''Yamato-1'' is a ship built in the early 1990s by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. at Wadasaki-cho Hyogo-ku,

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

. It uses magnetohydrodynamic drives (MHDDs) driven by

liquid helium Liquid helium is a physical state of helium at very low temperatures at standard atmospheric pressures. Liquid helium may show superfluidity. At standard pressure, the chemical element helium exists in a liquid form only at the extremely low temp ...

-cooled

superconductors Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...

and can travel at 15 km/h (8

knots A knot is a fastening in rope or interwoven lines. Knot may also refer to: Places * Knot, Nancowry, a village in India Archaeology * Knot of Isis (tyet), symbol of welfare/life. * Minoan snake goddess figurines#Sacral knot Arts, entertainme ...

). ''Yamato-1'' was the first working prototype of her kind. It was completed in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in 1991, by the

Ship & Ocean Foundation A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

(later known as the

Ocean Policy Research Foundation The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wor ...

). The ship, which includes two

magnetohydrodynamic Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD; also called magneto-fluid dynamics or hydromagnetics) is the study of the magnetic properties and behaviour of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such magnetofluids include plasmas, liquid metals, ...

(MHD) thrusters, which have no moving parts, was first successfully operated in Kobe harbour in June 1992. An MHDD works by applying a magnetic field to an electrically conducting fluid. The electrically conducting fluid used in the MHD thrusters of ''Yamato-1'' is seawater. In the 1990s,

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

built several prototypes of ships propelled by MHDD systems. Despite projected higher speeds, these ships were only able to reach speeds of 15 km/h. Today ''Yamato-1'' is on display at the

Kobe Maritime Museum Kobe Maritime Museum is a museum in Kobe, Japan focusing on the history of Japanese shipping and Kobe harbor. One of the exhibits is the ''Yamato 1''. See also *Port of Kobe *Meriken Park *Kobe Port Tower The is a landmark in the port city ...

External links

Magnetohydrodynamic and the Mitsubishi Yamato

Popular Science November 1992 Superconductivity Goes To Sea

Popular Mechanics August 1990 100 MPH Jet Ships

The Washington Post, June 17, 1992; * [https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/74033322.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+22%2C+1992&author=T.+R.+Reid&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&edition=&startpage=a.03&desc=Japanese+Ship%27s+Magnetic+Attraction%3B+Revolutionary+Drive+Design+Lacks+Moving+Parts Japanese Ship's Magnetic Attraction; Revolutionary Drive Design Lacks Moving Parts] The Washington Post, June 22, 1992 Ships built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Experimental ships Boat types 1991 ships Museum ships in Japan {{boat-stub

Further reading

External links