Atomic ship it? Varieties and purpose

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Many of us have heard the definition of "nuclear ship". However, not everyone knows what exactly it is. This essay will consider what it is, what its varieties exist, in what areas it is used, as well as interesting facts about it.

Description

Nuclear-powered ship is a common name for ships that use a nuclear installation to move. A nuclear power plant on a ship (power unit) is a whole set of special devices for generating electrical, thermal and mechanical energy as a result of a controlled nuclear reaction that occurs in a reactor. Ship nuclear reactors (power units) drive steam and electric generators, steam turbines, pumps and other equipment, which is responsible not only for the movement of the ship, but also for other internal processes. The safety of the crew on nuclear-powered ships is ensured with the help of biological protection, as well as special systems for monitoring stable operation.

Steam turbines and steam generators are one of the main and main components of a ship's nuclear power unit. In fact, from a technical point of view, nuclear-powered ships- these are steamships, or rather turboships (turboelectric ships), with the difference that their energy source is a nuclear reactor.

Types of nuclear-powered ships

Continuing to consider what a nuclear-powered ship is, we should talk about their varieties. There are civil and military ships with nuclear power plants. Civilian nuclear-powered ships are mainly icebreakers, but there are also commercial and cargo-passenger ships. The world's first nuclear-powered civilian ship was built in the USSR in 1959. This is the Lenin icebreaker. It is worth noting that this icebreaker became the world's first nuclear-powered surface vessel. A year earlier, the first Soviet submarine with a nuclear reactor, the Leninsky Komsomol, was built.

The world's first civilian nuclear-powered ship was the Savannah ship. It was launched in the middle of 1959 in the USA. This ship got its name in honor of the steamship, which was the first in the history of navigation to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The nuclear-powered ship Savannah is one of four passenger-cargo ships built with a nuclear power plant.

Lighter carrier (container carrier) "Sevmorput" is a nuclear-powered ship built in the Soviet Union in 1984. This vessel is unique in that it is simultaneously used as a container ship and an icebreaker. This unique ship has no analogues in the world.

Military nuclear-powered ships

In addition to civilian nuclear-powered ships, there are also warships with a nuclear installation. The first ship in the world with a nuclear reactor was a submarine launched in 1954 in the United States."Nautilus". This submarine was the first not only to go under water, but also in a submerged position, having passed under the ice, it reached the North Pole. In the USSR, a submarine with a nuclear reactor appeared only four years later.

In addition to submarines, the Navy also has nuclear-powered guided missile cruisers. The first such ship was the Long Beach, built in the USA in 1959. This ship is auxiliary for military operations along with aircraft carriers and destroyers. In addition to missiles, the cruiser is armed with anti-aircraft mounts to combat airborne threats.

Aircraft carriers

Along with icebreakers, aircraft carriers are the largest nuclear-powered ships. These ships, as their name implies, are designed to move along the water along with aircraft. In addition, they have on board a specialized system for launching an aviation group from the deck of a ship, as well as a landing system. Along with this, an entire infrastructure has been created on the aircraft carrier for the self-sufficiency of the crew and auxiliary equipment.

The very first aircraft carrier with a nuclear reactor, called the Enterprise, was built and launched in the United States in 1961. It is this aircraft carrier that is the longest warship in the world, its length is 342 meters. An interesting fact is that a single load of nuclear fuel will be enough to operate the vessel for as much as 13 years. Despite the advantages of the ship, it never went into production, primarily because of its high cost. The final price of the aircraft carrier was more than 450billion US dollars.

Currently, both military and civilian ships are being built, which have a nuclear power plant. In the future, this will continue for many more years, as nuclear energy has great potential for the various needs of mankind.