> They're not direct driving the screw with steam power from the reactor heat-exchange, surely. Yes, they are, for the simple reason that it's more efficient.

> They're not direct driving the screw with steam power from the reactor heat-exchange, surely. Yes, they are, for the simple reason that it's more efficient. This is beginning to give way to a series electrical design, but that's for reasons of increased stealth and other concerns, at the cost of overall thermodynamic efficiency. On all existing nuclear carriers steam is used for the catapults (and this is much more demanding than many people are aware of). The Ford class is developing electromagnetic catapults, which are also proving to be demanding to perfect.