New graduates need to learn how a ship's many systems fit together before they can take responsibility for much of a design. The illustrative estimate is about five years for substantial responsibility, with exceptions for unusually capable engineers, and ten to fifteen years to lead a project. Engineers with those skills are likely to have other assignments. Reverse engineering a turbine therefore competes for some of the same scarce people needed to design ships. A country's total population says little about how many people have the relevant specialist qualifications and experience.
Notable Point · 1:03:05-1:04:22
The experience bottleneck in ship design
The ability to design ships or reproduce turbine components depends on experienced teams as well as on graduate numbers.