There is little doubt that at the end of the nineteenth century Britain was falling behind in the science-based industries developing new products and new technologies. In the traditional steam sector she had her final triumph with Parsons’s steam turbine, though the high-speed generator he devi...
a fitting name sounding like a combination of speed and utter destruction. But technically, the Royal Norwegian Navy indeed had Thornycroft’s HNLMS Rap, delivered in 1873, three years before the British prototype. She was