Electricity at sea - some trends in ship-propulsion machinery

The 45,000-ton P&O-Orient liner Canberra is Britain´s largest electrically driven passenger vessel. Electric propulsion is not advocated for all vessels, as its adoption can involve additional weight, complexity and cost. It can be justified where flexibility of machinery layout and operation, rapid manoeuvrability, constant-power characteristics and simple provision of power for large auxiliaries are features which can be utilised in service.