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Turbinia was the first steam turbine
Steam turbine

A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1884....
 powered steamship. Built as an experimental vessel in 1894, and easily the fastest ship in the world at that time, Turbinia was demonstrated dramatically at the Spithead Navy Review in 1897 and set the standard for the next generation of steamships, the majority of which were turbine powered. The vessel can still be seen at The Discovery Museum
The Discovery Museum

Discovery Museum is a science museum and local history museum situated in Blandford Square in Newcastle upon Tyne.It displays many exhibits of local history, including Turbinia, the 34 metre long ship built by Charles Algernon Parsons to test the advantages of using the steam turbine to power ships....
 in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a City status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, the city developed from a Roman Empire settlement called Pons Aelius, though it owes its name to the Newcastle Castle built in 1080, by Robert Curthose, the eldest son of...
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, while its original powerplant can be found at the London Science Museum.

lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m2565380",this)' onMouseout='hide("m2565380")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Charles_Algernon_Parsons">Charles Algernon Parsons
Charles Algernon Parsons

Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, O.M. was a British engineer, best known for his invention of the steam turbine. He worked as an engineer on dynamo and turbine design, and power generation, with great influence on the naval and electrical engineering fields....
 invented the steam turbine in 1884, and having foreseen its potential to power ships he set up the Marine Steam Turbine Company with five associates in 1893.






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Turbinia was the first steam turbine
Steam turbine

A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Algernon Parsons in 1884....
 powered steamship. Built as an experimental vessel in 1894, and easily the fastest ship in the world at that time, Turbinia was demonstrated dramatically at the Spithead Navy Review in 1897 and set the standard for the next generation of steamships, the majority of which were turbine powered. The vessel can still be seen at The Discovery Museum
The Discovery Museum

Discovery Museum is a science museum and local history museum situated in Blandford Square in Newcastle upon Tyne.It displays many exhibits of local history, including Turbinia, the 34 metre long ship built by Charles Algernon Parsons to test the advantages of using the steam turbine to power ships....
 in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne

Newcastle upon Tyne is a City status in the United Kingdom and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Situated on the north bank of the River Tyne, the city developed from a Roman Empire settlement called Pons Aelius, though it owes its name to the Newcastle Castle built in 1080, by Robert Curthose, the eldest son of...
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
, while its original powerplant can be found at the London Science Museum.

Development

Charles Algernon Parsons
Charles Algernon Parsons

Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, O.M. was a British engineer, best known for his invention of the steam turbine. He worked as an engineer on dynamo and turbine design, and power generation, with great influence on the naval and electrical engineering fields....
 invented the steam turbine in 1884, and having foreseen its potential to power ships he set up the Marine Steam Turbine Company with five associates in 1893. To develop this he had the experimental vessel Turbinia built in a light design of steel by the firm of Brown and Hood, based at Wallsend on Tyne
Wallsend

Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Wallsend derives its name as the location of the end of Hadrian's Wall....
.

The Admiralty
Admiralty

The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Originally exercised by a single person, the office of Lord High Admiral was from the 18th century onward almost invariably put "in commission", and was exercised by a Board of Admiralty....
 was kept informed of developments, and Turbinia was launched on 2 August 1894. Despite the success of the turbine engine, initial trials with one propeller were disappointing. After discovering the problem of cavitation
Cavitation

Cavitation is defined as the phenomenon of formation of vapour bubbles of a flowing liquid in a region where the pressure of the liquid falls below its vapour pressure....
 and constructing the first cavitation tunnel, Parsons' research led to him fitting three axial-flow turbines to three shafts, each shaft in turn driving three propellers. In trials this achieved a top speed of over 34 knots (63 km/h), so that "the passengers aboard would be convinced beyond all doubt Turbinia was Charles Parsons' winning North Sea greyhound".

Demonstration

Parsons' ship turned up unannounced at the Navy Review for Queen Victoria's
Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria was from 20 June 1837 the Queen regnant of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and from 1 May 1876 the first Empress of India of the British Raj until her death....
 Diamond Jubilee
Diamond Jubilee

A Diamond Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 60th anniversary in the case of a person or a 75th anniversary in the case of an event , such as in the case of the University of Nottingham's Jubilee Campus....
 at Spithead
Spithead

Spithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast....
 on 26 June 1897 in front of the Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom

Edward VII was Monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death on 6 May 1910....
, Lords of the Admiralty and foreign dignitaries. As an audacious publicity stunt the Turbinia, which was much faster than all other ships of the time, raced between the two lines of large ships and steamed up and down in front of the crowd and princes with impunity, while easily evading a Navy picket boat that tried to stop it, indeed almost swamping it with its wake.

From this clear demonstration of its speed and power and after further high speed trials attended by the Admiralty, Parsons set up the Turbinia Works at Wallsend which then constructed two turbine powered destroyers for the Navy, HMS Viper
Viper class destroyer

The Viper class was a group of two Torpedo Boat Destroyers built for the United Kingdom Royal Navy in 1899.They were notable for being the first warships to use steam turbine propulsion....
 and HMS Cobra which were launched in 1899. Although both these vessels tragically came to grief, the Admiralty was convinced. In 1900 the Turbinia steamed to Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 and was shown to French officials then displayed at the Paris Exhibition.

The first turbine powered merchant vessel, the Clyde steamer
Clyde steamer

The era of the Clyde steamer in Scotland began in August 1812 with the very first successful commercial steamboat service in Europe, when Henry Bell 's PS Comet began a passenger service on the River Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock....
 TS King Edward, followed in 1901. (Her successor, the TS Queen Mary
TS Queen Mary

The two funnel Clyde steamer TS Queen Mary was built at the William Denny and Brothers shipyard at Dumbarton for Williamson-Buchanan. The 871 gross tons steamboat was powered by three direct drive steam turbines, and carried 2086 passengers making her the largest excursion turbine on the River Clyde....
 of 1932, is now a floating restaurant on the River Thames
River Thames

The Thames is a major river flowing through southern England. While best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows through several other towns and cities, including Oxford, Reading, Berkshire and Windsor, Berkshire....
 in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
.) The Admiralty confirmed in 1905 that all future Royal Navy vessels were to be turbine powered, and in 1906 the first turbine-powered battleship, the revolutionary HMS Dreadnought
HMS Dreadnought (1906)

The sixth HMS Dreadnought of the Royal Navy was a battleship that revolutionised naval power when she entered service in 1906. Dreadnought represented such a marked advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships, the "dreadnoughts", as well as the class of ships named af...
, was launched.

Turbinia was cut into two pieces in 1927, but was restored in the 1960s, when she was put on display at Newcastle's Museum of Science and Engineering (later renamed The Military Vehicle Museum). In 2000, the vessel was the focal point of a year-long £10.7m redevelopment programme at Newcastle's Discovery Museum. The gallery around Turbinia was the first area to be refurbished with the main part of the work involving raising the roof by one story to create viewing galleries on three levels.

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