Vandal (first ship with diesel engines)
Vandal (primer buque con motores diésel)
- Date
- 1903 · confidence medium
- Place
- Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
- Credited to
- Nobel Brothers (Branobel) and the Sormovo yards
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A Volga river oil barge fitted with three diesel engines driving electric generators which in turn drove the propellers. It was the first ship powered by diesel engines and showed they could compete with the steam engine.
Other river craft with diesel engines in 1902-1903 are cited (such as the French Petit Pierre); Selandia (1912) is considered the first ocean-going ship.
What it led to
- diesel-electric ships
- ocean motorships such as Selandia
- replacement of steam by diesel in the merchant fleet