Thats becuase domestic ship builders use turbine engines. I think the super huge marine desiels like that are way out dated technology.

 

Good call Slinger, we all know the power to weight of a gas turbine, leave it to the Japs to make something overly complicated that takes up more space...hahaha

 

my civic still pwns that

 

Not quite.

Turbines are simple and light, but the highest compression ratio one can create is going to be in the high 20s I believe.

A turbocharged diesel can have a total compression ratio in the 30s or 40s.

Since thermal efficiency directly relates to compression ratio in any combustion engine the piston diesel engine is much more efficient, but at the cost of complexity and weight.

Since a container ship can handle some extra weight but needs efficiency to make money, a diesel engine makes sense.

Turbines make sense for fast cruisers and smaller, cheaper ships.

The turbo-diesel is here to stay as one of the most efficient engines man can make.

 

I said power to weight, we all know gas turbines burn an assload of fuel, our PT6 burns like 300 lbs per hour when set at 1015 torque (~420 hp ish), then calculated over 3.5 miles a minute (210 TAS cruise) at said power setting, and 5 lbs a minute fuel burn at that power setting, and assuming a gallon of JP5 weighs about 6 lbs, we basically get 3.5 mpg with a no-wind solution, obviously tailwinds help and headwinds hurt fuel mileage in a plane

 

Yeah, but any vehicle of similar size going that fast is bound to end up with similar gas mileage.

Now that I read your post again for some reason I read into it the first time that you were indicating that the ships we make with lighter turbine motors were superior, but you did not say that.

Hell you drive a turbo-diesel and fly turbines so I should know that you already know the pros and cons of each.

 

Hahaha..right on, well I kinda was eluding I thought they were superior..just cause I like turbines immensely, I will own one eventually..haha

 

a couple months ago, road & track featured an article about a steam locomotive, it was pretty funny, corners on rails, etc. they showed it to make a maximum of like 240k of tq out of a 2 piston external combustion engine.

i wonder if endyne makes roller-waves for this?
and i think it could benefit from some underdrive pulleys >

 

its got the new ctr pistons, and skunk2 intake manifold too.