Naval History Forums

Does anyone know when variable pitch propellers began to be used in warships, and which one was the first?

Regards

My guess is since the early 90's, since some of the Ticonderoga's have them.

Wow, it seems that new people in the forum is bringing back old topics from the dead!!!! Welcome to the forum and thanks for your answer. Are you sure they hadn´t been used before?

KIng regards

Im pretty sure the earliest possible ships were the Spruances. Im sure variable pitched propellers can only be so old.

They used variable pitch propellers on the FFG Perry class in th early 1980's. I know because I worked at Gibbs & Cox who did the design work. In addition, the rudder was offset from the centerline of the hull to negate the effect of the torque from the propeller.

I would think that adjustable pitch propellers would be considered subseptable to shock damage so it would have taken a lot of development. The vertical Voith Schneider propellers if you consider that variable pitch were used in WW 2 on German minesweepers.

AFAIK Leipzig had a variable pitch propeller on its center shaft.

From the GOODALL report p.3 on former SMS BADEN (dated to 1921, referring to a ship completed 1917):

"Propellers and hull efficiency parameters.

(...)

The wing screws are outward turning, the center screw is left-handed. Each propeller has three detachable blades, and the pitch can be adjusted within certain limits."

interesting.

But that's not unusual. The pitch could be adjusted in the shipyard between different trial runs until the optimal pitch was found.

In case of Leipzig the blades of the center propeller could be adjusted in service.

The USS Barbey (FF-1088) was a test platform for the variable-pitch propeller during the mid-1970's.

The installation was not an optimum arrangement, and was catastrophic for Barbey in Southern California waters. During testing, the propeller "walked off" the shaft in over 60 fathoms depth.

The propeller was unrecoverable, and the Barbey was towed into San Diego after nearly a day adrift.

TMischke (aboard 1977-1980)

Pretty sure the Germans used variable pitch propellers on their Uboats or at least planned to do so.