[h=3]Tanks[/h]
Marines from 1st Tank Battalion load a
Honeywell AGT1500 multi-fuel turbine back into the tank at Camp Coyote, Kuwait, February 2003.
The German Army's development division, the
Heereswaffenamt (Army Ordnance Board), studied a number of gas turbine engines for use in tanks starting in mid-1944. The first gas turbine engines used for armoured fighting vehicle
GT 101 was installed in the
Panther tank.[SUP]
[36][/SUP] The second use of a gas turbine in an armoured fighting vehicle was in 1954 when a unit, PU2979, specifically developed for tanks by
C. A. Parsons & Co., was installed and trialled in a British
Conqueror tank.[SUP]
[37][/SUP] The
Stridsvagn 103 was developed in the 1950s and was the first mass-produced main battle tank to use a
turbine engine.
Since then, gas turbine engines have been used as
APUs in some tanks and as main powerplants in Soviet/Russian
T-80s and U.S.
M1 Abrams tanks, among others. They are lighter and smaller than
diesels at the same sustained power output but the models installed to date are less fuel efficient than the equivalent diesel, especially at idle, requiring more fuel to achieve the same combat range. Successive models of M1 have addressed this problem with battery packs or secondary generators to power the tank's systems while stationary, saving fuel by reducing the need to idle the main turbine. T-80s can mount three large external fuel drums to extend their range. Russia has stopped production of the T-80 in favour of the diesel-powered
T-90 (based on the
T-72), while Ukraine has developed the diesel-powered T-80UD and T-84 with nearly the power of the gas-turbine tank.
The French
Leclerc MBT's diesel powerplant features the "Hyperbar" hybrid supercharging system, where the engine's turbocharger is completely replaced with a small gas turbine which also works as an assisted diesel exhaust turbocharger, enabling engine RPM-independent boost level control and a higher peak boost pressure to be reached (than with ordinary turbochargers). This system allows a smaller displacement and lighter engine to be used as the tank's powerplant and effectively removes
turbo lag. This special gas turbine/turbocharger can also work independently from the main engine as an ordinary APU.
A turbine is theoretically more reliable and easier to maintain than a piston engine, since it has a simpler construction with fewer moving parts but in practice turbine parts experience a higher wear rate due to their higher working speeds. The turbine blades are highly sensitive to dust and fine sand, so that in desert operations air filters have to be fitted and changed several times daily. An improperly fitted filter, or a bullet or shell fragment that punctures the filter, can damage the engine. Piston engines (especially if turbocharged) also need well-maintained filters, but they are more resilient if the filter does fail.
Like most modern diesel engines used in tanks, gas turbines are usually multi-fuel engines.
[h=3]Marine applications[/h] [h=4]Naval[/h]
The Gas turbine from MGB 2009
Gas turbines are used in many naval vessels, where they are valued for their high
power-to-weight ratio and their ships' resulting acceleration and ability to get underway quickly.
The first gas-turbine-powered naval vessel was the
Royal Navy's
Motor Gun Boat MGB 2009 (formerly
MGB 509) converted in 1947.
Metropolitan-Vickers fitted their
F2/3 jet engine with a power turbine. The
Steam Gun Boat Grey Goose was converted to Rolls-Royce gas turbines in 1952 and operated as such from 1953.[SUP]
[38][/SUP] The
Bold class Fast Patrol Boats Bold Pioneer and
Bold Pathfinder built in 1953 were the first ships created specifically for gas turbine propulsion.[SUP]
[39][/SUP]
The first large scale, partially gas-turbine powered ships were the Royal Navy's
Type 81 (Tribal class)
frigates with
combined steam and gas powerplants. The first,
HMS Ashanti was commissioned in 1961.
The
German Navy launched the first
Köln-class frigate in 1961 with 2
Brown, Boveri & Cie gas turbines in the world's first
combined diesel and gas propulsion system.
The
Danish Navy had 6
Søløven class torpedo boats (the export version of the British
Brave class fast patrol boat) in service from 1965 to 1990, which had 3
Bristol Proteus (later RR Proteus) Marine Gas Turbines rated at 9,510 kW (12,750 shp) combined, plus two
General Motors Diesel engines, rated at 340 kW (460 shp), for better fuel economy at slower speeds.[SUP]
[40][/SUP] And they also produced 10 Willemoes Class Torpedo / Guided Missile boats (in service from 1974 to 2000) which had 3
Rolls Royce Marine Proteus Gas Turbines also rated at 9,510 kW (12,750 shp), same as the Søløven class boats, and 2 General Motors Diesel Engines, rated at 600 kW (800 shp), also for improved fuel economy at slow speeds.[SUP]
[41][/SUP]
The
Swedish Navy produced 6 Spica-class torpedo boats between 1966 and 1967 powered by 3
Bristol Siddeley Proteus 1282 turbines, each delivering 3,210 kW (4,300 shp). They were later joined by 12 upgraded Norrköping class ships, still with the same engines. With their aft torpedo tubes replaced by antishipping missiles they served as missile boats until the last was retired in 2005.[SUP]
[42][/SUP]
The
Finnish Navy commissioned two
Turunmaa class corvettes,
Turunmaa and
Karjala, in 1968. They were equipped with one 16,410 kW (22,000 shp)
Rolls-Royce Olympus TMB3 gas turbine and three
Wärtsilä marine diesels for slower speeds. They were the fastest vessels in the Finnish Navy; they regularly achieved speeds of 35 knots, and 37.3 knots during sea trials. The
Turunmaas were paid off in 2002.
Karjala is today a
museum ship in
Turku, and
Turunmaa serves as a floating machine shop and training ship for Satakunta Polytechnical College.
The next series of major naval vessels were the four Canadian
Iroquois class helicopter carrying destroyers first commissioned in 1972. They used 2 ft-4 main propulsion engines, 2 ft-12 cruise engines and 3 Solar Saturn 750 kW generators.
The first U.S. gas-turbine powered ship was the
U.S. Coast Guard's Point Thatcher, a cutter commissioned in 1961 that was powered by two 750 kW (1,000 shp) turbines utilizing controllable-pitch propellers.[SUP]
[43][/SUP] The larger
Hamilton-class High Endurance Cutters, was the first class of larger cutters to utilize gas turbines, the first of which (
USCGC Hamilton) was commissioned in 1967. Since then, they have powered the
U.S. Navy's Perry-class frigates,
Spruance-class and
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and
Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers.
USS Makin Island, a modified
Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, is to be the Navy's first
amphibious assault ship powered by gas turbines. The marine gas turbine operates in a more corrosive atmosphere due to presence of sea salt in air and fuel and use of cheaper fuels.