engine is poor, making the requisite
good efficiency at cruising power awkward to obtain. The
simplest special measure is multiple engines so that power
increments can be had by running differing numbers of en-
gines, each running at its rated power, or not at all. Several
classes of U.S. Navy ships built in the 1970s and 1980s
are powered by twin propellers, with each propeller shaft
driven by two gas turbine engines, as Fig. 9 indicates.
Cruising at 12 power, which should give about 0.8 of full
power speed, can be accomplished by running one engine
per shaft. Cruising at 14 power, which, should give about
0.6 of full power speed, is truly awkward because it ne-
cessitates trailing an unpowered propeller.
IV. REVERSING THE MARINE ENGINE
Propeller thrust is reversed either by reversing its direc-
tions of rotation, or by reversing the pitch of its blades.
Reversing the direction of rotation is accomplished either

FIGURE 9 Arrangement (schematic) of gas turbine propulsion engines, typical of U.S. Navy twin-screw combat
vessels. [From E. F. Brady, Naval Engrs. J., April 1981.]
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Marine Engines
by reversing engine rotation, or by reversing shaft rotation
by means of a shift of torque path through a gear trans-
mission. Reciprocating engines can be reversed by shifting
cylinder valve timing (which requires stopping and restart-
ing the engine). Turbine engines cannot be reversed.
From this assortment of facts one selects the combina-
tion that fits a particular type of propulsion. The picture is
made more complex, however, by the possibility of adapt-
ing at least two to any type. The following lists only the
most usual means of reversing, with minor comment:
1. Steam turbines drive fixed-pitch propellers, which
therefore must be reversed in direction, through unidirec-
tional reduction gears. Reversal is obtained by diverting
the steam to a reversing turbine, a single stage with blad-
ing in the reverse orientation, and mounted within the low-
pressure half of the cross-compound turbine set.
2. Low-speed diesel engines drive fixed-pitch pro-
pellers; reversal is obtained by engine reversal.
3. Medium- and high-speed diesel engines drive either
fixed-pitch or controllable-pitch propellers. In the latter
instance, propeller thrust reversal is obtained by reversing
propeller pitch while the engine is brought to idling speed.
In the former, reversing trains within the reduction gear
are used to reverse shaft rotation, selected by ahead or
reverse-clutch engagement while the engine is brought to
idling speed.
4. Gas turbine engines drive controllable-pitch pro-
pellers. Propeller thrust reversal is obtained by reversing
propeller pitch while the engine is brought to idling speed.
V. COMBINED ENGINE POWERING
Different engine types can be assembled in different com-
binations, for different purposes. Two purposes cover most
instances:
1. to improve the matching of the propulsion plant to its
load profile, and
2. to improve the efficiency.
The third load profile, which demands good efficiency
at a cruising power much lower than maximum power, is
often matched by combinations of engines. Cruising steam
turbines and multiple gas turbines geared to a common
propulsion shaft have already been described as used in
naval propulsion, and may be taken as examples, even
though the combinations are of engines of the same type.
The combination of dissimilar engines most often ap-
plied is one of medium-speed or high-speed (the latter in
small vessels) diesel engines combined with gas turbine
engines. The diesel engines form a cruising power propul-
sion plant that provides good efficiency; the gas turbines
19:53
131
form a “boost” plant that provides high power, either alone
or with a contribution from the diesels, when maximum
speed is needed. Alone, the gas turbines would have un-
acceptably poor efficiency at cruising power, while the
diesel engines would be unacceptably large and heavy if
rated to provide maximum speed power.
Propulsion plants of the combined diesel–gas turbine
type are used in several classes of U.S. Coast Guard ves-
sels, and in some naval vessels (none U.S. Navy). They
are designated CODOG (combined diesel or gas) if the
two types of engine are used alternatively, and CODAG
(combined diesel and gas) if used together at maximum
power.
Some British naval vessels built in the 1950s and 1960s
applied the same concept through use of steam turbines
for the cruising power, and gas turbines for the maximum.
The objective of high efficiency is pursued by thermo-
dynamic cascading of engines, nearly always by using
the high-temperature exhaust gas from one engine as the
heat source for the other. The most common instance of
this is the common practice on commercial ships pow-
ered by low-speed diesel engines of producing steam in
a “waste heat boiler” for use in running a steam turbine
that drives an electric power plant. Although perhaps 30%
of the diesel fuel energy may be found in the engine ex-
haust gas, electric power can be produced only to about
5% of the propulsive power. Nonetheless, in ships of fairly
high propulsive power, the steam-driven generator can of-
ten produce all of the electric power required by the ship,
with consequent saving of the fuel that would otherwise
have gone into running a diesel generator. Diesel genera-
tors must do the job in port, however, and when propulsive
power is low.
Exhaust gas energy from a gas turbine is usually greater,
and has a higher availability because of its higher tem-
perature, than from a diesel engine of the same power
rating. Just as with the diesel, the exhaust energy can pro-
duce steam to be used for electric power production, or
for propulsion if the turbine is geared to the propulsion
shaft. Analytical work has shown that adding the maximal
amount of steam power, which might be as much as 15%
of gas turbine shaft power, to propulsion can produce an
efficiency of propulsion that at least equals the best diesel
figure. The price is added complexity and added weight of
machinery that might not be acceptable in the naval vessels
where the gas turbine is likely to be found. In consequence,
the scheme had not been put into practice as of this writing.
VI. DYNAMIC INTERACTION BETWEEN
ENGINE AND HULL
We have observed that development of marine engines has
reached a point where the design of the engine no longer
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132
dominates the design of the ship; usually a choice can be
made among several engine types, and none will demand
a large share of hull volume and lifting capacity. Nonethe-
less, a ship designer should not design hull and select ma-
chinery independently. There are design linkages, such as
the effect of engine weight and volume on payload, that
have been mentioned earlier.
Possible dynamic interactions are perhaps the most im-
portant of all, since poor design can seriously impair the
operation of a ship in a way that a minor loss in payload,
say, never would. The dynamic interactions arise from the
almost inevitable tendency of a propeller to generate tor-
sional, longitudinal, and transverse excitation as its blades
rotate through regions of differing water velocity, and from
the several sources of excitation within the engine.
If the engine is a diesel, the torque applied to the
crankshaft by each piston varies periodically as the cylin-
der gas pressure varies, and as the inertia forces from pis-
ton acceleration vary. If any of the many harmonics of
these periodic torques resonates with a natural frequency
of the engine-shaft-propeller system, severe torsional vi-
bration may occur. The torsional vibration may be destruc-
tive only of the rotating machinery, but by its nature, the
propeller is a converter of torque to thrust, and so it is that
a strong longitudinal vibration may be caused also.
Longitudinal vibratory forces are transmitted to the hull
by the thrust bearing that transmits the propulsive thrust,
so that one of the natural frequencies of hull vibration may
be excited. A low-speed diesel, in particular, may vibrate
longitudinally, acting in the manner of a vertical cantilever
beam. If one of its natural frequencies resonates with the
frequency of the longitudinal shaft forces, the engine may
vibrate excessively, and in turn excite surrounding ship
structure.
A reciprocating engine transmits to its shaft bearings the
periodic forces that must accompany the periodic acceler-
ations of its pistons and associated moving parts. Usually,
however, the forces are canceled through the agency of
counterweights on the crankshaft, but it may not be pos-
sible to cancel the moments that these forces produce.
The degree of moment cancellation depends largely on
the number of cylinders, but most typically some signifi-
cant degree of second-order (meaning frequency equal to
twice the rotational frequency of the engine) moment ex-
ists. This moment tends to bend the engine vertically about
a transverse axis (i.e., bend its ends up and down). Since
the engine structure is not infinitely stiff, this bending is
transmitted to the engine foundation, and may thereby ex-
cite hull vibration.
Marine Engines
The phenomena that give rise to these dynamic interac-
tions are largely unavoidable—the pulsing nature of diesel
engine torque, for example, is an inevitable characteris-
tic of a reciprocating engine. The principal remedy is to
design the moving parts of the engine and shafting sys-
tem so that resonances between its vibratory modes and
the excitations do not occur. In some instances this may
include stiffening the engine structure by adding sway
braces between the hull and the upper level of the engine
(particularly so for the tall low speed diesels). The conse-
quences of unbalanced torques within the engine may be
minimized by selecting the number of cylinders for a low
moment value, building extra stiffness into the foundation,
and by mounting the engine near a node of the expected
hull vibration mode.
The smooth torque of turbine engines reduces their dy-
namic hazard, but unacceptable torsional and longitudinal
vibrations can be excited by the propeller. There have also
been instances in steam turbines of severe vibration ex-
cited by the periodic passage of turbine blades through the
steam jets. As with the reciprocating engines, the principal
remedy is knowledge of excitations, and of frequencies of
vibration, so that resonances can be avoided.
SEE ALSO THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES
FUELS • INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES • JET AND GAS
TURBINE ENGINES • NAVAL ARCHITECTURE • NUCLEAR
REACTOR MATERIALS AND FUELS
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