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Update: I just found out how much torque a big ship's engine puts out
I was reading an old marine diesel manual from a library in Seattle and it said a Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C engine makes over 5.6 million lb-ft of torque. That's nuts, I can't even picture the socket you'd need for that. Has anyone here ever worked on something that massive, or is that just a dockyard legend?
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drewsullivan6mo ago
Check if the manual mentioned the engine's RPM at that torque figure. The force is insane, but the actual power comes from how fast it can turn with that twist. I'd guess it runs incredibly slow to make that possible.
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the_ryan6mo ago
But does it really matter for a tractor?
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jesse_fisher6mo ago
You're right about the RPM being low, but that's exactly why the torque figure is so critical. A tractor engine also runs slow and makes huge torque, that's what lets it pull heavy loads from a standstill. This ship engine is the same idea, just on a scale we can't really picture. That twisting force is what actually moves the mass, horsepower just tells you how fast it can do the work. Without that mountain of torque, you couldn't get a loaded container ship moving at all, no matter how many RPMs you had.
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