Flettner ship

Buckau

Rotor ship: Diesel engine with 220 hp and two Flettner rotors with 11 kW power by 45 hp diesel engine; the wind attack surface of the two towers ( projected " sail" area) was 88 m.

The early 1920s was Anton Flettner rebuild the three-masted schooner Buckau on the Germania Werft Kiel to its rotor ship with " rolling sailing ". Each of the two rolls was 2.8 m in diameter, a height of 18.3 m above the deck and was powered by a 10 hp electric motor. The current was generated by a 45 - hp diesel engine.

Optimal driving conditions were present when the peripheral speed of the rollers, roughly equivalent to 3.5 times the wind speed and wind could think laterally. Eight Erlicher wind is unsuitable for a rotor ship, since the force direction of the roll sail acts at 90 ° to the wind direction.

The ship was named after the Magdeburg district Buckau. It was later renamed to Baden -Baden, brought to America, and excited at the arrival in New York on May 9, 1926 great stir. 1931, it was destroyed by a storm in the Caribbean. The Flettner rotors were, however, already been removed at this time.

The experiment was technically successful, but was not suitable as a main drive especially for larger vessels. Is particularly interesting about this drive towards sailing, that the forces reach a maximum already at 12 m / s wind speed, above depend only on the rotation speed of the cylinder.

More info

• Sister ships (though three-masted topsail schooner without rotor drive ): Gaarden, dates, Annen