In 1903, the Russian oil tanker "Vandal" and the French "Petite-Pierre" became the first ships equipped with diesel engines. They were built almost at the same time. As for who served earlier, different information has different opinions.
The "Wanda" was designed by Karl Hagelin for the Russian oil giant Branobel (the company is an oil company invested by the Nobel family in Russia, a great The inventor Alfred Nobel came from this family). Hagelin was so farsighted that he designed a river tanker that could transport Caspian Sea oil from the lower Volga River directly to St. Petersburg or Finland via inland waterways, a distance of more than 1,800 miles! In the past, this route was mainly transported by inland barges and towed by steam tugs, which was not very economical for long distances. Hagelin felt that the emerging diesel engine could be used for a try. Taking into account factors such as the flexibility of inland ship operations, speed regulation and reversing, he decided to use diesel electric drive. He hired ship designer Johny Johnson for the overall design and it was built by the Sormovo shipyard.
The "Wandal" has a tonnage of 800 tons, a length of 74.5 meters, a width of 9.55 meters, and a draft of 2.4 meters. The ship uses three diesel engines jointly produced by Swedish Diesel and ASEA, with a cylinder diameter of 290 mm, the stroke is 430 mm, the rotation speed is 240 rpm, and the output power of a single unit is 120 horsepower. The ship's diesel engine and generator are placed in the middle of the ship, and the propulsion motor is at the stern, which can directly drive three propellers, with a speed of up to 8.3 knots.
Figure 2.1 "Wandal"
The following year, Nobel Brothers invested in the construction of a larger oil tanker, the "Sarmat". The ship has a displacement of 1,150 tons and a carrying capacity of 750 tons. She uses two 180-horsepower diesel engines (bore 320 mm, stroke 420 mm) from Ludwig Nobel Company. She abandoned electric transmission and used a diesel engine to directly drive the propeller, thereby reducing the transmission loss by 15% and reaching a speed of 8.6 knots. Due to the cold in northern Russia and the frozen rivers, the two oil tankers were only used in summer. The "Wandal" operated for 10 years, while the "Samat" was used until 1923.
The French "Pedit Pierre" is a diesel-powered flat-bottomed barge equipped with a 25-horsepower diesel engine. In September 1903, she began operating in Marne-Lyon on the canal. Diesel, the inventor of the diesel engine, was also invited to visit the ship and signed his autograph as a souvenir.
The first diesel-powered warship was the submarine "Aigrette" built in France in 1904. There were only two boats of the same type. The boat has a surface displacement of 202 tons and an underwater displacement of 222 tons. Its length/width/draft are 41.3/3.0/2.8 meters respectively. Its weapons are two 450mm torpedo launch tubes and its crew is 16 people. She is equipped with a 4-cylinder 4-stroke diesel engine. When the submarine is sailing on the water, the diesel engine is used to directly propel the propeller and charge the battery. Underwater navigation is switched to battery-motor, with a surface speed of 9 knots and an underwater speed of 7.1 knots. The endurance is 500 nautical miles/5 knots and 45 nautical miles/4 knots underwater.
Compared with the original gasoline engines commonly used on submarines, diesel engines do not require complex ignition devices when igniting, and there is no danger of gasoline volatilization and deflagration. They produce relatively few toxic gases in the exhaust gas, and have high thermal efficiency, Safety and reliability. Subsequently, the United Kingdom also began to equip diesel-powered D1-class submarines, and diesel engines gradually became the standard power configuration of conventional submarines until today.
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