The engine room on the RSV Nuyina is split, so there's two complete separate engine rooms and two
completely separate propulsion rooms. Each main engine room consists of a main engine
and two generators and the propulsion room has the advanced electric drives.
It's hybrid in as much as we can run the ship on diesel generator engines that power electric
motors that drive the propellers. So it's essentially
what's known as a diesel electric propulsion system.
So it's a V16, so there's eight cylinders on this side of the engine, eight located on the other.
The bore of the engine is about 320 mm, very similar to an engine you'd find in a large
truck, except just bigger, a lot bigger. The main engines here weigh 87 tonnes so it's a large mass.
For an efficient cruising speed we've found 12 knots to be probably the most economical speed.
It's quite economical still up to 14 knots. We've been able to use the diesel electric
component of the ship to propel her up 14 knots. Beyond that we have to use the larger engines.
In ice breaking mode what happens is off the main reduction gearbox there's an ice
flywheel which is engaged. That's a seven tonne mass, which is added to the 8.7 tonnes
of crankshaft weight of the engine to give it some more momentum.
This is the steering room on the RSV Nuyina.
Here's the main rudder stock, so that goes down and it's attached to the rudder of the ship.