Talk:Turbinia

Was Parsons invited to the naval review or not?
The text of this article states that 'Parsons ship turned up unannounced', a statement which is confirmed by the reference [1] however reference [2] states 'It was on this occasion that Turbinia after permission had been obtained (my emphasis), was to steam up and down the lines and astonish everyone by her performance'.

Employees at CE Parsons in the 1970's were told that he arrived unannounced and I understand that the Birr Castle site has good connections to the family and should be trusted, however this discrepancy between sources needs to be better explained and possibly reference [2] should be corrected if it is the one that is wrong.

I am emailing the webmaster for reference [2] to get their input, and will also get a message to the webmaster for reference [1].

(PeterIto 09:48, 1 November 2007 (UTC))
 * Might be worthwhile including a link to the following pdf about Turbinia as it's got lots of detail about her, seems well researched, including the many different configerations she had, and also several photo's I've not seen anywhere else
 * http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5652.pdf
 * on page 7 it claims that there was "tacit approval" for Turbinia to appear at the Spithead review. Unfortunately it doesn't provide references...


 * steve10345 (talk) 00:17, 18 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Unless human behavior has changed a great deal in the past 120 years, there were stick-in-the-mud admirals and forward-thinking admirals, e.g. Hyman Rickover vs All the Rest.
 * Given an opportunity to dramatically demonstrate the superiority of a new concept, I can well imagine Adm. Rickover "tacitly" giving approval to something no other admiral would countenance. Hence both parties can be correct  but in fact, it seems very likely that this demonstration that certainly embarrassed older technologies would not have been approved by the Most High Authorities.


 * If it had been, it would have been highly publicised in advance .... 116.231.74.1 (talk) 07:44, 30 January 2017 (UTC)


 * It is of course possible for the appearance to be both "unannounced" and "specially invited by the authorities" as is attributed to George Baden-Powell in the next post in this talk article.
 * If the source, i.e. Baden-Powell's letter in the times, can be confirmed, it may be worth something in the article to the effect that it's appearance being unauthorized, at least, was disputed at the time. I doubt it’s citable, but there is at least one web page that quotes Baden-Powell on this: http://parsonstown.info/engineering/ships
 * There is also an interesting quote there from Christopher Leyland, the ship’s captain.
 * I certainly remember this point being disputed back in the 60s. Some sort of illustrated kids science encyclopaedia I think: “Knowledge”? – and I doubt it would be a valid reference if I could find it. But this point about it being disputed must be on the verge of being a notable point, and thus valid for inclusion, at least.Graham.Fountain | Talk 17:03, 3 February 2017 (UTC)

Turbinia demonstration
One of the last survivors of the original Parsons/Turbinia demonstration, stated in the 1960s that Parsons had been asked by the Admiralty to demonstrate the performance of the Turbinia at the Spithead Review.

He also thought that the Admiralty were hoping that Turbinia might distract attention away from the rows of battleships which were obsolecent and had to be towed to their public moorings. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.93.199.154 (talk) 12:36, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Apropos of this, George Baden-Powell, M.P., wrote to The Times on 29 June, 1897, directly contradicting a report that Turbinia had acted with a "deliberate disregard of authority" (the report's words), and stated that;

I happened to be on board the Turbinia at the time, and in justice to her designer, the Hon. Charles Parsons, and to Mr. Leyland, who was running her, I ask leave to state that the astounding runs she made between the A and B lines [of battleships and cruisers] were in obedience to a message brought by a picket boat that the admiral [presumably Sir Nowell Salmon, V.C.] wished her to show her best speed, more especially for the benefit of his Royal Highness Prince Henry, who was watching her from a German man-of-war.

The exhibition of speed, so far from being unauthorized, was specially invited by the authorities.

Some myths refuse to die. --Simon Harley (Talk | Library). 08:47, 7 July 2011 (UTC)


 * Current museums signs say much the same try to find a better source.©Geni (talk) 20:41, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

Christopher Leyland or Charles Parsons
I am Robert Forsythe TWAMWIR Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums Wikipedian in Residence. I have today changed the name of the gentlemen standing in the conning tower picture from Charles Parsons to Christopher Leyland. This is because museum curator Ian Whitehead has numerous pictures here of the people involved and is absolutely of the view that the gentleman in the picture matches the latter and not the former.TWAMWIR (talk) 11:17, 9 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Sorry, we need a written reference; basically anyone could say that!Teapeat (talk) 11:26, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

I think I am right that the statement that it is Charles Parsons on the conning tower has been removed and I am fine with that. At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turbinia_At_Speed.jpg nothing is said about the identity of the person so the safest option is to say nothing. I shall quiz Ian Whitehead further to see if his position can demonstrated.TWAMWIR (talk) 14:10, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Location of at speed image
"He was subsequently invited by Sir Charles Parsons to film and photograph the vessel in the Tyne and the pictures captured (one of which is shown at the top of this page) remain the defining image of Turbinia at speed".

It is worth discussing the picture further. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Turbinia_At_Speed.jpg describes it as on the Tyne and the article heads to the same. Can I respectfully suggest this is palpably impossible. "Off mouth of the Tyne" is plausible. The vessel is in open sea and the Tyne ends very directly between two piers. Can I ask others for how they think the photo should be correctly described? You will understand that with the vessel about 100 feet from my screen, there is interest in these matters.TWAMWIR (talk) 14:19, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Three turbines?
On the text it say three turbines driving three shafts. On the infobox says a turbine (one probably) driving three shafts? Because the three stage turbine counts as one? Is there a mistake or where there 3 turbines?--Pawlin (talk) 09:20, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
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