I fixed the typos in the months and in the paragraph you mentioned. It should read 3.3:1 reduction gear, of course, in both paragraphs and there is no "4" in "rpm". 5 Megawatts or more than 7000 HP is a lot of juice. A 200 amp service for one house will max out at 200a x 115w = 23 kw. So each 5000 kw engine can make the power for more than 200 houses, I suppose. There are more than 2 engines on Silver Whisper. Besides the two 5,000 kw main engines, there is the engine used for power plus an emergency generator diesel. The power station engine is 2,900 kw I seem to recall. I suspect the emergency generator is less than half of that since it is used for lights and essential systems only, not a/c or say the sewage plant. So the total power of the ship is something like 5000 + 5000 + 2900 + 1500 = 14,000 kw or over 600 houses worth.
The Silver Whisper is a pretty small ship as cruise ships go, 25,000 tons versus some of the bigger ones. The new Queen Mary 2 is 150,000 tons. Based on that figure, its engines--which are all electrical generators all the time since the propulsion is all by electric motors--could power a town of 3600 homes or maybe more than 10,000 people. This is a very simple calculation. The number could be much more since the QM 2 goes a lot faster and holds many more people for its size than Whisper. I'm sure you could find the actual numbers somewhere on the Internet, of course.
Cruise ships are cities when you think about it. They desalinate the sea water, process the sewage, and do all the other "municipal" services required by a city. There's a police force, maintenance folks, a newspaper, and lots of laundry for housekeeping, but it also requires a set of drivers (captain and bridge crew). Maybe that's like the mayor and staff. There's also a cable TV system complete with head end, radio and wired telecommunications system with telephone switch and Internet, of course, and lots, really a lot, of copying and printing machines. Think of all the power a big hotel might use and then consider that these hotels have to move pretty great distances, and then that is frequent.
As for United Airlines, they are probably no worse than the other "majors", Delta and American. United used to be "The Friendly Skies". Then they were, "What About Bankrupt Don't You Understand". Now they seem to be, "Our Job is to Turn the Aircraft Around So We Can Sell Your Seat Again Quickly." It's definitely not about providing reliable and comfortable transportation.
Oh well. What's the use of staying alone in your room...
'cbu/0
On Mon, Feb 15, 2010 at 5:44 PM, <w4aba@comcast.net> wrote:
Glad to hear you're home safely, Mike----but sorry to hear your favorite United didn't live up to their past quality. You've used them for--how many years now??
Your descriptions have always been interesting, and I especially enjoyed studying the computer screen in the Control Room. Over 5000 kilowatts sure sounds like a LOT of power--hmmm: how many houses will that power if it's coming from a stateside power station?? And that's "only" from one of two engines--wow!
Enjoy your rest for a few days---you deserve it. Ummm--when's the next trip??? Hi!
73, Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Borsuk" <mike@mborsuk.com>
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 6:13:56 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Blog updated and fixed
I'm home in Boulder after a great cruise. Although heavily jet lagged (actually "United Airlines Economy Abused"), I've fixed the bad formatting on a few of the blog/trip-journal entries and added the last two installments on the ship's Control Room visit that includes some geeky technical details and on the very brief visit to Hong Kong. I will get to the few typos and fix the bad grammar as soon as I can focus my eyes or stay awake at any rate.
Again, my blog/trip journal (the difference is that blogs--which this one is technically I suppose--read newest entry first) is at: http://cbu-sin.blogspot.com and Barbara is methodically writing her more complete and less, uh, wise ass version of the trip with her pictures at: barbaramaus.blogspot.com.
Thanks for "coming along" on the trip. I would appreciate any comments on the blog and hope to hear from you soon at any rate. You can read my previous blogs at the same site by clicking on my profile picture to get to the index.
Best from winter again,
Mike
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