Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Turbinia First Turbine Ship

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Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea Medal: Turbinia First Turbine Ship

AssociatedAssociated with Lord Mountbatten of Burma (Frogmore House, Windsor, England, 1900 - 1979)

Medallist John Pinches, Medallists

DateMay 2004

Object NameMedal

MediumSterling Silver

ClassificationsMedals

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDMS072500.72

Keywords

Commemorative

About MeThe invention of the steam turbine and its adoption as a prime mover for ships was one of the most significant developments in maritime history in the 19th and 20th centuries. The steam turbine had revolutionary effects on shipping, not least in making possible the achievement of unprecedented speed at sea, combined with economy in the use of fuel and a reduction in the weight of engines.
The progenitor of these developments was the Hon. Sir Charles Parsons, born in 1854, the youngest of six sons of William Parsons, third Earl of Rosse, President of the Royal Society, himself a distinguished scientist. After being educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and St. John's College, Cambridge, Charles Parsons undertook a four-year apprenticeship with Sir William Armstrong and Company at Elswick, followed by two years with Kitson and Company of Leeds, famous as engine builders. In 1884 he joined the Gateshead firm of Clarke, Chapman and Company as junior partner and was placed in charge of that firm's newly established electrical department. During this time Parsons developed the land- based turbine as a means of powering the dynamo to generate electricity, then becoming an important new source of power. In pursuit of this work, he left Clarke, Chapman in 1889, and founded the firm C.A. Parsons and Company. In 1894 he turned his attention to the application of the steam turbine to marine propulsion, forming the Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company, with works at Wallsend, having obtained a patent for 'propelling a vessel by means of a steam turbine, which actuates the propellor or paddle shaft directly or through gearing.'

After experiments with models, a steel vessel was constructed, named Turbinia, which embodied the new machinery. This small vessel, displacing only 44 Y2 tons, achieved remark- able results when, on trials, she attained a speed of 34 Y2 knots, which was four knots faster than the fastest destroyer then afloat.

An opportunity soon occurred to demonstrate this epoch-making development, when in 1897, to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, a grand Naval Review was held at Spithead - the greatest armada the world had ever seen assembled in one place. Turbinia steamed up and down the lines of ships at greater speeds than had been known at sea before, and astonished all who watched her.

Soon, the Admiralty entrusted Parsons with the construction of the turbine - engined destroyer Viper, which attained a speed of over 37 knots. Within a decade all the most important naval vessels were driven by steam turbines on the pattern of those in Turbinia. In 1901 the first turbine-driven passenger ship, King Edward, was launched on the Clyde, establishing this superior mode of propulsion for fast passenger vessels.

Parsons was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1927, and was President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1919, having been recognised as an engineer and scientist who had revolutionised sea transport.

The Mountbatten Medallic History of Great Britain and the Sea, John Pinches Medallists Ltd.