If, by headwind, you mean sailing directly upwind, then no, they cannot do that, but they can beat to windward like a sailboat (the direction of the rotation mu

If, by headwind, you mean sailing directly upwind, then no, they cannot do that, but they can beat to windward like a sailboat (the direction of the rotation must be reversed when tacking.) According to Wikipedia, the rotor ship Buckau could sail within 20-30 degrees of the wind, though I suspect that is a misreading of the supposed source of that data, and that 50-60 degrees is a more plausible figure. Similarly, I suspect the claim that they can sail closer to the wind than conventional sailing vessels is in comparison to square-rigged ships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotor_ship#Pioneers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotor_ship#Pioneers https://books.google.com/books?id=9lqwg3iZyH0C&pg=PA656#v=onepage&q&f=false https://books.google.com/books?id=9lqwg3iZyH0C&pg=PA656#v=on...