SS Great Eastern
She also had six masts (said to be named after the days of a week – Monday being the fore mast and Saturday the spanker mast), providing space for of sails (7 gaff and max. 9 (usually 4) square sails), rigged similar to a topsail schooner with a main gaff sail (fore-and-aft sail) on each mast, one "jib" on the fore mast and three square sails on masts no. 2 and no. 3 (Tuesday & Wednesday); for a time mast no. 4 was also fitted with three yards. In later years, some of the yards were removed. According to some sources she would have carried . This amount of canvas is obviously too much for seven fore-and-aft sails and max. 9 square sails. This (larger) figure of sail area lies only a few square metres below that the famous Flying P-Liner "Preußen" carried – with her five full-rigged masts of 30 square sails and a lot of stay sails. Setting sails turned out to be unusable at the same time as the paddles and screw were under steam, because the hot exhaust from the five (later four) funnels would set them on fire. Her maximum speed was 24 km/h (13 knots).
South Dakota-class battleship (1939)
The size of the hull was also a problem: a longer hull generally equates to a higher top speed, but requires more armor to protect it. In order to keep a higher top speed on a shorter hull, higher-performance machinery is required. Since the "South Dakota" design was much shorter than the preceding "North Carolina"s—680 ft (210 m) compared to 729 ft (222 m), respectively—the new ships would need improved machinery than would otherwise have been used in shorter hulls in order to retain the same speed as the longer ships. The design initially called for a top speed of at least 22.5 knots, which was deemed sufficient to keep up with opposing battleships and outrun surfaced submarines. However, in late 1936, cryptanalysts deciphered radio traffic from the Japanese navy which revealed that the battleship was capable of speeds in excess of 26 knots.
To counter this, it was determined a top speed of between was possible if the power plant from "North Carolina" could be reduced in size enough to fit in the tighter hull of "South Dakota". In order to do so the boilers were positioned directly above the turbines in the same arrangement to have been used in the 1916 s. The boilers were then rearranged several times so they were staggered with the turbines, eventually ending directly alongside the turbines. The propulsion system was arranged as close together as possible, and the evaporators and distilling equipment were placed in the machinery rooms. This provided enough additional space behind the armored belt to add a second plotting room.