The KING EDWARD of 1901. Picture supplied by Robert Magee

Issue 5: Article 3: The Marine Turbine

On Clydesite's main forum, no single means of propulsion can generate as much excitement as the turbine engine.

Most people today, certainly under 40, will never have experienced a turbine ship, which is shame indeed and in this article I shall try to convey the excitement of the engine, and what it did for maritime activity.

We go back to 1884 when the inventor of the modern turbine first bent his mind to the task of producing an efficient turbine engine. Forms of this had been made in Greenock and New York previously, but with unsatisfactory results, mainly because of the huge amounts of pressure involved.

A turbine engine is in effect a huge rotor, cover with blades, the steam hits these blades and causes the rotor to, well, rotate. One of the problems he found with this was that it actually spun too fast, and the propellor created a vacuum that slowed the whole thing down again. After much trial and error he eventually succeeded in overcoming this irritance.

In refining his development he encountered much cost (many tens of thousands of pounds, which was a not inconsiderable expense in the late Victorian period) and introduced it in 1897 in a most spectacular fashion - if he was to recoup his money he had to make heads turn!

His experimental vessel was called TURBINIA, and when he realised all his calculations and experiments had produced the expectations he had set out to do - "Increased speed, increased carrying power of vessel, increased economy in steam consumption, reduced initial cost, reduced weight of machinery, reduced cost of attendance on machinery, diminished cost of upkeep of machinery, largely reduced vibration, and reduced size and weight of screw propeller and shafting." - he was ready to show off the new technology to the world.

One of KING EDWARD's turbine engines, now preserved at the Scottish Maritime Museaum in Irvine (Pohot: John Newth)

What better event then than at the International Naval Review, celebrating Victoria's 60 years on the throne? Held on June 27th of 1897, this event would be all about showing off the prowess of shipbuilders and navies.

Once the Royal Yacht had inspected the fleets, in came Parsons with TURBINIA, racing through the assembled throng at speeds never seen before on water. What would have astonished the various onlookers was her silence. Steamships make great noises, this thing was incredible!

Two torpedo boats were ordered by the Royal Navy, HMS VIPER and HMS COBRA, and they made everyone sit up and take notice. Fast and immensely modern looking, even to our eyes, they were undoubtedly the future of warfare on sea.

However, not everyone was convinced and the Royal Navy were reluctant to proceed too quickly in case the technology did not work with much larger ships.

So contrary to popular belief, although the Admiralty were the first to order turbine propulsion, they did not wholeheartedly embrace it, that fell to commercial operators.

Passenger ships in those days were a bit like buses these days, especially in areas like the Clyde. They took people on trips and they shuttled them around the various towns for pleasure and business. They were vital to commerce, and a ship that wasn't the best did not get the highest paying customers. Some ships were preferred for their speed, some for their comfort, others would be positively despised if they suffered from discomforting conditions - for examply, some paddle steamers had a nauseating effect due to the pistons surging backwards and forwards. Screw steamers could suffer from vibrations - and of course, all of them, to one degree or another, made noises!

The solution, the all in one solution, to any of these concerns was of course the steam turbine. No noise, no vibrations, no surging, and with speeds that would thrill - as well as beat the competion to the pier hands down.

No better place to start then than on the conjested, highly competitive market place that was the Clyde's network of passenger steamers.

QUEEN MARY II in her final sailing years Photo: James Pottinger

Captain John Williamson, who was an independant operator on the Clyde, teamed up with Parsons to form the Turbine Steamer Syndicate and they placed an order with Wm Denny, the esteemed shipbuilders of Dumbarton, for a new vessel equipped with a Parson's marine turbine.

The vessel was launched on the 16th May 1901 and when she entered service, was an instant success. Her quiet smooth operation and speeds of 20 knots was a hit with the public. The world's first turbine driven passenger vessel hit all the right spots!

A new era had indeed dawned in the new century and The Syndicate went to Denny for another vessel, the QUEEN ALEXANDRA, she being launched on 2nd April 1902. The revolution spread in 1903 when the South Eastern & Chatham Railway Company took delivery of the first cross-channel turbine steamers, the BRIGHTON and THE QUEEN, again from Wm Denny's yard.

It is probably fair to say that Denny's reputation was confirmed and enhanced with their involvement with the Parson's turbine, and propelled them to greater fame and public interest. Their reputation as the pre-eminent coastal passenger ship builder was never equalled, and will never be equalled (unless of course we return to the days of using ships instead of buses and cars to get around the coasts!)

This then was the birth of the turbine passenger ship, and its qualities of economy, speed, grace and comfort endured right up until relatively recently.

The last major turbine-powered passenger vessel built on the Clyde was the QUEEN ELIZABETH 2, sadly, what was once a feature of the engine, economy, suffered a reversal as the motor engine rose in prominence and its associated costs and benefits consigned the marine turbine all but to history, save for the largest tankers and warships. The QE2 had turbines ripped out during an extensive refit in Bremerhaven in 1986 (it is also fair to point out that her machinery had been plagued by problems)

Another Queen from the Clyde, the QUEEN MARY II, (not the big Cunarder!) was the last of the Clyde turbine steamers. A Williamson-Buchanan vessel built by Denny in 1933. Your author was privileged to have witnessed her as a young boy on a school trip on ps WAVERLEY; as we plodded along the river this greater vessel swished past us, and all of us remarked on her silence and majesty.

She was withdrawn, shortly after I saw her, in 1977 from regular duties and eventually ended up where she is now, as a static restuarant on the Thames Embankment. As the photo below shows, she has suffered indignities upon her person which do not befit a lady of such heritage and lineage.

We will never see their likes again, and are probably all the poorer for it.


QUEEN MARY as she is now at London Embankment. Photo: Tom Carreyette