More on HAIDA's Propulsion System
by Margaret Mathers

HMCS Haida has three Admiralty three drum type,  water-tube boilers each having one steam drum connected to two mud (water) drums by water tubes. Each boiler has eight fires using Admiralty Pattern 13 sprayers. The fuel used is Bunker 'C' a  slightly refined type of crude oil. This oil was preheated to 250 F prior to burning.

Each boiler room is pressurized by turbine driven fans which supply combustion air.   These boilers produce saturated and superheated steam. The saturated steam is produced in the generating tubes and collects in the steam drum. The saturated steam is for use the domestic heating system , reciprocating pumps and preheating the 8 fuel tanks etc. It is drawn from the steam drum and passes through the Melesco superheated tubes which are no longer in contact with water. This will raise the temperature to 600 F and the pressure of 300 psi. The steam makes four passes then leaves the top of the header via the main stop valve for distribution.

The dry stream is fed to the main propulsion turbines and any auxiliary equipment which is turbine powered. There 12 turbines in the engine room,  two in each of the boiler rooms and three in the gear room, for a total of 21. Examples: circulating pumps, 200 kw steam generators etc. Saturated steam is fed to auxiliary equipment which uses a reciprocating steam engine and there are 10 of those.

Steam enters the engine room through emergency shut of valves to the maneuvering valves located on top of the low pressure Parson’s turbine. These are operated by the throttle wheels. The large wheel is for ahead and small for astern the two wheels on the inside is for the cruising turbine on the high pressure turbine. Once the superheated steam has done its work the waste steam drops down into the condensers where it comes in contact with the out side surface of the sea water cooled condenser tubes. The steam is chilled and goes back into it natural state water and drops to the bottom of the condensers it is then drawn out by the extraction pump and then sent over to the preheater or to the boiler feed overfeed tanks by the steam driven feed pumps.

The high and low pressure turbine shafts connects to the propeller shaft through the main reduction gear boxes that reduce the turbine revolutions down to the propeller shaft at a 8 to one ratio and 6.5 to one. Combined  together, the turbines produce about 44,000 shaft horsepower propelling the ship at a speed of over 36 knots (68km/hr). The high pressure turbines  would be turning at a speed of 2880 rpm for a maximum of 360 rpm on the shaft.