pokermind wrote:Progress on Delthak II Class:
Poker
Its usual in warships to have the coal bunkers along the sides of the ship to provide a little extra cushion between the sea and the critical engineering parts of the ship. (It's easier to close a water tight door to a bunker than have to plug a hole dumping water
The boilers are also usually aligned,centered in the ship (usually ahead of the engines (so as not to foul the shafts) and mounted as low as possible as they are a significant block of mass and need to avoid being sloshed (to avoid tube ruptures). The boilers often weigh as much as the engine. The boilers also need to be kept as close as possible to the stacks for best natural draft consistent with a steep slope from the offset boilers. Aligning the boilers makes tending them easier too, as all the boiler sight glasses are visible from one location permitting reduced engine room crewing.Mounting the boilers close together also helps conserve heat. The engines are usually isolated from the rest of the ship for heat and fire management reasons, and the engine room from the boilers in coal fired ships for dust control (it makes it hard to keep the engine polished if soot keeps falling on it, and coal dust & fly ash is very abrasive so you want to keep it out of the engine room if you can). A ruptured condenser can sink a steam ship really fast unless water tight doors are provided.
We don't have any information on whether the boilers have forced or induced draft blowers, or a regenerative superheater between the cylinder stages which all complicate the plumbing to the engines, but significantly increase both efficiency and power to weight for the boilers (i.e. power density).
In short, two stacks equals either two rows of water tube boilers, tightly packed or single row of Yorkshire boilers back to back.