5MichaelDonalds Nuclear Powered Warships

Operation of a civil or naval ship power plant is similar to land-based nuclear power reactors. The resulting steam spins a turbine.

A sustained nuclear reaction in the reactor produces heat that is used to boil water. The turbine shaft may be coupled through a gearbox speed reducer to the ship's propeller, or in a turbo-electric drive system may run a generator that supplies electric power to motors connected to the propellers.