It’s called a ship, but where are the wheels of the ship?

Why do we always call ships "ships"?

Does it really have wheels?

Where are its wheels?

A ship cannot go fast with just the power of wind and manpower. Where does the powerful power come from?

A paddle steamer is a ship with wheels on both sides of the ship. It is named because part of the wheel is exposed above the water. A paddle steamer is a ship propelled by paddle wheels. The original paddle wheels were propelled by human power stepping on wooden wheels.

In modern society, steam engines are used to drive paddle wheels to propel ships forward. Blades are installed on the outer circumference of the rotor to form a rotating paddle wheel, which is installed on both sides or at the stern of the ship, and this ship is called a steamship.

Paddle wheel propulsion is one step further than other propulsion tools such as poles, oars and scull. Its main feature is that it can operate continuously, converting human or mechanical force into ship propulsion, making the ship move forward.

However, it has a bulky structure and low efficiency, especially when encountering wind and waves, the paddle wheel is partially or completely exposed above the water surface, making it impossible for the ship to sail stably.

Moreover, when the paddle wheel rotates, half of the blades rotate in the air, which not only increases the width of the ship and the resistance during sailing, but also when it is docked at the pier, it is easy to collide with the ships on both sides, which not only affects its own safe driving, but also has the possibility of scratching other ships.

In addition, if entanglements such as seaweed get caught on the blades or shaft of the paddle boat, the paddle wheel may stop turning.

In the first half of the 19th century, the propeller appeared as a ship propeller. It overcame some shortcomings of paddle steamers and was soon promoted and applied in ships of various countries. However, some people were still skeptical about propeller ships, so some large ships at that time were equipped with both propellers and paddle wheels, and kept sails.

**Paddle wheel vs propeller,** let's see who is stronger?

In 1845, the British Admiralty held a race between a propeller boat and a paddle steamer. During the race, the sterns of the two boats were connected by a thick cable, and they sailed in opposite directions like a tug-of-war game.

Eventually, the propeller boat towed the paddle wheel boat away, proving the superiority of the propeller. Since then, the propeller has gradually replaced the paddle wheel and become the most commonly used propulsion device on ships.

Now, you know where the ship's wheels went, right?