Imperial Russian Steam Yacht "Livadia" from Walden Models

swiftsword

Member
Apr 7, 2005
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Massachusetts
www.waldenfont.com
@Dave: No, I don't know the price yet. All I can say is that it certainly won't be the scale equivalent of the cost of the original :D



@Gil: the Livadia had three "King-size" triple-expansion engines and developed just over 12,000 hp (together). Top speed remained undetermined. At her measured mile trials, she performed 15.864 knots, but this was with a foul bottom and with new machinery that had not been sufficiently balanced. According to the expert opinions of the day, the ship should have been capable of over 16, and perhaps as much as 17 knots.

Either way, the speed was sufficient to meet the requirements ot the Russian Admirality. They had the right to refuse the ship if it made less than 14 knots. To be sure they wouldn't be stuck with a white elephant like this, the builders actually made a quarter scale (!) model, which they towed around a scottish loch to determine the force required to move this behemoth.

Cheers,


Oliver
 

Gil

Active Member
Jan 25, 2004
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Northern Bear Flag Republic
Design Motivation..,

Oliver,

I'm curious about the design motivation for this craft. It could very well be used as a stable platform for oil drilling and the like. Could it be that the designer had an "in" with the Imperial family and that someone in the family was severely sensitive to motion sickness?...,

-Gil
 

DrBill

Member
May 22, 2006
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Wilton, CT USA
www.geoghegan.us
That was some power plant! The American Liberty Ships from WWII each had a single triple expansion steam engine developing 2500 hp for a max speed of 11 knots, which they rarely achieved in trans-Atlantic crossings. I've got to think that the extra power for the yacht was needed to get that barge-like hull through the water at anything approaching an acceptable speed.. This is a really neat oddity. Thanks for making it available.