Can a Navy Ship be powered by a full array of solar panels all over the deck, the hull, and bridge?

PO3 Aaron Hassay — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 19:27:23 -0400

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 12 at 2016 7:34 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 19:34:58 -0400

I don't see why not, a large solar ship has already circumnavigated the earth.

http://twistedsifter.com/2012/07/worlds-first-solar-powered-boat-to-circumnavigated-world/

http://inhabitat.com/nyc/ms-turanor-planetsolar-inhabitat-reports-live-from-the-worlds-largest-solar-powered-boat/planetsolar-turanor-statue-liberty/?extend=1

The Solar Powered Boat that Circumnavigated the World

Photograph via PlanetSolar.org On Septebmer 27, 2010, the MS Turanor PlanetSolar set sail from the port of Monaco. The goal? To become the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate t…

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 13 at 2016 1:09 AM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 01:09:57 -0400

As currently designed, solar panels arrayed upon a ship, as you described, would effectively preclude that ship and her crew from performing many seagoing tasks, and may, in fact, drastically inhibit the ship's ability to function in a combat environment.

Response by SN Timothy Ehrenhaft made Sep 13 at 2016 7:06 AM

SN Timothy Ehrenhaft — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 07:06:19 -0400

Consider using photovoltaic paint in lieu of, or in addition to, solar panel arrays, vertical wind turbines (less susceptible to bird strikes), and underwater turbine banks..

Response by PO1 Edward Spencer made Sep 13 at 2016 8:03 AM

PO1 Edward Spencer — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 08:03:02 -0400

Nope. Not nearly enough energy would be able to be collected. Also, what do you do at night or in bad weather?

Response by LCDR Steve Brown made Sep 13 at 2016 8:47 AM

LCDR Steve Brown — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 08:47:33 -0400

Are people forgetting that Navy ships go to war? What happens when the first 500 pounder hits the main deck? DIW, that's what happens. As others have pointed out, this assumes solar to be efficient enough to propel a ship with all it's systems aboard, etc., but even if you could it wouldn't survive combat. Geez! We've been a peacetime navy too long.

Response by PO2 Thomas Bodine made Sep 13 at 2016 9:37 AM

PO2 Thomas Bodine — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 09:37:11 -0400

Only if it doesn't need to worry about missle attack.

Response by CAPT Hiram Patterson made Sep 13 at 2016 10:16 AM

CAPT Hiram Patterson — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 10:16:23 -0400

Maybe the CO's gig! Good way to show the ship to your enemy when the sunlight glistens off the panels or blinds someone on another ship when doing an UNREP. Plus haze gray paint tends to block sunlight.

Response by SCPO Randy Breidel made Sep 13 at 2016 11:37 AM

SCPO Randy Breidel — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 11:37:12 -0400

No, on a sailboat we use it for aux power but not for propulsion, plus consistency would be a concern even if you used to charge large battery like submarine has that is 3rd source of power not primary

Response by LT Leverett Hadlow made Sep 13 at 2016 1:57 PM

LT Leverett Hadlow — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 13:57:50 -0400

In a word, no.

Let's assume best case. Take an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate that is 453 ft long by 45 ft wide. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Hazard_Perry-class_frigate ) On a clear day on the equator at noon on the day of the March or September equinoxes, the maximum solar irradiance is right at 1,000 watts per square meter. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_irradiance#Earth ) Let's say that the horizontal surface area of the ship is simply its length times its width; it has an area of 20,385 ft^2, which is a little less than 2,000 m^2. Let's also assume that the efficiency of the solar panels on this ship is an unrealistically high 50%. (2,000 m^2)X(1,000 W/m^2)X(50%) = 1 megawatt of electrical power generated under absolutely ideal conditions. Given that this class of ships was rated at 31 megawatts (and that's just for propulsion, not electricity, heating, cooling, refrigeration, cooking, distilling seawater into drinkable water, etc), it would have to have a horizontal surface area of at least 31 times what it actually has. And, as the ship (or, more exactly, its surface area) size increases, the power needed to move it through the water goes up, so that 15X is actually an estimate that is too low.

Any solar panels placed on any non-horizontal exterior surfaces would produce a tiny fraction of those placed in direct line with the sun. So, if you exaggerated and said that all non-horizontal exterior surfaces (remember, we're talking about solar panels in the shade here) together produced another 1 MW, now you need to have a ship with ALL of its exterior surfaces covered in solar panels that is a minimum of 15 times the size of the original ship.

All of this assumes:
The ship will not need any power produced by solar except propulsion,
it will only need to reach a flank bell on a clear day at noon on the equator during the months of March or September only,
it will not move at night (batteries are a whole 'nuther problem!)
the solar panels it uses are 50% efficient
the propulsion system is 100% efficient (ie, ZERO heat is produced in getting that propeller to turn)

The numbers for carriers are similar, but not as bad. Covering the flight deck would produce 25.6 MW (about 82.6% of what the FFG would need, BTW). The Nimitz class carriers send 194 MW to the screws. You do the arithmetic.
( http://www.public.navy.mil/airfor/cvn71/Pages/FACTSANDFIGURES.aspx )

This is why our ships burn fossil fuels and split the atom to get where they need to be.

Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Oliver Hazard Perry class is a class of guided missile frigates named after the American Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero of the naval Battle of Lake Erie. Also known as the Perry or FFG-7 class, the warships were designed in the United States in the mid-1970s as general-purpose escort vessels inexpensive enough to be bought in large quantities to replace World War II-era destroyers and complement 1960s-era Knox-class frigates. In...

Response by PO2 David Ball made Sep 13 at 2016 6:11 PM

PO2 David Ball — Tue, 13 Sep 2016 18:11:03 -0400

Um NO ! What are you an yeoman or a clerk?

Response by PO3 Gregg Kemp made Sep 14 at 2016 1:00 AM

PO3 Gregg Kemp — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 01:00:19 -0400

No, they don't produce enough power to power the ship. Today's solar panels are not efficient enough to produce enough power to make up for the weight of their structure. Sorry.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Sep 14 at 2016 4:45 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 04:45:30 -0400

Pretty Cool Idea but I don't believe that there are any Solar Cells quite up to that task yet. Also they would have to be very survivable first. That is an extremely harsh environment from the Sea Spray to Possible Battle damange

Response by PO3 Jack Lamb made Sep 14 at 2016 11:56 AM

PO3 Jack Lamb — Wed, 14 Sep 2016 11:56:46 -0400

Hahahagahaha...you could power just the radar if you built the ship out of solar panels. I recommend people do some research. How many watts per hour are generated by a gas turbine in a modern warship? Then, how many watts per hour per solar panel. You would probably need several hundred acres to provide equitable power. Look up energy density and figure out the difference between a solar panel and a gallon of diesel. Try powering a single five inch mount with solar panels. Ridiculous.

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 15 at 2016 1:44 PM

PO2 Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 15 Sep 2016 13:44:07 -0400

Yea, theoretically it can. This being said by no means would it be tactically advantageous, it also would be the most wasteful project ever undertaken by any government agencie

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made Sep 16 at 2016 3:42 PM

MCPO Roger Collins — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 15:42:32 -0400

Lots of solar panels here. Just being a smart ass. I seriously doubt it unless a game changing solar is invented, insufficient area for panels at this time.

The new Bechtel A1B reactor for the CVN 21 class will be smaller and simpler, will require fewer crew, and will yet be far more powerful than the Nimitz-class A4W reactor. Two reactors will be installed on each Ford-class carrier, each one capable of producing 300 MW of electricity, triple the 100 MW of each A4W

Response by SN Greg Wright made Sep 16 at 2016 3:44 PM

SN Greg Wright — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 15:44:24 -0400

No chance. Not nearly enough solar area to power a ship.

Response by SFC George Smith made Sep 16 at 2016 8:20 PM

SFC George Smith — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 20:20:33 -0400

what do you do when the sun goes down... and there would be one heck of a reflection signature that could be seen almost over the horizon...