A Marine Turbine For The Navy

GE Marine Solutions has shipped an LM2500 marine gas turbine propulsion module that will help power the U.S. Navy’s 75^th DDG Arleigh Burke­-class destroyer Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125).

Shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division will construct this new destroyer with U.S. Navy Flight 3 upgrades incorporated. Each DDG destroyer incorporates four GE LM2500 marine gas turbines in a COmbined Gas turbine And Gas turbine (COGAG) configuration.

The 33 600 shp LM2500 marine gas turbine is a simple-cycle, two-shaft, high-performance engine. Derived from GE’s CF6-6 aircraft engines, the LM2500 consists of a gas generator, a power turbine, attached fuel and lube oil pumps, a fuel control and speed governing system, associated inlet and exhaust sections, lube and scavenge systems as well as controls and devices for starting and monitoring engine operation.

The LM2500 is GE’s most widely-applied gas turbine, used by 33 navies worldwide. Possible applications for the LM2500 include patrol boats, corvettes, frigates, destroyers, cruisers, cargo/auxiliary ships and aircraft carriers. The LM2500 is also available as a military generator set.

“Since 1991 – for just the U.S. Navy’s DDG program alone – GE has delivered nearly 300 of our reliable LM2500 marine gas turbines. We use state-of-the-art engine technology, made in the U.S., to proudly support the world’s most advanced surface combatants,” said GE’s Brien Bolsinger, vice president, Marine Operations, Evendale, Ohio. “We also are dedicated to helping the U.S. Navy modernize and maintain its fleet of surface combatants.”

Ingalls has delivered 30 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to the U.S. Navy, most recently the Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) on November 15. John Finn (DDG 113) was commissioned on July 15, 2017, in Pearl Harbor. Other destroyers currently under construction at Ingalls include Paul Ignatius (DDG 117), Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) and Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123).

Including the DDG 51 program, GE has delivered 750 gas turbines to the U.S. Navy, its largest marine engine customer. The LM2500 has over 15 million hours in marine applications as well as another 70 million hours in industrial applications.