Nuclear Civil Vessels

[uk 75]

Back in the 1950s and early 1960s nuclear power seemed to offer an alternative to hydrocarbons. That was the era of nuclear powered car and plane designs.
The reality of complex and heavy reactors needing skilled engineers to babysit them plus no way of disposing safely of the spent fuel has ensured that they are used only where there is no alternative.
More efficient engines to power large ships using hydrocarbons seem the direction of travel. Wind turbines and solar power may augment but not replace them.

 

[Kat Tsun]

If we want an example of a modern fast Cargo Ship, the 37-knot, diesel-powered Maersk B class proved to be so useful that they spent several years after the Global Financial Crisis moored together as a raft in Lock Striven, only being used as a film set for a children's television series.

When you gotta blockade run through the anti-smuggler screen of Shimakazes and Le Fantasques, accept no substitutes.

 

[Hobbes]

More efficient engines to power large ships using hydrocarbons seem the direction of travel. Wind turbines and solar power may augment but not replace them.

Current large marine diesels are already getting close to the maximum efficiency that's theoretically possible.