What secrets do ship engines hold? Driving the world’s largest ships are powerplants that deliver serious horsepower. These modern ship engines vary in design and use but they all provide the brute force necessary to move monster ships through monster waves. Let’s take a look at a few of the most impressive.

GE LM2500 Marine Gas Turbine

When cost of fuel is less important than power and available space the gas turbine has no equal. Powering naval ships worldwide gas turbine engines let you feel the acceleration of a boat while conning a ship. But naval applications are not alone in the use of gas. The turbine’s lack of noise and space saving design make them idea for use on large cruise ships where they can be placed in tight spaces far from passenger cabins.

We choose the LM2500 for the sheer number of these units installed aboard ships, well over one thousand at last count. Providing background about the LM2500 General Electric, the turbine’s manufacturer, Tells us:
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Over the next few weeks we are going to be sharing gift ideas. So if you have a loved on who is a Captain, Mate, Engineer or just a boater sailing the ocean keep an eye on our new Gifts Section.

Our first pick is a device that has made my life at sea significantly more enjoyable, the Tivo DVD Burner. Sure you could buy a video ipod which we also highly recommend but nothing is better than having a device connected to your TV, downloading TV shows for FREE.

The best part is how easy this unit is to use. It hooks up and operates just like a normal TIVO allowing you to pause and record live TV but insert a blank DVD-R/RW and it burns your shows to a disk he can take with him to work.

Bonus features:

• The Burned DVD’s work on any DVD play.
• The unit can record and burn movies from HBO, Starz…
• If your tivo runs out of space simply burn the extra shows to DVD and keep them for later.
• Select the option “Season Pass” and tivo will record the entire season of your show to disc. Perfect for catching up on series while you were away at sea.
• DVD’s are cheap to mail. Send your the burned DVD’s to his ship’s agent at the next port of call and we promise he will be the most popular guy on movie night.
• The unit also lets you transfer and burn movies from your old camcorder to DVD.

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In the latest criminal proceedings related to Marine Pollution and the use of “Magic Pipes” the Chief Engineer aboard an American-flagged car-carrier ship was convicted of one count of conspiracy and two counts of making false statements. Marine Link has the report:

At trial, it was proven that the M/V Tanabata had a removable bypass pipe or “magic pipe” that was used to discharge oily waste without the use of an oily-water separator, a required pollution control devise. The discharges were, however, falsely recorded as having been processed through the separator in the ship’s oil record book, a required log regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard. An engineer testified that the defendant referred to the bypass pipe as the “illegal pipe.” It was also shown during trial that the pipe was hidden when the ship was in port so that it would not be discovered by the Coast Guard.

Sentencing has been set for Jan. 10, 2008, before Judge William N. Nickerson. Humphries faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.

The M/V Tanabata was operated by Pacific Gulf Marine, Inc. (PGM). PGM pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Jan. 27, 2007, to charges of making illegal discharges of oil-contaminated waste from each of four ships managed by the company. After learning of the investigation, PGM conducted and voluntarily disclosed the results of an internal investigation and cooperated with investigators and prosecutors. PGM was sentenced to pay a $1 million criminal fine and $500,000 in community service payments and to serve three years probation under the terms of an Environmental Compliance Program subject to court approval.

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