Since 1947, the famous Rolls-Royce company has been starting the development of the "Olympus" turbojet engine. By May 1950, the first prototype of the "Olympus" turbojet engine began bench testing. According to the development plan, this type of engine will be used as the power device of the new high-speed, long-range bomber, requiring large engine thrust, stable working and low fuel consumption. The first generation of the original single-stage centrifugal or axial compressor Jet engine can no longer meet the performance requirements;
To this end, the use of a more complex structure of two rotor structure, its low pressure compressor and low pressure turbine, high pressure compressor and high pressure turbine coaxial separation, no direct mechanical connection, can be operated at their respective optimal speed, high efficiency, pressure ratio, is the first british gas turbine engine using double rotor structure. Because of the technical difficulties encountered in the development, the engine was not officially finalized and delivered until July 1956. The 100 series turbojet engines that began to be delivered were named "Olympus" 100 series, and the differences between the specific models were mainly the differences in air flow and turbine temperature. After a period of practical application, on the basis of the 100 series was greatly modified, the air flow and thrust were further increased, and the new 200 series and 300 series were developed, which became the power of the "Vulcan" strategic bomber in the British "3V" bomber program at that time. Among them, the "Olympus" 301 has a maximum thrust of 9072 kg, which is one of the most advanced high-thrust jet engines in the world at that time. In 1962, on the basis of the "Olympus" 320, Rolls-Royce and the French company Snecma jointly began to develop the engine of the "Concorde" supersonic airliner, which was finalized as the "Olympus" 593 turbojet in 1973, and in January 1976, it promoted the "Concorde" airliner to carry out the first supersonic civil aviation flight in human history;
The development of the gas turbine for the Olympus ship began in 1962, when it was first equipped on a gunboat of the Royal Navy for testing. Compared with the aero engine prototype, the "Olympus" ship gas turbine is mainly composed of two parts: a gas generator and a power turbine. The gas generator has not changed much in the overall structural scheme, mainly because of the selection of better heat-resistant alloys and corrosion-resistant materials to meet the requirements of long-term and large-load operation of the ship's power unit and resistance to salt spray erosion at sea. At the same time, on key components such as turbine blades, the advanced air cooling technology of the time was adopted, which not only improved the performance, but also extended the service life of the components. The power turbine is a newly designed long-life structure that can withstand large shock loads. The main bearings are designed to be serviced without dismounting the entire component, greatly improving the maintenance efficiency on board. In 1966, Rolls-Royce introduced the "Olympus" T M1A ship gas turbine, but the model was not mass-produced. In 1967, the "Olympus" TM3B ship gas turbine began to be developed, consisting of the "Olympus" B gas turbine and the TM3 power turbine with a life of 10,000 hours, and was put into trial operation in 1969. In 1973, the Type 21 frigate equipped with the "Olympus" TM3B ship gas turbine was put into use, and the brilliant process of the "Olympus" type ship gas turbine was three points in the world;
After developing a 6,000-horsepower gas turbine in China, it referred to the British experience: developing a gas turbine based on the turbojet engine of a large bomber. As a result, China developed the "WP-8 Reform" gas turbine using the Boom Six power system: more than 80 modifications were made to its gas generator to adapt to the harsh environment in which the ship operates at sea. At the same time, the newly designed power turbines, accessories and systems for power output have also been redesigned according to the use environment on board. In 1974, the "W P-8 modification" ship gas turbine completed the endurance test and was ready to be transferred to the equipment production stage. However, the design requirements of the 055-class destroyer are 23,530 kilowatts of gas turbine power, while the actual power of the gas turbine of the "WP-8 modification" ship only reaches 16,170 kilowatts, and the gap is obvious. For a giant ship with a displacement of nearly 8,000 tons, two "WP-8 modified" ship gas turbines are simply not enough to push it to reach a speed of more than 30 knots. If two more W P-8 gas turbines can be added to replace the original diesel engine, the formation of a combustion-fuel combined power unit, can reach the total power of 64704 kilowatts of the main engine, which is still unsatisfactory and barely usable. For comparison, the U.S. Spruance-class large destroyer uses a combined combustion-fuel power unit consisting of four L M2500 gas turbines, with a total engine power of 82,028 kilowatts. Moreover, at that time, China lacked the design and manufacturing technology of high-power parallel gearboxes, and could not directly import corresponding technologies or finished products from Europe and the United States;
The life of the WP-8 domestic gas turbine also restricts the model stereotype: its development unit proposes that the life of the gas turbine in the initial small batch trial production can only meet 200 hours of use, while the self-sustainment of large and medium-sized warships generally reaches at least 20 to 30 days, that is, 480 to 720 hours. In other words, if the 055 large guided missile destroyer has been sailing with domestic gas turbines, the main engine may break down in less than 10 days. However, there is no condition for overhauling the gas turbine on the warship, that is to say, the 055 large guided missile destroyer can actually only rely on two cruise diesel engines to propulse, while the domestic gas turbine can only act as a vase, and the ship's maneuverability and combat capability will be greatly reduced. Due to the adverse influence of the external environment, it was impossible to quickly increase this life number at that time, which was tantamount to pronouncing the death penalty of the "WP-8 reform" type ship gas turbine - the Chinese Navy's dream of equipping domestic ship gas turbines has once again been reduced to a bubble;
Unfortunately, there are also problems in the development of the cruise diesel engine originally scheduled for the 055 large guided missile destroyer: the 18V E390Z C diesel engine was originally designed as the power unit of the 053K anti-aircraft missile frigate, although the development work has begun since the early 1970s, but because it is the first time that China has developed a medium-speed diesel engine for high-power ships, the designers generally lack development experience, and the difficulty of developing the new model is underestimated. The early test of the cylinder reduction demonstrator stage was insufficient, resulting in the size of the formal prototype test stage, and the biggest problem was that the 18V E390Z C diesel engine was far from reaching the designed 8824 kilowatts of power during the sea test of the 053K anti-aircraft missile frigate, and this problem was not solved until the early 1980s. In the face of the reality that domestic gas turbines and diesel engines cannot meet the design requirements of new ships, the plan of the 055 large guided missile destroyer to use domestic power units to promote has come to an end. At this time, the Chinese Navy judged the hour and sized up the situation, and in light of the excellent situation of détente with the United States and Britain, after a period of contacts and inspections, put forward a relatively realistic 051S plan: It plans to equip itself with the "Sea Javelin" regional air defense missiles imported from Britain, and prepares to build 8 ships first, so as to provide the Chinese Navy with much-needed regional air defense capabilities for ships.
Taking advantage of this, the shrewd British proposed that they could provide gas turbines for ships to equip the Chinese Navy's new warships. This proposal was immediately in line with the urgent needs of the Chinese Navy, and quickly received a response from the relevant domestic authorities. Since the British have long considered that four "Olympus" series gas turbines can be used to form a power system for large ships (the Royal Ark class light aircraft carrier uses four "Olympus" gas turbines composed of 4 "Olympus" gas turbines), and the "Olympus" series of gas turbines has been used in many ships of the Royal Navy for nearly 10 years, and has been quite mature in technology, directly introducing "Olympus" The full-combustion propulsion program can greatly reduce the difficulty of developing the 055 large guided missile destroyer. At the end of 1978, the military scientific research unit carried out the design of the 055 ship program and submitted the draft proposal for the tactical and technical mission statement. At this time, the design of the ship's power unit has been changed to the introduction of the British "Olympus" full-combustion propulsion program, at this time from the development of the task, but only two and a half years. From the end of 1978 to the beginning of 1979, the relevant domestic departments negotiated with foreign investors such as rolls-royce and other foreign investors such as the 055 large-scale guided missile destroyer gas turbine power unit, adjustable pitch propeller and shaft train. Due to the adjustment of the national foreign exchange indicators and the lack of procurement funds, the negotiations were forced to be temporarily suspended shortly after. At the end of 1979, at the invitation of the British authorities concerned, the Chinese Navy again visited Britain for inspection and asked the British side for help on the overall design of the new destroyer. The British proposed three proposals for the new ship A, B and C. Subsequently, the Chinese Navy invited the British shipbuilding equipment delegation to China for talks, and the British side brought the general layout drawing and brief description of the new ship B plan. According to the new information of the British side, the Chinese negotiation leading group drafted the opinion that the 055 large guided missile destroyer needs to introduce the main British system, and reported to the superior. At the same time, the military scientific research unit referred to the suggestions of the British B plan and revised the original overall plan and the tactical and technical task book. However, due to the large number of technical problems that have arisen in the development process of the 055 large-scale guided-missile destroyer, and the depth of the demonstration is not enough before the development task statement is issued, there is a considerable gap between some tactical and technical requirements and the domestic scientific research and production level, and it still takes a long time to develop;
In 1981, the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the State Machinery Commission jointly decided that the 055 large guided missile destroyer should be withdrawn from the formal model study and reclassified as an advance study. At this point, the 055 large-missile destroyer program, which pinned on the dream of the Chinese navy's blue water, has finally come to an end;
Judging from the country's general policy and general policy at the beginning of reform and opening up, the 055 large guided missile destroyer obviously cannot be included in the construction project urgently needed by the country. At the same time, the development of such large-scale guided-missile destroyers, which cannot be based on the country for the time being, requires more funds and foreign exchange for the state, and the state was unable to solve these difficulties for a while. These are probably the reasons that led to the decision of the leading authorities to change the 055 large guided missile destroyer from a formal model development to a pre-research project. The development of the 055 large guided missile destroyer has been shelved for a long time;
When the United States learned that Rolls-Royce intended to swallow the big fat of the Chinese Navy's ship gas turbine power plant, the American General Electric Company, which was competing with the British for the world ship gas turbine market, could not sit still: Geeger Company monopolized the U.S. Navy ship gas turbine propulsion device market, and used the most successful high-power ship gas turbine ever, the LM2500 gas turbine, to squeeze the "Olympus" TM3B gas turbine out of the Chinese market in one fell swoop. Although Rolls-Royce was already developing the "Spey" series of ship gas turbines at that time, the development progress was too slow and the power was low, and the overall performance was not as good as the LM2500 gas turbine, and the only way to quit was helpless;
However, the Chinese Navy chose to introduce the American LM2500 gas turbine that year, and abandoned the "Olympus" TM3B gas turbine, which was indeed ill-conceived: the LM2500 gas turbine technology is far more advanced than the "Olympus" TM3B gas turbine, which is based on the advanced and solid scientific research and industry in the United States. Until the advent of the 21st century, the development of China's gas turbine industry still could not solve the problem of imitating the LM2500 gas turbine, in fact, the supply of ship gas turbine power units in that year could only rely on the situation of the United States;
As a major country that is constantly wary of the United States and cooperates with each other purely because of temporary interests, it is very dangerous for China to pin its hopes on potential opponents if it does not base itself on such an important main battle equipment as much as possible. Less than 10 years after the decision to introduce gas turbines from the United States, this potential crisis broke out in unexpected circumstances: the US government's simple ban with no room for maneuver completely closed the door to Sino-US military technology exchanges, which directly led to the difficult production of the successor model of the Type 052 guided missile destroyer, which forced the Chinese Navy to reduce the speed of the replacement of the main battleship, posing a serious threat to China's national security!