GL: Diesel/Electrc Propulsion (was RE: AN interesting concept for a trawler)

[D C *Mac* Macdonald]

In 2005, my wife and I were on the 40th cruise of the new
(at the time) "Jewel of the Seas" which uses total electric
propulsion driving "azipods" which are remarkably similar in
appearance to the new IPS drives. The prime mover for the
generation of the electricity is two turbine engines, which
are the same as used in the DC-10 aircraft, if I remember
correctly.

The vessel has NO rudders, only the azipods that rotate
through 360 degrees. There are several  HUGE  thrusters
in the bow area for docking purposes. As the azipods rotate
to any direction, they are used as stern thrusters during
docking.
It is fascinating to stand on the "docking" side and watch this
monster ship just move straight sideways to the pier.  Crew
toss "monkey's fist" with small line and then successively
larger lines follow until the main hawsers (4+ inches) get
hauled down for looping around the monster bollards.  At
this point hydraulic (I presume) winches are used to pull
the shore into the pier.

* D C "Mac" Macdonald * * m/v Another Adventure * * '95 Carver 355 ACMY * *
Grand Lake - OKlahoma * * USPS & AGLCA (#217) * > Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007
14:59:33 -0700> From: jdolenickmd at yahoo.com> To: great-loop at lists.samurai.com>
Subject: Re: GL: AN interesting concept for a trawler>> Many of the new cruise
ships 100,000 tons + are diesel electric.