Rolls-Royce unveils family of fast naval ship designs

Wednesday, 4 February 2004

Rolls-Royce, a global leader in the marine industry, has unveiled designs for a family of fast naval ships at the Pacific 2004 exhibition in Sydney, Australia.

All four naval ships are based on a fast monohull series it has already designed for the commercial shipping sector, where it has more than 30 years of design experience.

The first ship, the 177m-long Fast Naval Sea-Lift Vessel, was first publicised in July last year. Capable of carrying 2,500 tonnes of cargo for 3,000 nautical miles at 40 knots - almost twice as fast as ships currently capable of carrying this load - would be powered by three Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines and Rolls-Royce Kamewa 250 waterjets, offering unrivalled power.

Now Rolls-Royce has expanded that concept to include a smaller Intra-Theatre Logistics Vessel (ITLV), a Fast Surface Combatant, and a smaller Fast Attack Craft.

The ITLV, powered by a single MT30 and twin Rolls-Royce Crossley-Pielstick diesels, is 120m long, and is designed to transport troops as well as equipment within theatre.

A Combined Diesel and Gas power arrangement allows the ship to achieve 40 knots but still have excellent loiter capability. The monohull design provides a high degree of damage tolerance to fire and hull damage, and a more benign ship motion compared with other fast hull types, reducing on-route motion sickness amongst troops.

The ship can be constructed from steel, significantly increasing the number of shipyards capable of its construction while also reducing the ship's initial cost and through life structural upkeep costs.

A 5,000-tonne Fast Surface Combatant, based on the same fast hullform, is capable of 40 to 60-knots, Power would come from a hybrid MT30 gas turbine and electric system linked to four Kamewa 160 waterjets, providing the ability to operate efficiently throughout the speed range - essential for any fast combatant.

Finally, a Fast Attack Craft again provides high speeds of up to 60 knots, high agility, and a simple steel construction. Four Rolls-Royce MT5 gas turbines drive twin Kamewa waterjets in a CODOG configuration. The propulsion system and internal general arrangement are configured to allow maximum availability of prime upper deck space for installation of a customer-defined combat system.

Dr. David Price, President, Rolls-Royce Naval Marine, said: "Naval operators are looking for ever-increasing speed, and our designs show we have the knowledge of how power-dense propulsion systems interact with hull forms. The project is an example of our ability to transfer technology across our commercial and naval businesses to provide practical solutions."

The high speed ships are the subject of an exhibition conference paper to be given by David Bricknell, Vice-President - Systems, Rolls-Royce Naval Marine and Per-Egil Vedlog, Design Manager, Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine.

All the ships are based on the P2500 Fast ro-pax designed by Rolls-Royce's commercial marine operations and received Bureau Veritas classification. A larger fast cargo version and small fast ro-pax were also designed.

The 36MW MT30 has been selected to power the Integrated Power System (IPS) Engineering Development Model (EDM) for the US Navy's DD(X) multimission destroyer programme. This order marks the company's entry into the US Navy large gas turbine market. MT30 is also included in the baseline design for the two proposed Royal Navy aircraft carriers and is being actively considered for the Franco-Italian FREMM frigate programme.

The gas turbine has 80 percent commonality with the Trent 800 aero engine, which has won a market-leading 44 percent of the Boeing 777 program, achieving more than five million flying hours since entering service in 1996.