All language subtitles for Impossible Engineering s02e09 Kings of the Sea.eng

Today on
"Impossible engineering",

the kings of the sea.

On top of the ocean, the largest
cruise ship in the world.

Nothing comes even close
in terms of size.

And underneath, one of the most
advanced submarines ever built.

The Virginia class
is the stealthiest submarine

that the U.S. Navy
has ever produced.

It took
revolutionary engineering...

to make the impossible possible.

Captions by vitac...
www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
discovery communications

Royal Caribbean's
Oasis class cruise ships

are truly kings of the sea.

Since 2009,
they've held the title

as the largest class of
passenger ships on the planet.

And today, a third Oasis-class
vessel is under construction,

the biggest one yet...

longer, wider, and heavier

than any other
that's come before it.

Sitting next to her
makes me feel like

standing next to the skyscraper.

When it's finished,

the Harmony of the seas
will be almost 8 times longer

than the statue of Liberty
is high

and 2 times heavier

than the world's largest
aircraft carrier.

Built with steel,

this king of the sea
would be impossible

without some guidance from
the engineers of the past.

For centuries, steelmaking

was an incredibly difficult
and lengthy process

until the 1800s,

when inventor Henry Bessemer
came up with a solution.

Traditionally, the wrought iron

was layered with charcoal
and heated over days.

And the charcoal
would diffuse into the iron,

and that would produce
the steel qualities.

Very complex
and difficult to achieve

and, therefore,
very expensive, historically.

So, Bessemer developed
an ingenious way

to mass produce steel.

And this is it...
The Bessemer converter.

The converter's
capacity is impressive,

but its real ingenuity is
in how fast it creates steel.

Bessemer discovered
that pumping air into iron

accelerates combustion,

increasing carbon reduction
and burning off impurities,

resulting in quality steel
in a fraction of the time.

To show how oxygen injection

really increases
the combustion process,

I've got a simple demonstration
here.

I've got a tray of charcoal.

With my thermal camera,

I can see the temperature
of these coals at the moment

is around about 450° c.

So, now what I'm gonna do
is start to blow pure oxygen

onto these coals
and see the effect.

Wow. Look at that.

The impact
is amazingly impressive.

Ah!

So, if I now look
at the temperature,

it's gone up to 1,000° c,
a hugely dramatic increase

in the temperature
of these coals.

So Bessemer had found
a really amazing process

to reduce the carbon in steel.

Mass production
of steel took off,

and its elasticity and strength
made it a hot commodity

for both railroad-
and shipbuilders.

The Harmony of the seas

needs a staggering amount
of steel.

Massive steel sheets
are delivered

to the assembly plant by train.

Automated systems cut the sheets

into thousands
of individual components.

The steel panels, girders,
and smaller components

are welded into modular
sections called blocks.

Individual sections
are joined together,

forming what are called
grand blocks.

Made of steel,
there are 90 grand blocks

on the Harmony of the seas.

A custom-built gantry crane

lifts each grand block
into the dry dock.

The 90 blocks come together

to form the world's
largest passenger ship.

Sitting as tall as tower bridge,

it's as long as five jumbo jets
and as wide as a soccer field.

When I really look at her,
I'm amazed, always,

always, every single time,
by the size of the ship.

It's big, but it's beautiful.
It's awesome.

You can definitely
call this ship a small city.

It can house almost 9,000
passengers and crew onboard.

But how does
such a gargantuan structure

move across the open ocean?

The engines
are the heart of the ship

and provide the power forward
to the ship.

Without the engine,
a ship is not alive.

Powering this king of the sea
would be impossible

without help from one of
history's great innovators...

and that innovator
was Rudolf Diesel.

This is the hc oersted
power station in Copenhagen.

And, inside,
you'll find a giant version

of Mr. Diesel's
early engine concept,

which changed the face
of the industry globally.

When it first
powered up in 1933,

the Diesel-powered hc oersted

was the largest engine
of its kind.

It's 40 feet tall
and weighs 1,400 tons.

Back in the day,
it could produce

a mind-blowing
15 megawatts of power.

It's absolutely huge.

The real power
of this engineering colossus

comes from Rudolph Diesel's
brilliant design,

patented in 1894.

This is a fire piston,

and this little piece of kit
was what inspired Rudolph Diesel

in his development
of the Diesel engine.

And it works like this.

You have a small cylinder where
you add a bit of cotton wool.

The cotton wool
will work as fuel.

You have a little piston.

When you push down
the piston here,

the air will be compressed,
the temperature will increase,

and it will finally
ignite the cotton wool.

And it goes something like this.

Compressing the air
created heat,

the heat forced the cotton wool
to burn, turning it into energy,

which forced the piston
back up again.

The perpetual motion

within the compression ignition
engine

works almost exactly
the same way.

Air is drawn into the piston

and rapidly compressed,
creating heat.

High-energy Diesel fuel is then
added, causing combustion.

This pushes the piston out,

to start the process
all over again.

I would say,
within mechanical engineering,

it's the most important leap.

No doubt of that.

The hc oersted may
have been a monster in its day,

but the Harmony of the seas's
engines

are 6 times more powerful.

This is one of the most
exciting days of the project.

Yo, Eivel, let's start her up.

But for the ship
to be seaworthy,

it has to deliver
beneath the waves, too.

So there are a few factors
that are very important

for the fuel efficiency
on the ship.

And, clearly, the biggest one
is the hull shape.

The hull shape needs to be
extremely well-designed

so that you have
a good hydrodynamic shape.

So how do you design
the perfect hull shape

for the largest passenger ship
in the world?

The Harmony of the seas

is the largest cruise ship
in the world.

Designing the perfect hull shape
for this king of the sea

would be impossible
had it not been

for an innovative breakthrough
made over 150 years ago.

For centuries,
shipbuilders had a kind of

one-size-fits-all notion
about ship hulls.

There was one generic shape

that was considered
the most efficient.

But there was no real way
of testing this,

of working out how much drag,
how much resistance

a hull would encounter
as it moved through the water.

But in 1870,
engineer William Froude

built a groundbreaking
hydrodynamic testing facility.

And he used it to test
differently shaped hull models

and drag them through the water
on a steam-driven pulley.

We've got three
different-shaped hulls...

A flat-faced square box,

a slightly streamlined
rubber duck,

and then this sleek speedboat.

Like Froude's experiments,

Andrew makes sure each object
is equally weighted

and tows the objects with a rope
attached to a scale,

measuring the amount
of hydrodynamic drag.

You can see this isn't slicing
through the water.

It's sort of making
a lot of turbulence.

If you look at the scales,
3, maybe even 4 kilos.

That's a lot of drag,
a lot of resistance.

Next up, a slightly
more streamlined rubber duck.

Well, that feels much lighter,
and the scales bear that out...

Maybe 1.5, 2 kilos
of force there.

And you can see the pool...
Much less disturbed.

There are far fewer
of those Eddies.

The duck's just skimming
across the top of the water.

But I still think
we can do better.

Let's try the powerboat.

This is almost effortless,
maybe 600 or 700 grams, tops.

You can see much, much less
disturbance to the water.

The pool's almost still,
and even from this scale model,

you can see why we make boats
in this streamline shape.

The key to Froude's discovery

lies in a model's wake pattern.

Froude's real Eureka moment
was when he realized

that he could use a lure
to relate the drag

on a scale model of a boat
to one that was full-size.

Froude developed a formula,

now known as the Froude number.

That Froude number
can then be used

to compare a model ship
to a full-size one.

By making sure they've got
the same Froude number,

you can work out how much drag
the larger ship will experience,

work out how big an engine
you need to install,

and it was this discovery
that revolutionized

hydrodynamics
and the shipbuilding industry.

Engineers of
the Harmony of the seas

are using huge 30-foot models

to simulate a variety
of sea conditions.

The result?

A super-efficient bow design,

a design that will be
enhanced even further

using a cutting-edge system
known as air lubrication.

Micro bubbles create
an air stream under the ship.

This cushioning effect
significantly reduces friction

and the amount of power needed
to propel the ship,

increasing its efficiency by 5%.

This colossal cruise ship
may be streamlined underwater,

but above, its sheer stature
poses a huge challenge.

It's almost like driving
a skyscraper at the seas.

We have to be able
to control her

to the direct position
what we want her to be in.

Their solution can be found

in a discovery
made nearly 180 years ago.

During the 19th century,
one engineering workhorse

prevailed in shipping
across the sea.

And this is it...
The paddle wheel.

Paddle steamers
dominated the seas for decades,

but engineers changed course

with inspiration from
an ancient invention.

For most of those
early innovators,

the focus of their attention
was this...

The Archimedes screw.

Dating back
to the 3rd century bc,

this crank-operated contraption
was used

to transfer low-lying water
into irrigation ditches.

So we can see,
if we turn the drill...

We start to get water
transferring up the pipe

and then overspilling
at the end of the pipe.

So inventors realized that
they could apply this to a ship.

If you put the screw surface
on the ship,

it can push the ship
through the water.

But how this device

came to power the future
of maritime engineering

actually came about by accident.

The colossal Harmony of the seas

is the largest passenger vessel
in the world.

But how modern vessels like it
maneuver through open water

actually came about by accident.

In 1836, engineer Francis Smith
patented a revolving screw

similar to the Archimedes screw

that could be used
to power a 6-ton ship.

But during testing,

Smith accidentally snapped
the 3-foot long screw,

leading him
to a surprising discovery...

The shorter piece drastically
increased the boat's speed.

It was the precursor
to the modern-day propeller.

In order to drive the largest
cruise ship in the world,

the propellers
on the Harmony of the seas

need to be of epic proportions.

Its 3 bronze propellers
are 20 feet wide

and weigh almost 45 tons.

But this king of the sea
can't just go fast,

it also has to be able to
maneuver in and out of port.

This independence came about
in the 1950s

through the revolutionary work
of German engineer Josef Becker.

He designed something
called the rudderpropeller,

which could both move and steer
the ship.

On the Harmony of the seas,

the three pods
act like airplane propellers,

pulling the ship through
the water rather than pushing.

Utilizing 5,500-kilowatt
bow thrusters,

they allow the captain's
unparalleled control.

The pods can be turned
in an instant,

getting the vessel
into locations

that were previously
off-limits to megaships.

But even with these pods,

making sure the ride
will be comfortable

for all 6,000 passengers

poses a significant challenge.

The clearest issue we have is
that the ship is not stationary.

It moves. It rolls.
It heaves.

There's all kinds of movements
and acceleration on the ship,

which makes it
a little more complicated.

How do you keep
such an immense vessel steady

in even the roughest seas?

What we've got
is an ordinary bike wheel,

but we've filled
the inner tube with concrete

just to make sure
it's nice and heavy.

So, currently,
this thing isn't spinning,

and that means it hasn't got
any angular momentum.

And that means it's pretty easy
just to make it spin around.

It's not very stable.

However, if we get
this electric drill

and get the bike wheel spinning

and as we add more speed
to the drill,

we're increasing
the angular momentum.

Now, it's moving very fast, and
now, if I give it a whack...

You can see
this thing is stabilized.

It's the stabilizing effect
of a gyroscope

that maritime engineers
are interested in.

And in 1917,
American inventor Elmer Sperry

used gyroscopic forces
for the first time

to steady a large vessel
in the sea.

He equipped the USS Henderson
with two enormous gyro wheels.

Each wheel weighed 60 tons.

Inside, 10-foot flywheels spun

at an incredible
1,100 revs per minute,

creating huge amounts
of angular momentum

in order to minimize
the ship's roll.

It was a huge
engineering breakthrough.

The Harmony of the seas

takes the stabilizing effect
of the maritime gyroscope

into the 21st century.

Instead of using giant
spinning wheels

like those employed
on the USS Henderson,

the Harmony of the seas uses
a small gyroscope as a sensor,

which controls mechanical
stabilizers via computer.

So, in rough seas,
what we can use to minimize

the roll and the movement
of the ship are stabilizer fins.

A stabilizer blade is recessed

into each side of the ship.

They're deployed
when seas get rough.

Stabilizer
mostly counteracts the roll,

so the sideways movement
of the ship.

So if the gyroscope feels
the ship starts moving this way,

it asks the fin to exert force

so that it counteracts
the movement here,

so it tries to always
right the ship.

Harnessing the engineering
breakthroughs of the past,

the Harmony of the seas
is making history.

Also pushing maritime
engineering to the limit

is the Virginia class.

To see these submarines
being built,

it is truly a magical thing.

This king of the sea
is one of the world's

most advanced submarines.

What we're looking at

is the 15th Virginia class
submarine,

the USS Colorado.

She's 377 feet long.

She can dive to depths
greater than 800 feet.

She can operate at speeds
greater than 25 knots.

The Virginia class
is one of the most advanced

nuclear-powered
fast-attack submarines

ever produced
for the U.S. Navy.

At the electric boat shipyard
in Groton, Connecticut,

a 15th Virginia class vessel
is under construction.

Starting with
the first ship of the class,

it took 15 million hours
to build that ship.

And with the Colorado,

we brought that cost down
to 10 million hours.

That's the kind of effort
that's required

to put one of these
remarkable ships to sea.

These technological titans
are as long as 26 cars.

Each sub weighs 7,800 tons.

That's 40 blue whales.

They're equipped
with an advanced nuclear reactor

and can dive to depths
of almost 800 feet

or inch across shallow water
with pinpoint accuracy,

thanks to a control room
that's equipped

with an automated
navigation system.

To create this king of the sea
required monumental engineering,

which would have been impossible

had it not been for
great innovators of the past.

The Virginia class

is one of the world's
most advanced attack submarines,

but it owes its existence
to the innovators of the past...

particularly to an invention

developed during
the American revolutionary war

by David bushnell.

And this is it, the turtle...

The first submersible used
in recorded underwater combat.

Bushnell's plan for the turtle

was to sneak up on
the British enemy ships

moored in New York harbor.

The vessel had lots of weights
in it

to help it sink into the water,

and underneath the base,
there was a ballast tank,

which would be filled
with water.

And the operator,
a man called Ezra Lee,

would pump the water
in and out of the tank

to help sink to the right depth.

The turtle's weapon,
a keg of gunpowder,

was attached to the back
of the wooden hull.

It would be attached
by this drill,

which would be literally
hand-drilled

into the base of the ship.

Unfortunately
for the pilot Ezra Lee,

the British fleet
had metal hulls.

By sheer bad luck,

Ezra Lee wasn't able
to drill into the ship's hull,

so the turtle
was a bit of a failure.

But having said that,

it did set the precedent
for submersible combat,

and the principles
of ballast tanks and propulsion

still to this day
remain on all submarines.

Thanks to a super-sized system

of internal and external
ballast tanks,

the Virginia class submarine can
reach depths of about 800 feet.

We have five external
ballast tanks

that are normally
filled with air

when I'm riding on the surface.

When it is time for us to dive,

we'll open vents
on those ballast tanks.

There's grates on the bottom
of the ship

that allow water to come in,
displace the air,

making the ship just slightly
negatively buoyant.

We then proceed down to the
depth that we want to go to,

and we use
internal ballast tanks

to make the ship
neutrally buoyant

that then we can progress
on our way

whatever depth we choose.

The crew on board
the Virginia class

have an abundance
of cutting-edge controls

at their fingertips,

one of which is replacing
the most iconic feature

in submarine history.

The periscope has been
a key component on the submarine

for over 100 years,

but engineers
on the Virginia class

are replacing the periscope

with a state-of-the-art
photonic mast.

The photonic system is a mast

with a sophisticated
camera system

that allows what would normally
be displayed just in a periscope

to displayed on wide-screen
monitors throughout the ship.

I used to have to have an optical
periscope that came down,

which drove the construction
of the submarine

and the orientation of all
of the rooms on the submarine.

Bulky periscopes force
most submarine control rooms

to be located
on a cramped upper deck.

On the Virginia class,
the compact imaging equipment

is housed in a part of
the submarine known as the sail.

This allows
the sub's control room

to be built
on the wider second deck.

My control room
that I'm standing in right now

houses all of
the important decision makers.

It really brings the crew
together

to operate as a team, as a unit.

It's not just
the photonic system

that makes the Virginia class
revolutionary.

A virtually silent propeller,
known as a propulsor,

drives the nearly 400-foot
submarine,

and a sophisticated system
of sonar arrays

allows it to map its way
across the ocean floor.

The ability to
put literally tens of thousands

of horsepower into
the main engines,

into the propeller,
and yet be so quiet...

The level of technology
required to do that is amazing.

Warship here.
0-5-4 rate...

The Virginia class
is virtually undetectable

as it travels through
the world's oceans.

But how do you construct
the perfect hull,

one that's optimized
for sub-surface speed

and maneuverability?

It's a task that would be
impossible without help

from some of history's greatest
naval engineers.

The Virginia class submarine
is a king of the sea.

Helping it speed through
the waters at 25 knots

is a cutting-edge hull.

But this design stands on the
shoulders of history's giants.

During world war ii, submarines
were essentially surface ships

that could submerge themselves
for up to 48 hours.

But underwater, the vessels
were cumbersome and inefficient.

Admiral Charles Momsen
was determined to come up with

a more efficient design.

The U.S. naval officer

commissioned
over 25 large-scaled models.

Those models ultimately resulted
in the teardrop hull form

that became the standard
for all modern submarines.

To appreciate this game-changing
teardrop hull design,

Matt analyzes
the hydrodynamic qualities

by injecting dye into the tank.

So, we've got the model
in the water now.

We're towing it
below the surface.

It's coming into the window now
and right into the dye field.

And the bow goes through
the dye.

Wow, look at it!

Look how smooth
the flow is off the stern

as it passes through
that dye field.

That's showing me
we have very low resistance.

The hull's teardrop shape

dramatically reduces
both frictional and form drag.

So after countless
hours, tests, and calculations,

admiral Momsen and his team
had done it,

and this is the result...
The USS albacore.

The teardrop hull
of the albacore

changed the face
of submarine design.

By getting away
from that ship-type hull form

and going to a true
submerged-type hull form,

we have the baseline
for all subs to come.

It's been 60 years

since the albacore
first set sail,

and the U.S. Navy's latest
and greatest submarine,

the Virginia class,

is using admiral Momsen's
game-changing teardrop hull.

Each submarine is made
up of four super-sized modules

that, when combined,
measure almost 400 feet.

The vessel contains
around one million components

and requires
10 million man-hours to build.

We have
3,600 dedicated men and women

who take raw steel plate, pipe,
and cable

and create completed
2,000-ton modules.

Raw steel plate is brought in.

The cut machines
automatically cut the plate

to the right dimensions.

In the case
of pressure hull structure,

it's rolled to get that circular
shape for the pressure hull.

It takes 5,000 tons
of force to form the steel

into the iconic submarine shape.

Each submarine segment
lies horizontally

so the decks can be slid in.

When you pair up
the last hull section

and you actually have
the ship look like

a whole ship together in a bay,

it's really exciting
to see it all come together.

Transporting
this monumental structure

to its natural habitat
is an impressive sight to see.

But for the Virginia class
to be successful

in its wide variety
of surveillance

and reconnaissance missions,

it must be able to stay
underwater for months at a time.

This crew of 135 sailors

have to be able to go anywhere
in the world,

deploy from their home port,

and be operating in any ocean

and not be concerned about
the amount of fuel consumption.

So how do you propel a submarine
to the most remote parts

of the globe without refueling?

To be effective,
the Virginia class submarine

must stay submerged
for months at a time.

But this would be impossible

without the innovators
of the past.

The world's first peacetime use
of nuclear power

occurred when
the U.S. government switched on

the experimental breeder reactor
in Idaho in 1951.

It temporarily powered the town
of Arco,

paving the way
for domestic nuclear power.

But captain Hyman rickover
of the United States Navy

had other ideas.

He saw the potential

for using this technology
in a submarine.

Rickover was
an incredible pioneer.

The problem with powering
submarines is that most forms

of power for propulsion
require air,

so the submarines
had to resurface,

or the alternative
would be battery,

but they just didn't last.

Rickover was convinced

that the fundamental process
of a nuclear reaction

to boil water and create steam
could power a submarine.

Nuclear reactors are just very
large ways of boiling water.

And here I've got
a steam cleaner

that's going to represent
my nuclear reactor.

I've got some water,
and when I pull the trigger,

it boils the water,
turning it into steam.

As I direct the steam
towards my turbine...

it starts
to generate electricity,

and that turns on my light.

The difference
between my little reactor here

and this enormous one here

is in the way
that the water is heated.

And the answer lies at the very
heart of the core itself.

Nuclear fuel rods contain
thousands of uranium pellets,

and it's the uranium atoms
that split,

causing a chain reaction

that generates vast amounts
of energy in the form of heat.

The result
is an almost limitless supply

of power that can keep
on producing for years.

The problem rickover faced
was scaling down something

as huge as a nuclear reactor

down to the size of something
that could fit into a submarine

and still provide the power.

What rickover came up with

was the world's first
pressurized water reactor.

The core
inside his reactor vessel

heats a loop
of pressurized water.

This in turn vaporized water
in a secondary loop,

creating steam to drive
the main turbine,

which also produces electricity.

The nautilus was launched
in 1954.

This pioneering nuclear vessel
traveled 1,300 miles

in less than 90 hours
fully submerged.

This was a huge game changer
in submarine engineering.

Previously, submarines
could only stay underwater

for up to 48 hours.

Now there was absolutely no need
to resurface.

Captain Rickover's
nautilus reactor

needs to be refueled
every two years.

The designers
of the Virginia class submarine

are taking this technology
to an unprecedented level.

The Virginia class submarine
is powered by a nuclear reactor

that has been designed
to last the life of the ship.

Converting seawater to steam,

this top-secret reactor plant

is capable
of powering the vessel

for nearly one million miles
without refueling.

The reactor
on the Virginia class

is the most advanced reactor
that the U.S. Navy has produced.

12 Virginia class subs
are now in service,

each equipped with a
state-of-the-art nuclear reactor

that allows the vessels
to remain underwater

for months at a time.

But keeping the crew safe during
long-term subsurface missions

is a huge challenge.

We have an enclosed environment,

and so, clearly,
we have to monitor

the atmospheric controls
on board

and the levels of the oxygen,
the carbon dioxide,

and other trace gases
to make sure

that it remains habitable
for the sailors.

So, how does the sub
replenish oxygen levels

without ever going
to the surface?

The answer comes from the early
1800s through the work

of English chemist
William Nicholson.

Inspired
by the electric battery,

Nicholson experimented with
placing battery leads in water.

The result
was a chemical reaction

now known as electrolysis.

This is a simple demonstration
of electrolysis.

I first have my water
for the electrolyzer.

Okay.

Two water-filled test tubes

are placed over the submerged
negative and positive electrodes

before the electrical current
is switched on.

And you can start to see
immediately the gas bubbles

forming on the electrodes here.

The negative electrode
is generating hydrogen.

And the positive electrode
is generating oxygen.

And so each of these jars

now has displaced
the water with the gas.

This reaction is caused

by the positive
and negative electrodes

attracting
and separating the oxygen

and hydrogen molecules
in the water.

The engineers
of the Virginia class

are using Nicholson's
groundbreaking work

to create life-sustaining
conditions underwater

for months on end.

We distribute the oxygen
throughout the ship

and then remove the hydrogen

so that we can maintain levels
right at 20%,

just like normal air.

The U.S. Navy's advanced

integrated low-pressure
electrolyzer

can create over 200 cubic feet
of oxygen per hour.

Potentially toxic carbon dioxide

is removed by a sophisticated
amine-based removal plant.

If you could imagine
driving your car

for six months straight,
24 hours a day,

it's truly a testament to
the engineers who designed it,

the people who built it,

and those 135 sailors
who operate and maintain it

on a day-to-day basis.

By drawing on the innovators
of the past,

adapting their ideas,
honing them,

and making trailblazing
innovations of their own,

the engineers
of the Harmony of the seas

and the Virginia class

have made these vessels
the kings of the sea.

They've succeeded in making
the impossible possible.

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