U. S. Navy’s Marine Gas Turbines

The development, progress, and sea experience of marine gas turbines in the U. S. Navy are reviewed. Practical problems encountered with engine components, installation arrangements, forward area support, and the marine environment are outlined. Development programs in progress with simple and regenerative open-cycle engines are presented. Development efforts of the future are postulated. Shipbuilding programs involving gas turbines are described. Gas turbines are now being considered for naval service over a wide range of power (40–25,000 hp per engine); the gas turbine should be further developed to meet projected needs; it, like any other prime mover, is to be treated as a component of an overall ship system and judged on the basis of lifetime cost, system reliability, maintainability, operability, performance, and personnel requirements. The authors suggest that specific weight and fuel rate, although significant features of any power source, have been overemphasized in the transfer of gas-turbine technology from aircraft to general marine use.