Yamato 1 is a boat built in the early 1990s by Japanese conglomerate "The Mitsubishi Group" through their subsidiary company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd at Wadasaki-cho Hyogo-ku, Kobe. It uses a magnetohydrodynamic drive, driven by a liquid helium-cooled superconductor, and can travel at 15 km/h (8 knots).

The Yamato 1 was the first working prototype of its kind. It was completed in Japan in 1991, by the Ship & Ocean Foundation (later known as the Ocean Policy Research Foundation). The ship was first successfully propelled in Kobe harbour in June 1992. Yamato 1 is propelled by two MHD thrusters that run without any moving parts.

MHD works by applying a magnetic field to an electrically conducting fluid. The electrically conducting fluid used in the MHD thruster of the Yamato 1 is seawater.

In the 1990s, Mitsubishi built several prototypes of ships propelled by an MHD system. These ships were only able to reach speeds of 15 km/h, despite higher projections.

The Yamato 1 on display in Kobe, Japan

The front of the Yamato 1

A MHD thruster from the boat, at the Ship Science Museum in Tokyo.

[edit] References

• Operation of the Thruster for Superconducting Electromagnetohydrodynamic propulsion Ship "YAMATO 1"

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Yamato 1

• Magnetohydrodynamic and the Mitsubishi Yamato

• Popular Science November 1992 Superconductivity Goes To Sea

• Popular Mechanics August 1990 100 MPH Jet Ships