Kitty Hawk last relic of Navy’s steam power era

[unhappycamper]

Kitty Hawk last relic of Navy’s steam power era
Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, June 5, 2008

As the USS Kitty Hawk sails its final course, it marks the close of an era for steam power in the U.S. Navy.

The aircraft carrier, which is scheduled for decommissioning in 2009, relies on its 1,200-pound-per-square-inch steam boilers to launch aircraft, propel the ship and provide hot water for showers and washing dishes, the Navy said in a news release.

The boiler system was first introduced in 1948 on experimental Mitscher-class destroyers. Although it was temperamental and complicated, it replaced the less powerful 600-psi boilers of the day, according to the Navy.

Sixty years later, the Kitty Hawk and its steam technology soon will be replaced by the nuclear-powered USS George Washington.

The old carrier’s boiler technicians might be the last sailors to operate the conventional — and challenging — steam power system, the Navy said.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=55311

[Captain Hilts]

1. Last relic of "steam power"? WHAT do they think the reactors on Nimitz class are for? nt

[sdfernando]

2. Exactly

All those nuclear reactors do is heat water to make steam! (well, pretty much all they do).