From: jl@glen--canyon.com   
      
   On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 15:35:49 -0500, bitrex  wrote:   
      
   >On 2/11/2026 3:14 PM, john larkin wrote:   
   >> On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 18:52:24 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
   >> (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> john larkin  wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> On Wed, 11 Feb 2026 09:30:39 -0800, Buzz McCool   
   >>>>  wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> On 2/11/2026 7:56 AM, john larkin wrote:   
   >>>>>> Ships are most all diesels now. Steam plants are efficient but complex   
   >>>>>> and it's hard to get crews who can run them.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing.   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Steamships burn Bunker-c, which is about the cheapest hydrocarbon   
   >>>> available. It's stiff tar at room temperature. Nasty, stinky stuff.   
   >>>   
   >>> You need steam to heat it so that it can flow into the burners.  The   
   >>> steam comes from the boilers that are heated by burning the fuel - but   
   >>> the fuel can't be burnt until it has been heated by the steam wbich   
   >>> can't be made until.....   
   >>>   
   >>> Steam plants are complex....   
   >>   
   >> On the ships I worked on, they burned diesel to bootstrap the process.   
   >>   
   >> They had a "take home" motor, an electric motor powered by a diesel   
   >> generator, that could push the ship slowly when the steam plant broke.   
   >>   
   >> Horsepower needed goes as about the square of hull speed, so it didn't   
   >> take a lot of power to make 5 or 10 knots.   
   >>   
   >> A pinhole leak in a high pressure steam joint would produce a silent,   
   >> invisible jet that could slice your arm off.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> John Larkin   
   >> Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center   
   >> Lunatic Fringe Electronics   
   >   
   >Large reciprocating steam engines like you might have seen for the   
   >Titanic's side propellers were started by little 25 hp put-putters,   
   >there's a video of the process on YouTube (not of the Titanic, obviously)   
   >   
   >   
      
   I heard that the engine room pics in the Titanic movie were filmed on   
   the   
      
   https://ssjeremiahobrien.org/?v=0b3b97fa6688   
      
   which is one of the few Liberty ships still running.   
      
   It's old and creaky so they run something crazy like 150 PSI steam   
   pressure.   
      
   I think the Titanic was a turbine.   
      
      
      
   John Larkin   
   Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center   
   Lunatic Fringe Electronics   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)