Re: boat propulsion - miniature computer-controlled steam plant?

"Richard Smith"  wrote in message news:m11q81xrlp.fsf@void.com...
Also - apparently - the steam-turbine ships as very quiet and smooth -
if as family of someone to do with the Company you get invited to be
passengers on a voyage you go on a steam-turbine ship.
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They are when properly balanced. Mauritania's weren't and when on a speed record run the stern cabins were uninhabitable.
Olympic's turbine was significantly worn in a decade.
https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/an-olympic-class-propulsion-system.html
Notice that the turbine produced more power than one recip although its steam entry pressure was below atmospheric, 9 PSIA / 188F, the condenser reduced it to 1 PSIA / 102F. The two compound engines reduced daily coal consumption to about 60% of the smaller, faster all-turbine Mauretania and Lusitania, which were intended to and did capture and own the speed record, while Olympic, Titanic and Britannic were optimized for economy at 22 instead of 26 knots.
Titanic wasn't quite at full steam pressure or speed and couldn't possibly break the speed record. The captain had diverted south of the ice reports and was following the standard practice of relying on lookouts plus the bridge watch (which did have binoculars) to see something large enough to damage the ship, which could turn almost as sharply at full as reduced speed, but a temperature inversion mirage due to the ice field intruding into the warm Gulf Stream -may- have hidden the berg until too late, and also caused their unusually inaccurate SOS report longitude. A mirage that raised the observed horizon and hid or distorted ships and the iceberg on it could explain many of the lingering questions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage)
https://www.titanicology.com/Titanica/Mistakes.pdf
Compare the size of the errors in longitude to latitude. The sinking location is that of the tight cluster of coal and boilers released at hull breakup. Carpathia's claim of great speed was based on assuming the lifeboats were at the incorrect position an hour further west.  Mauretania burned 1000 tons per day on an early speed run, before improvements.
Intense interest in Titanic, especially after discovery revealed many wrong assumptions, has made much more detailed information on ship design, construction and operation of the time available than for other vessels with less dramatic and unexplained fates. Eyewitness accounts vary substantially for an event where unlike a crime most had nothing to hide.