Reduction gearing makes marine turbines more efficient

Turbine performance depended on nozzle design, metallurgy, and the ability to keep the machinery running efficiently at high speed. Direct drive constrained the relationship between turbine and propeller speeds because the machinery and shaft had to turn together. Reduction gearing let a turbine remain near an efficient operating speed while delivering a more suitable propeller speed, improving control and fuel economy. The passage also places the growing influence of Whitehead torpedoes in the same era, as capital ships answered the destroyer threat with rapid-firing guns.