This is interesting, from CNN:
Britain’s £1bn ($1.4bn) warships are losing power in the Persian Gulf because they cannot cope with the warm waters, MPs have been told.
Six Type 45 destroyers have repeatedly experienced power outages because of the temperatures, leaving servicemen in complete darkness.
During the Defence Committee hearing on Tuesday, MPs questioned company executives about the warship failures.
“The equipment is having to operate in far more arduous conditions that were initially required,” Rolls Royce director Tomas Leahy said.
The reason?
[Rolls Royce director] Leahy told MPs that turbines do not generate as much power when they run in a hot environment, which is not recognized by the system.
“This is when you get your total electrical failure,” Leahy explained.
It’s not clear if this can be cleared up with a software fix, or if this is a hardware fix.
The obvious question is whether or not US warships are at risk. Less obviously, what’s the long term implications as the world continues to warm, resulting in higher ambient operating temperatures world-wide? Will we see American carrier groups floating helplessly in the Pacific? Or will our defense contractors be frantically patching ships? And on whose penny?
