Some Notes: 1) the thumbnail isn't clickbait, reports said the Turbinia had "a 20 foot flame" shooting out of it's funnel as it darted through the procession. 2) At around 5:49 I mention "the Dreadnoughts were lined up", that is a direct quote from a book I read. Yes these ships pre-date the HMS Dreadnought, HOWEVER, in time, historians would nickname these ships 'pre-dreadnoughts'. Because they are essentially the same class of ship, just without the turbines. There is a note on the screen at that time that explains it too. 3) In the video when I say that turbines are rarely used today, I meant that turbines are rarely used on ships today, considering all the ships in existence currently, the amount using steam turbines is only a fraction of the total. In hindsight, I probably should have mentioned that steam turbines are used in a number of power plants and nuclear powered ships, but I thought people would understand my point.
Capital ships of that period were still being called 'ironclads', tho' built of steel since the 1880s, while HMS Dreadnought was not very similar 2 her 'predreadnought' battleship predessors, being ~2000 tons heavier, w/ more than twice the number of the main battery guns (intended 2B directed by a unified fire control), & powered by turbines powerful enough 2 give a 2 knot speed advantage: There was more than enuff of a difference in the Dreadnought 2 oblige the world 2 go Dreadnought-happy until the Great War blew everyone's budgets & their enthusiasm 4 war in general 'til the dictators brought such waste back N2 fashion, where it tends 2 remain
I failed to read your post in the comment section a year ago before posting my comment earlier today. Now I see you had already mentioned steam turbines being "used in a number of power plants and nuclear powered ships". I think you will probably be interested is something a read a few decades ago. I was waiting in a large book store for my wife to finish her shopping when I saw a book about steam engines. The back of the dust cover was written by a friend of the author of the book. The book had been written about 100 years before I saw it in the bookstore. The friend wrote that he, the author of the book and several of their other friends were in awe of steamships, steam locomotives et al. It seemed to them that nothing could stop them - not even hell or high water. And then he got to thinking, That's what makes them go - hell and high water.
The video is about Turbinia. Expecting me to research every last word that goes into my videos when it doesn't directly connect to the subject matter is unreasonable. If the source is incorrect about pre-dreadnoughts, that's unfortunate but the video is about Turbinia, not those war ships.
That is so cool that your great grandfather helped to build the Turbina. My great grandfather wrapped locomotive boilers in asbestos. Men like your great grandfather worked hard with great skill.
My great grandfather was a steam engine expert, specialising in power generation. The turbine came in towards the end of his career. He didn't work on them. One day, I am supposed to inherit his set of Audels engineering books. It will be an interesting read!
I remember seeing Turbinia at Exhibition Park when I was a kid. It's hard to appreciate how inventive this country was in the past. In the present, we have hedge fund managers that invest in quick-buck gains, not in the long-term benefit of the country.
My former next door neighbor pointed out to me that the boiler needed to produce the prodigious amount of steam Turbinia needed also had to be very innovative. It was designed by Yarrow. The boiler went on to be standard equipment for most British merchant and military vessels in WW 1. The neighbor was Yarrow's g grandson.
David Ford..That is interesting information. I was thinking as I watched this video that the boiler design would need to be more advanced than the relatively simple design that a triple expansion piston engine would tolerate. One very important design feature of a boiler feeding a bladed turbine is that the steam supply needs to be superheated dry steam otherwise the turbine blades will very quickly deteriorate due to wet steam erosion. The Turbinia was obviously a very innovative and advanced design on many fronts.
Wet and dry steam are exactly as they sound. Wet steam is at a temperature between 212 degrees F to upwards of 400-600 dF. Wet steam is highly saturated with water vapor. Dry steam is superheated to 600+ dF, and at those temperatures the molecules are spaced so far apart that a cubic foot of dry steam will not have as much water vapor in it as a cubic foot of wet steam. Dry steam because it's superheated nature, has more energy in it, and therefore is more powerful when used in a steam engine.
@@herauthon Steam can be categorized into: 1)saturated steam; and, 2)superheated steam. Saturated steam is defined as steam at a temperature equal to its boiling point temperature, while superheated steam is defined as steam at a temperature greater than that of its boiling point. "Dry steam" is simply another name for superheated steam. Saturated steam is mainly used where better heat transfer characteristics are desired such as in steam/radiator heating systems, while superheated steam is used primarily in power generation. Superheated steam has a lower density than does saturated steam, and, thus superheated steam will not condense as readily as saturated steam.
As a native of Wallsend, whose father worked at Parsons Marine and whose grandfather worked on the refit of the Mauretania, I'm delighted to see Turbinia put into proper perspective. Very good video, thanks for posting!
I was 24 and living in Wallsend when they closed Parsons. Tragic day and the very history had been lost even to the locals who didn't know the legacy of that factory. It was just another of hundreds of factories closing at that time. Very sad but very proud.
@@gregtaylor6146 I think it was about 1982, there were factories closing every day from 82 to 84 as England rapidly de-industrialised. I walked all around the industrial estates of Newcastle and Gateshead looking for a job. Terrible times.
@@indigogolf3051 - I feel your pain my friend, I was brought up in the so-called soft-south and well remember signing-on (which I hated to have to do) with hundreds of others in a queue which stretched round the block .... in a former market town which had previously enjoyed full employment. Dark days indeed!
@@indigogolf3051 - Coincidentally, my youngest son is now at university in Newcastle and loves it, though I have to say , when i went up to collect him last year, the town centre looked quite grubby, not helped by the surprisingly high number of somali and-the-like faces I saw, littering the place? Will definitely pay a visit to the museum to see Turbinia on my next visit though.
I live local to the museum holding the vessel today - The Discovery Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne. You can get up close and personal with Turbinia and get to see and touch those propellors. Unfortunately you can't get inside her but there's a cutaway window in the hull to look inside. The engineering behind not just Turbinia but other Parsons inventions is astounding. His devices included hydraulic motors - hydraulics changed the machine world too. Great video recognising a local hero. Thanks for sharing!
Perhaps on the 200th anniversary of it's race through the British fleet, Turbinia can be put back in the water and powered up for another race into history.
As a young graduate engineer in the early eighties, I went to the factory (NEI Parsons by then) for an interview and a tour. The sheer scale of the engineering was breathtaking. The lathes that turned so slowly but took one inch chips off the huge shafts as they turned..... The huge pit in which they spun the turbines up to check for balance..... and the size/weight of the absolutely enormous lid that was needed to contain the energy if a shaft failed. The amount of kinetic energy in one of those shafts turning that quickly was staggering. I ended up in aerospace instead, but it left an impression and a sense of awe that has never left me.
When I visited the museum to see the Turbinia, it was closed for some sort of renovation. A person working at the museum saw me looking down as the boat and asked what I was up to. I said I had traveled across 8 time zones to see the Turbinia, and he provided me a one-on-one tour, excellent! The rest of the museum is quite nice too, well worth a visit.
I was in there yesterday admiring the Turbinia and just looking at the Mauretania curiosities. An employee came over to give some information on Mauretania and I enquired whether they had anything relating to RMS Carpathia. They were almost at closing time so I wanted to see anything about the hero ship. Surprisingly they had nothing on Carpathia on display, but the employee was kind enough to show me into the private Carpathia function room, not usually accessible to museum visitors unless booked. It was a conference room adorned with lots of pictures of the Carpathia that I'd never seen before, plus a letter in a frame relating to a proposal to build her. The staff member went above and beyond and it made me very happy. If you love history the museum is fantastic. Next time I'll spend longer in there because I only saw a couple of the shipping parts.
Indeed, and nearly all electrical power, with the exception of hydro-electric or wind turbine, is generated by steam turbine. It's all about boiling water...
Also needs mentioning, every nuclear Aircraft Carrier and submarine uses steam turbines for propulsion. Prior to nuclear propulsion they were oil fired boilers that provided the steam that spun turbines in all capital ships.
Charles Parsons came from a very interesting family. His father built what was the largest telescope in the world for 76 years at Birr in Ireland, and was the first to see that some 'stars' actually had internal structure. He sketched the Crab Nebula, and his drawings may have been the the inspiration for Van Gogh's Starry Night. His mother was an early pioneer of photography and took some fabulous photos of the telescope. For many years it was abandoned and fell into disrepair, but some years ago was restored to its former glory. I was lucky enough to visit it both before and after. It’s an amazing thing.
As well as ships, planes and power generation, the turbine has also been very important for road and rail too, in the form of the turbocharger, and for space travel in the form of the turbo-pump. The turbine is up there with the steam engine, the transistor and the integrated circuit as one of the great technological leaps of the past 200 years.
But it wasn't a great "technological leap", was it - unless you mean backwards? Parsons simply realised that he could do away with valve-gear, pistons, cylinders, and crankshaft - and direct the high pressure steam directly at the blades in the manner of a water-mill.
In 1905, Swiss born Dr. Alfred Büchi received the first patent on a turbocharger for a marine engine. However, the concept of turbocharging goes back to the end of the 19th century when both Gottlieb Daimler and Rudolf Diesel were doing research into forced induction. The first turbochargers were not applied to marine or automotive: they were applied to airplanes.
Living near Newcastle I’d been to the discovery museum in Town a lot as a kid, and every time I walked through that central hall I never paid attention to that random boat sat there, there were always more interesting things to see. But in recent years, after learning the history of turbinia, I always stop for a moment to appreciate it, that such a revolutionary craft was designed and built up here and what a massive impact it left on the naval world, and that it’s still with us in that museum
I used to cycle 17 miles each way in my early teens to go to the Science and Technology museum as a kid and Turbinia was my favourite display. Probably swayed my career choices as I have been a marine engineer for 43 years now
It is so nice to have a video that is well researched and narrated by an actual human. I like that you added the clarification notes, it shows that you care about the content. It's a great story and I can only imagine the sensation it created. Charles Parsons really had the courage of his convictions. 👍😊
Ive spent many happy hours mooching around the Discovery Museum...it is a great place for adults and kids. Seing Turbinia in the entry hall is always impressive...it looks big in there, but actually it is a tiny vessel.
Parsons' development of the high-speed boat propeller was nearly as significant as his invention of the turbine itself. He needed to do it to make the turbine useful.
This video only gives tribute to a small part of Parsons's incredible innovations. Just his research to solve the cavitation problem would deserve a whole video.
Parson Had actually been invited to the Review, by the Admiralty. The only thing is they hadn't informed the media/press. Who in turn were most surprised by Turbinia, when she arrived. In turn with not only the World's greatest navy, but media/press in attendance Parson put on a show running rings round the Royal Navy......
@@AlextheHistorian In David K Brown's book "Warrior To Dreadnought", he claims that the Engineer-in-Chief, Durstan and White, Head Constructor kept close contact with Parsons and were aware of his efforts at the 1897 review. I have also read elsewhere, that he had the support of Fisher and other Admirals!
As a little kid I used to boggle at the Turbinia when she was at the Science & Engineering Museum at the Exhibition Park in Newcastle which we would walk to as a family. I knew the exciting part of her history but not the detail of the initial unsuccessful trial before the admiralty’s refusal to engage in further evaluation. Thank you very much for taking the time to create this record. Don’t you just wish that someone on one of the big ships had had their iphone with them to video the chase 😀
That is so awesome that this amazing boat didnt get lost to time. Most get tossed away like so many other great feats of technology from the early 20th. Its great he had the foresight to get it out of the wayer to save it. Jolly godd show Britain. 🇬🇧
That desk at 1:31 is absolutely incredible. they sure don't make furniture like that any more. Great video, that must have been awe inspiring to see them race around those stately ships
Thank you, great video. His achievement in design detail and implementation is extraordinary but not surprising. His family were steeped in science and engineering, notable for their development of practical systems that made important contributions. His father, William Parsons was the great astronomer who built the world's largest telescope at the family home in Birr Castle, County Offaly Ireland. It was the worlds largest telescope from ~1850 to the early 20th century. Amongst its great discoveries was the spiral nature of M51, the Whirlpool nebula.
When I was about 10 years old, I got a book with cutaway drawings of interesting vehicles of all types. Along drawings of the SR-71 Black Bird and the Hawker Typhoon it featured a drawing of the Turbinia. I totally forgot about that boat, what a coincidence, that I find this video years later.
I like this because it's the equivalent of a teenage boy doing burnouts through a precession of horses and chariots whilst the queen is out and the police going "actually that's pretty damn impressive! You mean the power of 100 horses fits in that little box?"
@@procatprocat9647 the horsepower was an approximate measurement for a draught horse trotting in a circle towing a capstan for many hours a day. For a horse is was a fairly easy load. For a human it's almost an all out sprint.
It’s surprising they actually cared to preserve this vessel that far back. Usually something like this would have ran until it was crashed or scrapped but they cared enough to save it and now we have it still and it can still wow people 100 years later and maybe many more.
Amazing that despite the passage of more than a century and a quarter, naval top speeds haven’t really meaningfully exceeded what parsons attained in 1897.
Sadly both the Viper and Cobra were lost soon after they entered their services. It was quickly discovered that the engine was not to blame for the accidents, but Parsons was devastated by the news. Also because one of the engineers of his company had been tragically lost aboard one of those ships.
The other neat idea was the condenser. This was fed sea water by a rocking scoop and another for water return. They could be rocked closed in shallow water to prevent blockages and reversed to clear blocks by reversing the water flow. As the boat speed increased, so did the water flow to match the increased need for cooling. No pumps needed.
Maybe said earlier, but anyway: the was no warships called "Dreadnoughts" in 1897. Sure the name has been in use for Royal Navy ships from sailing ship days, but the warship type known universally as dreadnoughts only came in being since 1906. RN had to first digest the turbine idea and then plan and build it's first big gun (12") turbine powered battleship HMS Dreasnought. Nice video, lots of good pictures.
Great video content on the Turbinia👍 . Also interesting to note that the 'big shots' of the Navy were unwilling to listen when he wanted to give a 2nd demonstration....some things never change as we still have many arrogant types in positions of high authority to this present day who dismiss advanced thinking that costs their nation in lost opportunities.
Alex, great job again. As a A&P mechanic this was a fun watch for me, thanks. Lot of information and detail with your usual GREAT narration. The 70's TV was a nice touch, was it imposed over a image of the Queen Mary's interior? You are quite the historian, "a teller of history." Thanks again for your hours of work.........
@@AlextheHistorian I happened to end up at that museum when I was in Newcastle a couple years ago and seeing Turbinia was an unplanned surprise. By the way, I remember part of the exhibit there mentions Queen Mary, probably as an example of enormous steam turbine power. (4 propeller shafts, each powered by multiple levels of steam turbines, IIRC) I also had a feeling that background was from Queen Mary, though I haven't visited (or seen the movie Poseidon Adventure) in many years. Very memorable.
Great video Alex. Thank you. My Great-Grandfather worked at Brown & Hood in Wallsend. Very proud of Turbinia. Of course, Wallsend has a lot of history of its own. The town's name is a clue...
That fleet review must have been a magnificent sight in its own right. I love my naval history and I am at a loss to think of any other fleet review (or whatever you want to call it) that would surpass this one. This was afterall, the Royal Navy more or less at its zenith. Sure, in terms of raw power, the RN would grow a bit more from here and would eventually be eclipsed by multiple other navies. But when you also contrast it with the other navies of the world as well as look at things like logistics. This is the height of the Royal Navy's dominance of the worlds oceans.
... and the sun ever set on the British Empire ! Rule Britannia (and I'm not even British), It was the greatest of the great empires. It yielded more than any other colonial power the largest number of eventuially independent nations, with basic good laws. and that universal polyglot language. English. Here's Cheers to the Commonweath.
@@Legal-gv4gg Personally I argue that there is one empire that was even more successful than the British. I argue that within the US, all of the land outside of the original 13 colonies constitutes the most successful land empire in history. With the crux of the argument basically being a combination of the idea of manifest destiny (which was quite imperialistic, nationalist and exceptionally jingoistic) and the fact that in the end, integration of the land became so seemless, that nobody even notices that it is an empire. The British Empire was one that mixed subjugation with settlement and mercantile activity. The US, while certainly guilty of subjugation via conquest, put far more emphasis on direct control through settlement. In the end, creating a land that truly was just as American as any of it. Compare that to the British, who never really managed to, for instance, make Canada as British as England. Canada is and always has been a distinct entity of its own that one can clearly see as something separate from the UK heartland. In the US Connecticut, Massivetwoshits, Rhode Island, New York and company are no more American than any other state west or south of those original borders. A comparison here can be made with Roman Spain after Rome had controlled it for some time. Or Roman Gaul (modern France for the most part). Which were decidedly Roman and not something simply built by and/or controlled by Rome. You can even look at the breakaway region from the late third century known as the Gallic Empire. Sometimes you will hear it called the Gallic Roman Empire, in order to hammer home the fact that this was a Roman empire in Gaul, not a native uprising of Gauls carving out their own little empire. These were places that were in every way that matters here, Roman. But that is really food for thought that I like to throw out there. Makes for some good discussions on what "empire" means in practical and legal ways. As well as what the overall net gain/loss is from its creation.
Although steam turbines are not very common anymore, when we realize how many vehicles contain a "turbo" (i.e. turbine) nowadays, it shows , besides jet engines, the enormous significance, even today, of this invention.
In 1905, Swiss born Dr. Alfred Büchi received the first patent on a turbocharger for a marine engine. However, the concept of turbocharging goes back to the end of the 19th century when both Gottlieb Daimler and Rudolf Diesel were doing research into forced induction. The first turbochargers were not applied to marine or automotive: they were applied to airplanes.
They are still very common. Used in most power stations for generating electricity! If and when fusion reactors start working properly they will also use steam turbines!
This was a super cool vid. I used to build scale rc boats as a hobby and have looking at getting back into it, this would be a neat one to attempt a model of (minus the 20’ flame shooting out of the funnel of course!).
That'lI be the coolest RC watercraft ever. I believe it's technically possible to make your scaled-down Turbinia actually steam turbine powered. How practical it would be is another matter, but how cool would that be! I think the biggest challenge would be making boilers that would produce enough steam pressure while not setting the little vessel ablaze. I think electrically heated boilers would be safest, but they wouldn't bo shooting flames from the funnel... Hm. I'll have to to think about this. I'm only half serious here, but it's fun to speculate. I do wish you well with your project. Fair winds and following seas!
@@monsieurcommissaire1628 he could use a jet turbine,not exactly steam powered but it's the same concept. commonly used on RC helicopters and aircraft. Those units are compact and could deliver tons of thrust.
Awesome video mate! I was in the U.S. navy and now own a private marina so I def have spent my whole life on boats! Pretty interesting channel glad I found you
Fantastic video, thank you for making. When you think about what that vessel did it’s quite remarkable really. Pity there isn’t a proper model available of her. Oh well! Thank you for posting
one side note: when Parsons was asked if internal combustion engine would be "parsonified" (in other words, will it became a turbine too) - he answered it would not. so Parsons himself believed jet engine was not possible due to technical limitations. Thank you for the great video!
To be fair, they didn't have anything near the metallurgy required to make a jet engine work at that time. Lots of expensive & exotic metals inside those engines.
What a great story of a great invention, halfway back to that time, in the 1960s, I spent considerable time standing watches just above the high and low pressure turbines on a naval vessel. I've just recently realized that fuel oil boiler steam turbine propulsion is pretty much a thing of the past, I'm thankful for the experience I had and happy I wasn't in the time of the coal burners...It's great that they saved that little boat.
The Parson's turbine engine also drove the center propeller in front of the rudder on the RMS Titanic using the waste steam from the two steam piston engines. It could only propel Titanic forward. So it was only used when crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
Steam turbines are still in use on merchant marine ships. Matson and Sealand shipping company are still running ships that are steam driven. I even sailed on a couple of them.
About 30 years ago I met an elderly lady who lived in the West End of Newcastle upon Tyne she told me her father in law had been a crewman on the Turbinia that day. I believe Mr. Parsons lived in the village of Pigdon Northumberland.
Thank you for bringing back a piece of memorable history, and the gigantic Fleet Review. Folks today think too often that earlier generations lacked "entertainment" What? No TV? You Tube? Movies? Well they DID have 'reading' and it did stimulate the mind and generated something more- THINKING, which in turn yielded great feats of engineering that underpins so many industries that allows us all to have such increased leisure to enjoy the aforementioned modern distractions. . . . for better or... for worse ?
As a journeyman turbine Millwright, the problem they had with the beginning age of turbines was the fact they had no way to align them and balance one. That why they always had issues with vibration. Great video!
I am one of only a few people that were allowed access to her engine room (back in 1979 when she was housed in the Science Museum) that I found to be very cramped. She is now but eleven miles away from my home housed in the Discovery Museum of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Great video and as an old sailor I am very interested in Ship History and enjoyed your History Lesson to the max. Thanks for your efforts on this and the narration was also excellent. New Sub today~!
As a child in the 70s and 80s I grew up visiting the Turbinia at exhibition park Newcastle. I had many happy hours playing in and on the Turbinia. Happy Days I still live in Newcastle and often visit my old friend
@@EllieMaes-Grandad yes it was in an large glassed area, I recall it being very hot inside. My uncle knew the staff at the museum. I was told the story of the way it outran all the other ships. As s child it captivated my imagination and I had huge enjoyment pretending I was the captain
@@glenskingsley5812 The video shows it in the Discovery Museum, which also has a large gallery with beautiful ship models representative of Tyneside construction.
In 1998, I visited the Queen Mary at Long Beach. Part of the tour was the engine room, where I saw the high-speed turbine for one of the propellor shafts. It didn't look that big, but the notice board said it developed forty thousand horsepower.
Each of Queen Mary's 4 propellers was driven by a turbine engine set. In each engine set were 4 turbines: high pressure, intermediate pressure, second intermediate pressure and low pressure. So that high speed turbine you saw was just one of 4 turbines in that engine, driving just one of the propellers. Those 4 turbines on the engine together produced a service output of 40,000 HP, but had a maximum output of 50,000 HP to help the ship compete for speed.
@@AlextheHistorian Yes, I saw the other turbines for that particular propellor shaft, but must have mis-interpreted the part of the information board that specified the power of each of the turbines. Still, all that power made the ship fast enough that it could cross the Atlantic during the War, unescorted.
Most people refer to the largest United States aircraft carriers as "nuclear powered". It's true that the heat to boil the water comes from onboard nuclear reactors but the actual propulsion system is a STEAM ENGINE - turbine of course.
A reactor is simply a way of saying that it is a steam generator that uses the heat of the pile to turn your water into steam. The Turbinia had a coal fired reactor!!!😁 Btw, was it a single boiler or multiple ones? I'm guessing by the single stack it was one but I'm sure it's possible that they trunked their boiler uptakes into a single stack.
@@albertoswald8461 Either way, the story of Charles Parsons and the Turbinia is a fascinating story about a significant advance in steamship technology. I suppose the steam turbine as motive power for ships was more important for military ships (and, of course, luxury liners) than for cargo ships - i.e. I suppose piston-type steam engines continued to power a large proportion of merchant vessels until Diesel became the predominant motive power for seagoing ships.
@@rogermetzger7335 , I'd say after the 1940s or so most regular cargo ships and oil tankers were running with steam turbines especially with reduction gears. Reciprocating steamers were still around for a while although it disappeared from the oceans by the 1960's and the Great Lakes with 2 exceptions by the 1990's. I first started working on ships when I got on my first ship, the USS Shreveport in 1990, steam was still decently represented although diesel ships were taking over. Now though at least American flag I don't think that there are any steam jobs left on the Ocean. The Chemical Pioneer went to the scrapyard about a year or so ago. I think she was the last steam tanker although she just hauled chemicals. The only active steamers in commercial service that I know of are on the Great Lakes and there's only five of them running plus one or two that are out of service. Also the American Queen paddlewheel boat that runs the Mississippi and Ohio rivers has a steam driven paddlewheel and diesel z-drives. Plus you have a few little excursion steamers for tourists here and there but that's about it for active merchant ships.
