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=Steam-powered Vessels=

Nuclear
Steam can be generated with the use of heat produced by nuclear fission within a nuclear reactor. Systems that incorporate nuclear components are found almost mostly onboard military vessels due to the regulations limiting distribution and ownership of the radioactive fuels used to power the plants. Nuclear systems present an additional danger due to the radioactivity of the fuel source and risk of reactor breech.

Boiler
Most steam propulsion systems use a boiler to produce steam. The boiler burns fuel and then transfers the heat produced into circulating boiler water. Once the water is heated sufficiently it vaporizes into steam and can be used to power a steam engine that produces the mechanical energy that propels the ship.

Turbine
Steam can be used to drive a high speed turbine that is connected through some means of transmission to the driving component of the vessel. These are more common on modern ships and were adopted in this year (Specific Citation required). Nuclear ships almost always use a turbine to harness the energy of the steam that they produce. Steam Driven turbines can either be used to directly power the vessel by means of transmission and gearing to a propeller, or the turbine can be used to generate electricity that is then used to power electric propulsion motors.

Piston Steam Engine
A type of steam engine that uses trapped steam to move a piston within a cylinder, whose linear motion is eventually converted into rotational motion with the use of a flywheel or some other means. There are many variations on this concept that have developed over the years, but the general concept can be explained as above.

Multiple expansion Steam Engine
This type of piston steam engine harnesses the steam that has been used to drive a piston within the engine and uses it to drive one or more additional pistons. This configuration offers increased engine efficiency by improving the force produced per unit of fuel consumed.

Paddle-wheel
A paddle-wheel is a device used to transmit the power produced by the steam engine of the vessel to the surrounding water. The wheel functions by using buckets or paddles attached to the circumference of a rotating wheel that displace water with their movement, ultimately propelling the ship forward.

Screw
Also known as a propeller, a screw is a device that uses sloped surfaces to transition rotational motion created by the steam engine into an axial force that moves the vessel forward. Systems that use propellers are regarded as more efficient than comparative paddle-wheels due to the reduced weight of rotating components and smaller equipment footprint.

Sail and Steam powered
Early steam powered ships used both steam engines and the power of wind, like more traditional sailing ships. Ships such as these used paddle-wheels or screws to propel themselves when additional speed was necessary or wind conditions were not favorable.

Military
Many steam-powered vessels have been commissioned by the military and equipped with weapons and various other equipment for the purpose of providing peacekeeping tools and a platform from which to operate international relations. Some types of steam turbine driven military vessels are long range submarines and aircraft carriers, although these ships can also be classified as nuclear powered vessels.

Commercial
Steam ships were used to transport goods and personnel across oceans and within coastal areas. Steam powered tugboats were created for the purpose of manipulating larger vessels at within ports or areas with limited maneuverability. Steam vessels were a practical solution for the international transportation of people.

Personal Use
Many steam vessels have been built or fallen under the category of privately owned. These vessels can be luxury cruisers or decommissioned commercial vessels, especially now as the nostalgia value surrounding steam technology increases. Not steam vessels are not nearly as common as yachts with a more conventional power-train, mostly due to the scarcity and special knowledge required to operate and maintain these vessels.

Danger
High temperature steam can cause injury in humans on areas of exposed skin or by other means. Steam can cause burns through direct contact or by inhalation of vapors. Steam boilers also present an explosion hazard due to their high pressure contents. Of over pressurization occurs and safety relief systems malfunction it is possible for a boiler to explode and cause damage to people and equipment surrounding it.

RMS Titanic
The RMS Titanic was the largest oceangoing passenger ship at the time of its creation. The ship sank only days into its maiden voyage from England after it struck an iceberg and took on water killing over 1500 people.

Knock Nevis
The Knock Nevis supertanker was the largest steam ship ever created, and the largest ship ever built before it was scrapped in 2010. The Knock Nevis was over 450 meters in length.

Lusitania
The Lusitania was a steam propelled passenger vessel that was sunk by a German U-Boat in 1915. The sinking of the Lusitania played a role in involving the United States with the developing World War.

HMS Britannic
The HMS Britannic was a successor to the RMS Titanic built as a luxury cruise liner. With the beginning World War I The ship was drafted for wartime efforts and converted to a hospital ship until the vessel was sunk in 1916 by a German U-Boat.

USS Monitor
The USS Monitor was a tactically valuable ironclad Union Steamship built in 1962. Used to gain naval supremacy against Confederate ironclad ships until it sunk later that year. The ship was heavily armed with a single rotating turret at the center of the ship and had very little surface area above water.

Amendments
The Wikipedia article Steam-powered Vessels declares at the end of the terminology section that vessels with nuclear systems are not actually designated as steamships, this must be amended because this is not an article about steamships specifically, but all vessels that can be propelled by steam. In the following section of the article there is a fragment about gas turbines that should be deleted for irrelevance to the article.